Chaos
broke out on Saturday at the 7 UP end of the Mobolaji Johnson Avenue in
Alausa , Ikeja , as officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management
Authority reportedly clashed with some workers of the Seven - Up
Bottling Company Plc .
PUNCH Metro learnt that in the fight , two LASTMA officials were injured and 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 free flow of traffic .
The
state Governor , Akinwunmi Ambode , who was among those held in the
ensuing jam around 11am , 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 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. ”
A video
of the clash obtained by PUNCH Metro showed the moment some operatives
of the Rapid Response Squad arrested one of the suspects .
When
contacted , the Public Affairs Officer of LASTMA , Mahmud Hassan ,
confirmed the clash between the 7 UP 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 7 UP plant at the old Toll
Gate are fond of obstructing the 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 ) .
The spokesperson for the Lagos State Police Command, SP Chike Oti, confirmed the incident .
He
said , “ There was a truck obstructing free flow of traffic in the 7 UP
area and the LASTMA men went to clear the road . In the process , the
driver of the truck fought them and broke the windscreen and other parts
of their vehicle .
The police came into the matter and arrested
the driver , who will be charged to court for malicious damage and
obstruction of traffic . Also , the truck has been impounded by the
police . ”
The Managing Director of Seven - Up Bottling Company ,
Ziad Maalouf , did not pick his calls and had yet to respond to a text
message sent by our correspondent as of press time .
The mobile
phone of the general manager of the company ’ s Ikeja office rang out
and he did not respond to a text message as of the time of filing this
report .
No comments
Post a Comment