LASTMA Officers
By Chiemelie Ezeobi
An official of the Lagos State Transport Management Agency (LASTMA), simply identified by his name tag as Oshodi .O., Thursday, allegedly murdered a commercial bus conductor at Motorways bus stop along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.
Popularly known as ‘Ilorin’, the deceased conductor was said to be hanging by the door of the bus when the LASTMA official allegedly threw a metal object (wrench) at the bus to stop the driver.
Unfortunately, the object missed the bus and hit the conductor, thereby knocking him off the bus to the road.
According to eyewitness report, when the conductor fell off the bus, the LASTMA pick-up van, which was trailing the commercial bus closely cruched the conductor.
The conductor died on the spot before help could come.
The death of the conductor drew the ire of the crowd, who then attacked the LASTMA official, beating him to stupor.
He was however rescued by police operatives attached to the Ketu Police Division, who stormed the area.
After several attempts, the policemen were able to disperse the crowd and then take the unconscious LASTMA official to the hospital.
When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Jaiyeoba Joseph, a superintendent of police (SP), confirmed the incident.
He, however, said the LASTMA officials were after the commercial bus driver because he was driving against traffic.
He said: “The driver was said to be driving against traffic and the LASTMA officers were pursuing them for fragrantly disobeying traffic rules. Contrary to what people are insinuating, the LASTMA officer did not throw anything on the conductor rather he (the conductor) fell off when he was trying to catch up his driver.”
The police spokesman, who declined to comment on the arrest of some people by policemen, said: “I am not sure the police arrested anyone. All I know is that the policemen who went there were trying to resolve the matter between LASTMA officials and the crowd.”
According to an eyewitness, one Titilayo Banjoko, the death of the conductor stirred up the area boys who almost lynched the LASTMA officer.
She said: “The LASTMA officer was almost killed save for the timely intervention of the police.”
The incident caused a heavy traffic snarl in the area and it took the effort of the police to clear the road.
Simply identified as Fatai, one of the eyewitnesses on the scene of the accident, disclosed that the painful part was the fact that the deceased had mapped out today (Friday) as the naming ceremony of his twin babies