Surulere, a community where Femi Gbajabiamila, Speaker of the House of Representatives, comes from, is currently in ruins arising from the fire and fury that followed the Lekki Toll Plaza shooting by trigger-happy soldiers a day before.
Nollywood Actor and member, Lagos State House of Assembly, Desmond Elliot, also hails from same community.
Driving through this middle class neighbourhood Thursday morning to Apapa was like going through a war-torn area. From Ojuelegba through to Ishaga, to Randle Avenue, to Masha, Adeniran Ogunsanya and to Eric Moore was akin to the proverbial passing through the valley of shadow of death.
Although there were no more disturbances after that massive destruction that took place the previous day (Wednesday) in which the residence of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s mother was burnt down; constituency offices of Gbajabiamila and Elliot destroyed, among other havocs, the entire area now lives with the ghost disturbances and wreckage of destruction.
With the curfew still in full force, vehicular movements were almost non-existent, which drew the attention of some bad boys to our correspondent as he meandered through the ashes of bonfires, pieces of broken bottles and other dangerous weapons that may have been deployed in that massive destruction. Although they were not violent, they positioned themselves at strategic places, like hungry predators waiting for an easy prey.
For instance, at the Shoprite on Adeniran Ogunsanya Street, there was a huge presence of youths, who sat on the road median waiting for God-knows-what.
From Shitta, a popular roundabout in Surulere, which has continued to play host to the #EndSARS protests, through Shoprite area to Eric Moore junction, the roads were littered with broken bottles, ashes of bonfires, and all sorts of pebbles. Popular bank offices and telecom shops and warehouses were destroyed and some telecom offices were looted and vandalised.
A case in point is the Samsung office at Eric Moore Junction.
From Surulere where he took off to Apapa, our correspondent reports that there were not up to four vehicles on the road, on the route that, on a normal day, thousands of various brands of vehicles would be competing for space on dilapidated patch lands that make for roads in the “City of Excellence”.
Our correspondent reports further that it was difficult to take any picture of the massive destruction in Surulere as he was driving and many probing eyes were on him. He also said that he only encountered some miscreants on the bridge at the descent to Marine Bridge, who blocked the road, demanding for “settlement.” They were not violent, except if their request was not met.
He also encountered some police personnel near the NAGAFF office, close to Area B Police Command, who only demanded identification and allowed him to proceed.
Recall that following the shooting Tuesday of the #EndSARS protesters at Lekki, Lagos, protesters in various parts of the state had gone on rampage, visiting their anger on individual and corporate properties.
