Published 29th Mar, 2023

By Opeyemi Lawal

Policemen attached to the Alagbado police command have reportedly shot at drivers protesting illegal increments of taxes by the agberos.

One of the drivers told FIJ that the police shot at them on the orders of the agberos who were not pleased with their strike action.

“We were all at Agbado Kola protesting that we would not work if the agberos did not get off our backs when Azeez Abiola, one of the agbero leaders, arrived,” the driver said.

“He addressed us and we all agreed we needed to stop being slaves to the agberos. Thirty minutes later, the police who had been monitoring the protest came and began to shoot at us on the order of the agberos.

“They fired teargas cannisters and everyone started running. We were not fighting or obstructing traffic. They just started shooting at us because they thought we were helpless.”

He further stated that the team of police officers was led by a policeman who was followed by a mob of agberos with machetes.

“The policeman who shot at us is known as Yaro. He is the SO of the Alagbado police station. The agberos also went to reinforce in Kola. They chased us into the streets with cutlasses,” the driver said.

“What do the agberos want from us? They won’t allow us to work and won’t even allow us to protest in peace. We work for them to eat and they still want to kill us.

“At NCMS filling station in Tollgate, Fashola, another agbero leader, led thugs to arrest us, and they picked up 10, just because we were protesting.

“They brandished their cutlasses over our heads and forced us into vehicles.”

FIJ’s phone calls to Benjamin Hundeyin, the spokesperson of the Lagos State Police Command, and text messages had not been responded to at press time.

FIJ had reported how commercial drivers in the state went on a strike action to protest a sharp increase in the amount of taxes imposed by the agberos.

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