By Christopher Oji
There was pandemonium yesterday at the Apapa area of Lagos when hoodlums attacked motorists and commuters who were stranded in gridlock.
The hoodlums numbering over 50, armed with daggers and other cudgels descended on some Journalists from television stations recording the traffic situation in the axis.
Hell was let loose when sympathisers tried to rescue the TV cameramen and the hoodlums went on rampage, attacking anyone on sights.
The attack led to pandemonium as people scampered for safety while some matorists abandoned their vehicles and fled for fear of being stabbed.
A witness, John Okon, said the hoodlums were mobilized by members of road transport unions and other agencies collecting tolls from truck drivers who felt that the TV cameramen came to report their illegal activities in the areas.
Okon said,” the hoodlums stabbed a cameraman of a Television station, Channels, Ismail Sanusi, while recording the present condition of gridlock on the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway as well as around the Apapa and Tin Can ports in Lagos State.
“Aside from him, crew members of Arise Television, who were also within the axis to record efforts being made to ease movements around the ports, were said to be missing after hoodlums attacked them to halt the recordings on Apapa gridlocks.
“ The hoodlums were members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), and Maritime workers, as well as, those engaged by the Apapa Local Government to extort motorists on the road”.