By Ishaya Ibrahim
Some commercial bus drivers in Lagos are protesting the alleged extortion by Lagos Motor Parks and Garages Management Committee.
The committee is headed by an alleged strongman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos, Muslim Akinsanya, famously known as MC Oluomo.
The foot soldiers are called Agberos. They are known for using brute force to collect levies and other charges slammed on the drivers per every trip.
During the protest, the drivers were seen carrying placards with various inscriptions bearing “We are tired of Agberos extortion”, “We can’t continue working for Agberos”, among others.
According to reporting by the News Agency of Nigeria, some of the commuters, who were left stranded by the drivers, said the protest affected their social and economic activities.
A commuter, who works at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Bimbo Apata, told NAN that he spent over two hours waiting to get a bus at the bus stop but it all proved abortive, adding that he had no choice but to trek.
“The suffering was too much. People had to trek several distances because they could not get buses to their various destinations,” he said.
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Apata appealed to the Lagos State Government to urgently address the protest before it turned violent which could result in loss of lives and property.
Another commuter, Yemi Ajegunle, described the protest by the commercial bus drivers as “uncalled for.”
According to her, it is the masses that will feel the impact and not those in the authority.
Ajegunle, a trader at Oshodi Market, who went to Abeokuta to buy goods that she sells, said on getting to the toll-gate area in Lagos, the protesters asked the driver of the bus she boarded to drop all the passengers.
“We were all stranded because we can’t go back and move forward. Many of us, especially those without any heavy luggage started trekking to our destinations,” she said.
One of the protesters, Sule Sanni, said the drivers were protesting against the activities of workers of a transport agency in the state.
Sanni said the protest would continue until the government addressed the issue of extortion by ‘agberos’ and the alleged maltreatment of its members.
He explained that they paid between N10,000 to N15,000 every day to the union, adding that the development was indirectly affecting them negatively.
“Our profit margin is being eroded on a daily basis as they collect money from us at all the bus stops,” he said