Tanker drivers burn 2 banks over killing of colleague by policeman
Strike: Bello proscribes Kogi varsity ASUU’s activities
Angry tanker drivers yesterday burnt two banks on Creek Road, Apapa, following the alleged killing of one of their colleagues by a mobile policeman.
The tanker drivers first set Sterling Bank on fire after the bank’s management failed to hand to them the policeman who ran into the bank.
A witness Samuel Adeyemi said that as the Sterling bank burnt, the mob learnt that the policeman had dashed to the Diamond Bank building next Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State has proscribed the activities of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) at the state-owned university in Anyigba for not calling off its seven-month old strike action after government had allegedly met 90 per cent of its demands.
Bello who made the proclamation yesterday in Lokoja after a decision reached on the matter by the state executive council, directed all academic staff of the institution to resume normal academic activities immediately or deem door, to which they shifted and also set on fire.
It took the arrival of operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) and anti-riot policemen to disperse the mob.
The crisis was said to have been sparked by indiscriminate parking of trailers in front of many buildings, including banks, on Creek Road by tanker drivers who were in Apapa to lift petroleum products.
The mobile policeman allegedly accosted the drivers to move their vehicles,
but the drivers were said themselves to have resigned from the employment of the state government and the university.
The governor said that the lecturers had been paid up to date and that there was no justification for them to continue their industrial action.
He ordered the management of the institution to take immediate steps to find and engage suitable replacements for all crucial staff vacancies, including those that had left or might wish to leave and all those who are deemed to have left the service of Kogi State University pursuant to to have refused to budge, and as the disagreement between them and the mobile policeman degenerated into a physical scuffle, one of them allegedly brought out a knife and attempted to stab the policeman.
Adeyemi told our correspondent that the policeman pointed his rifle to the sky and fired, but the driver remained unperturbed.
“As the driver charged at the policeman threatening with the knife in his hand, the policeman pointed directly at him and fired. He fell and died on the spot. Other the proclamation.
“In effect, the Governing Council of the university and the management of KSU and the management of the Ministry of Education are hereby directed to immediately start the process of employing all categories of academic staff,” he said.
He said ASUU-KSU’s activities related to their strike of about seven months had obstructed and disrupted provision of essential services in education, “thereby occasioning psychological trauma and irrevocable loss to the lawful recipients.”
He added, “The Kogi state government notes with drivers, seeing their colleague fall, charged towards the policeman. The policeman then ran into the bank. Within minutes, other tanker drivers gathered, took over the entire Creek Road demanding that the policeman be handed over to them,” he said.
The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, said on phone that the crisis had been brought under control.
He said no bank was destroyed and that armed policemen were on guard in the area to prevent a further breakdown of law and order. dismay that government with all appeasement has been unable to bring ASUU to a middle ground…That ASUUKSU has refused to recognise industrial relations as work in progress and had insisted on continuing its strike action indefinitely… Accordingly, the Kogi State government hereby makes proclamation and declares all activities of ASUU in KSU proscribed effective from today July 19, 2017.”
Efforts to get the comments of the KSU ASUU’s chairman, Dr Daniel Aina on the development proved abortive as his line was not going through.