A commercial bus driver on Tuesday set himself ablaze in the Ajao Estate area of Lagos State.
It was gathered that task force operatives while on enforcement duties along the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Road impounded some vehicles.
According to the report the driver, whose bus was among the seized vehicles, while protesting the seizure, reached out for petrol, emptied it on himself, and set himself ablaze.
Some witnesses said that the driver was heard saying it was better to die than to live and watch his only means of livelihood taken away from him.
One of the drivers who simply gave his name as Kazeem said the situation caused heavy traffic and pandemonium as motorists abandoned their vehicles while commuters scampered for safety.
He said “the driver was rushed to the hospital, but I don’t think he will survive the burns. The damage done on him was too much.”
The state Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Adekunle Ajisebutu, said the state Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Alabi, had ordered an investigation into the incident.
He said, “The information we got was that there was resistance when a task force from the ministry of transportation went for enforcement”.
“No policeman set any vehicle ablaze; policemen attached to the Ajao Estate Police Division were not involved in what happened. However, the Commissioner of Police has ordered an investigation into the incident”.
A spokesperson for the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences Unit, Raheem Gbadeyinka, said no officer of the agency was involved in the operation.
He said, “The incident happened around 5am, and as of 8am, our men were still at the office because we were looking for fuel for our patrol vans as of that time.”
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