General
POLICE IMPOUND FOUR TRUCKS! 7UP workers attack LASTMA officials, injures two as Ambode is stuck in traffic
Two Lagos State Traffic Management Authority officials were over the weekend attacked and injured after a clash reportedly broke out between LASTMA officials and some workers of the Seven-Up Bottling Company Plc.
The incident was said to have happened at the 7UP end of the Mobolaji Johnson Avenue in Alausa, Ikeja.
The two LASTMA officials were taken in an ambulance to a hospital.
Three workers of the bottling company were also reportedly arrested.
Our correspondent gathered that some trucks belonging to the bottling company had obstructed the free flow of traffic.
The state Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, who was among those held in the ensuing jam around 11 am, reportedly ordered traffic officials to clear the road.
A source, who witnessed the incident, said the governor’s convoy later took an alternative route as the movement was at a standstill.
He said,
“Everywhere was blocked. The governor’s convoy was forced to look for an alternative road. I later saw a LASTMA official being rushed into an ambulance. He was covered in blood.
“I saw a policeman and asked the cause of the chaos and he explained that some guys blocked the road and the governor ordered LASTMA officials to drive them away from the road. However, in the course of doing that, one of the LASTMA officials was stabbed.”
The Public Affairs Officer of LASTMA, Mahmud Hassan, confirmed the clash between the 7UP workers and traffic officials.
He said the management of the bottling company had been warned many times against blocking the road with trucks, adding that the warnings were ignored.
He said,
“Workers at the 7UP plant at the old Toll Gate are fond of obstructing free flow of traffic by parking vehicles on that major road that linked the old Toll Gate to the Secretariat Road. We have had meetings with them and warned them, but they failed to heed the warning.
“Yesterday (Saturday), they did the same thing and four of their trucks were impounded. We had initially instructed them to move the trucks, but they refused and said their vehicles would not leave the road until they finished whatever they were doing. That was when we towed away the trucks.
“In the process of doing that, they launched an attack on our officials and our vehicles. They destroyed some of our vehicles and injured our officers who went for the operation. Nobody was stabbed. While one of our workers was dragged on the tarred road, the other was beaten to a pulp. In the end, three of their workers were arrested.”
Hassan said the governor’s involvement was coincidental, adding that he usually passed the road when transiting from his office to his house on the Lagos Island.
He warned that the agency would not spare anyone who attacked traffic officials while on their lawful duties, adding that the suspects would be arraigned on Monday (today).
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