Tension As Tanker Drivers Set Banks Ablaze In Reprisal Attack

There was mayhem today at Creek Road, Apapa, Lagos, after some tanker drivers set two banks on fire over the death of one of their colleagues.

The tanker drivers had set the banks on fire in retaliation to the killing of their colleague who was allegedly shot by a mobile policeman attached to one of the banks in that area.

It was learnt that it was in the habit of the tanker drivers to block the entrance of the bank, an act that they have been rebuked for.

The policemen who were attached to the bank at first approached them to give access to the bank’s customers to come in and carry out their financial activities, but the drivers declined.

When attempts to move them proved abortive, one of the policemen attached to the bank had shot sporadically into the air to scare them off.

One of the expended shots unfortunately hit one of the tanker drivers, who bled and died on the spot.

The tanker drivers, in reaction, regrouped and set the bank ablaze in retaliation. They further went on to set the second bank ablaze.

Attempts by men of the Lagos State Fire Service, Iponri, who rushed to the scene, to put out the raging fire was rebuffed by the tanker drivers.

It however took the effort of some soldiers deployed from the Signal Corps of the Nigerian Army (NA) to douse the situation and restore sanity to the area.

A senior police officer who spoke on anonymity, said, “”Those tanker drivers are very irrational. When the policemen attached to the first bank shot at the tanker drivers, they regrouped and stormed the bank in anger.

“They were said to have first demanded that the policeman who shot their colleague be released to them. When their demands proved abortive, they took laws into their hands.

“They contributed fuel from their tanks and set the bank ablaze. The entire situation caused a stampede as both workers and bankers scrambled to escape from the back of the bank to safety.

“The drivers were still on rampage in the first bank when they heard that the policeman had taken refuge in the next bank.

“Armed with that information, they simply went over to the said bank and carried out same carnage, irrespective of the presence of innocent bystanders.”