While many Lagos commuters would love to hate officials of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), who collect tolls from commercial bus drivers, Abiodun Olawale’s travails, elicited their pity on Monday. Reason: Four uniformed men had descended on the hapless young man, giving him a beating that landed him hospital.
Doctors are currently battling hard to save the life of a motor park attendant, and an assistant to officials of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Onipanu Bus Stop branch, who was allegedly beaten to pulp, on two separate occasions same day, by some ‘unknown’ soldiers.
On Monday, 13 May, 2013, Abiodun Olawale, a resident of No 2, Oshogun Street, Ketu, Lagos State had a bloody deal in the hands of some soldiers who gave him the beating of his life. Olawale, 25, works with NURTW officials at Onipanu Bus Stop where he collects park tolls from commercial drivers upon handling them a receipt of the union.
Early that fateful morning, Olawale was already at work at the park when a Varagon bus pulled up to pick passengers at the bus stop around 11am and he rushed towards the driver to collect the toll as usual.
As the practice of some drivers, the said driver of the commercial bus declined to pay the park attendant, claiming that he has a ‘staff ’ (a soldier) in his bus. It was reported that when the driver of the Varagon told Olawale that he had a ’staff ’ in his us, the park attendant would not hear of it, but insisted that the driver pay the required dues. It was at that point that the soldier reportedly shouted at the park attendant to back off the vehicle.
The park attendant was still not ready to listen to the soldier but insisted that the driver pay him the money.
At that stage, the soldier reportedly got off the vehicle and gave Olawale several slaps on the face. While the soldier beat the park attendant, his superiors in the NURTW reportedly came out to prevail on the soldier to let the young man be. It was reported that the soldier attempted to drag Olawale into the bus but the union members did not allow him.
After about 10 minutes, the solder went away in the Varagon bus and Olawale was treated and he later continued with his work. It was reported that about half an hour later, the soldier reappeared at the bus stop, but this time, he was not alone.
The soldier reportedly came with four others in a red Toyota saloon car. The driver of the saloon car, suspected to be a soldier too, was however in mufti. The four uniformed soldiers reportedly carried arms. In a commando-like scenario, the soldiers on sighting Olawale, allegedly pounced on him and gave him a thorough beating, injuring him all over his body in the process.
It was said that the soldiers used their jack-knives on Olawale’s head and kicked him around the bus stop.
Officials of the NURTW around, led by its unit chairman, Alhaji Ibrahim Adeyeye, tried hard to free the boy from the soldiers but they could not.
Apparently when it became clear that the soldiers might kill the young man, some hoodlums around and some members of the union rushed to Onipanu Police Station to report the situation.
It was reported that when the soldiers realised that crowd are already gathering and had started throwing pebbles at them, the Divisional Police Officer and the Divisional Crime Officer of the police station came to douse the tension.
The law enforcement officers reportedly placed the soldiers under detention while a call was reportedly made to their barracks at Ikeja. In the interim, Olawale was rushed to Ogunsolu General Hospital where he was placed under intensive care.
The driver who brought the soldiers in the red car reportedly fled to the other side of the road with the arrival of the police team and he was given a hot chase by hoodlums.
The unit head where the soldiers work reportedly asked that the four men be released to him for appropriate disciplinary action, to which the law enforcement agents complied. But when the military police team that came to whisk the soldiers to their barracks came, they also demanded the release of the injured Olawale, and machinery was put in place to release him from the hospital where he was receiving treatment.
Speaking on the development, Adeyeye, who also accompanied Olawale to the army barracks claimed that but for the timely intervention of the policemen, the soldiers would have killed him.
“I have never seen such brazen display of force before in my life. I don’t know how a soldier would mediate in a matter between drivers and union members. We did everything to prevail on this soldier to allow the sleeping dog to lie, but he refused. And we were ready to follow the matter up to anywhere before their boss intervened,” he said.
Olawale managed to utter some words on his hospital bed. According to him, “I did not understand why the soldier behaved like that. I did not offend him but was asking the bus driver to pay his dues.
But he just came down and started beating me. When he wanted to carry me inside the vehicle, people around came to rescue me. “But he came back later with his colleagues to beat me mercilessly. I did not even know how I got to the hospital,” Olawale said.
The DPO Onipanu was not available to comment on the matter, but a policeman at the station who demanded for anonymity confirmed the incident and arrest of the soldiers, but said the matter had been transferred to the army for further action. Col. Kinsgley Umoh, spokesman of 81 Division Nigerian Army could not be immediately reached on his mobile telephone for comment on the incident.
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