Following last week's killing of a petroleum tanker driver’s mate simply identified as Usman, allegedly by an official of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), the South West Zonal Chairman of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers (PTD) branch of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG); Alhaji Nojeem Tokunbo Korodo has accused LASTMA official of killing not less than four of his members in 2016 alone.
Korodo spoke with Shipping Position Daily exclusively against the backdrop of last week's incident and lamented that his members are constantly exposed to harassment and humiliation from personnel of security agencies, especially LASTMA, Navy and others.
He however assured that the union is not helpless in these situations, but that it has always wanted peace to reign.
He said: "In recent time, I can only confirm about four of our members that have lost their lives to various open confrontations from LASTMA"
"This is really sad, we are not supposed to be confronting one another, we are all serving the public, especially at this critical festive period, the government should have avoided confrontations and rather call on we the leaders to call our members to order"
"The direct confrontation from LASTMA and Navy is an eyesore; we are always exposed to these kinds of threat, harassment and unnecessary humiliation".
Last week in Apapa, eye witnesses confirmed to our correspondent at the scene of the incident that the LASTMA officials were on an ‘evacuation operation’ along Creek Road in Apapa when one of the officers jumped into a petroleum tanker and tried to move it away forcefully. In the process, he had ran into one of the drivers who died immediately.
In a reprisal attack, a group of tanker drivers, okada riders and hoodlums who were on ground were said to have pounced on the LASTMA official and beat him to death.
Korodo insisted however that the LASTMA officials had no right jumping into petroleum tankers to drive off, giving the fact that they are not professionals.
He told our correspondent that, "the acting transport commissioner of Lagos called me and was giving me a different picture of what happened on Thursday"
"The acting commissioner was painting a picture that one of the tanker drivers was trying to forcefully remove his truck while the motor boy was trying to enter the truck, so in the process of getting a hold at the door, he fell and the driver crushed him to death and because of that we pounced on the LASTMA officers at sight. This is a blunt lie" he said.
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