A truck driver’s life was hacked by some yet-to-be-identified taskforce officials said to be on illegal duty around 2am on Tuesday in the Mile 2 area of Lagos State. The driver killed was later identified as Toheeb.
It was learnt that the 30-year-old deceased victim had just departed Tincan Island when the officials who were on patrol in a branded white Hilux van accosted him at the edge of Mile 2 bridge.
While they attempted to forcefully hijack the truck, Toheeb jumped out of the vehicle and fled the scene.
Enraged by his action, one of the officials allegedly fired a shot at him.
One of the truck drivers who witnessed the incident said his motor boy was dragged out of the truck and repeatedly hit with the butt of their rifle.
The eyewitness, a member of the Lagos Maritime Truck Owners, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, “The driver stopped near the bridge to buy some items before embarking on his journey. The moment he entered his truck and was about to leave, the task force officials surrounded him and asked him to start the engine of the truck and step out.
“He pleaded with them to allow him to go but they started to hit him. He later obliged to start the truck but the engine failed to start. He therefore jumped out of the vehicle and tried to escape. That was when they shot him in the back.”
Another colleague of the deceased said efforts were made to save his life before he later died.
The colleague who gave his name as Rafiu said, “When we got information that our colleague was attacked by security operatives, we rushed to the scene and saw him in a pool of blood. It was when we got there that we discovered that it was Toheeb. We also saw his motor boy lying on the floor after sustaining injuries during the attack by the officers.
“We quickly rushed them to the hospital. Toheeb was rejected at the two hospitals we initially took him to. We later took him to the general hospital where he was confirmed dead.”
His death however led to a protest on Tuesday morning as some of his colleagues set bonfires at the Mile 2 area of the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, thereby disrupting the flow of vehicular movement.
It took the intervention of a combined team of police and military operatives who were deployed to quell the unrest in the area.
The unknown officers were said to have also gone away with another truck during the operation.
A security source in the area, however, told our correspondents that there are federal agents in charge of containers who were often referred to as taskforce as well.
“There are some federal agents. Some people also call them task force, so that’s the problem. I don’t think it’s the Lagos task force,” the source said.
Truck drivers protesting the killing of their colleague later clashed with policemen in the area, leading to a breakdown of law and order.
While the confusion lasted, motorists and commuters kept off the affected area.
Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the Lagos State Taskforce, Gbadeyan Abdulraheem, denied the involvement of the agency in a statement to the media.
Abdulraheem quoted the agency’s Chairman, CSP Shola Jejeloye, as saying, “None of our men were posted out today for environmental and traffic operations, rather they were only posted to Freedom Park to maintain peace and orderliness during the planned NLC rally so that miscreants and other sinister forces do not hijack the protest.
“Our operational jackets are branded with unique identification numbers for members of the public to recognise during our operations.”
He also said the agency would do all within its power to get to the root of the matter and ensure that perpetrators of the heinous crime were brought to book.
Meanwhile, the state Commissioner of Police, Idowu Owohunwa, during his visit to the area, promised to track the location of the truck and identify the perpetrators.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, while reacting on X, said an investigation had commenced into the killing of the driver.
“Investigation into the killing of the driver has commenced,” the PPRO said via @BenHundeyin.
He further told one of our correspondents in a chat that, “No arrest has been made yet.”
