Police traffic wardens and officers of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) as well as Federal Safety Corps (FRSC) were scanty on major roads across Lagos on Tuesday, in what has triggered fear and worsened traffic situation.
In some parts of the state, they were totally absent from their duty posts, leaving ‘area boys’ and members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), to man and control traffic flow at road junctions/roundabouts.
Pockets of military personnel were also sighted around public assets, including the international airport, the Lagos State secretariat, multinationals, foreign embassies, among others, in what seems to be fuelling a sense of uncertainties in Nigeria’s economic capital.
Lagos in the last few days had come under severe attacks sprouting from the #EndSARS protest which led to free looting of Covid-19 palliatives, destruction and burning of private and public assets, including about 17 police stations, local government secretariat, hundreds of BRT buses, court, shopping malls, tollgates, among others.
In some of the police station torched and vandalised, arms and ammunition were said to have been carted away by the arsonists.
Making a reference to the looting of arms and ammunition while speaking on Monday, the chief of army staff, Tukur Buratai, had charged senior military officers manning various formations across the country to beef up security around public assets and deal decisively with any persons that constitute a threat to national interest.
There’s currently a curfew in the state from 8pm to 6am, a measure imposed by the state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu to douse palpable tension that had enveloped Lagos in the wake of the #EndSARS protest and the destruction that trailed it.
It could not be ascertained what is responsible for the abandonment of the roads by the police, LASTMA and the FRSC, as the spokesperson of the Lagos police command, Muyiwa Adejobi, and the general manager of LASTMA, Olajide Oduyoye did not take their calls.
