Motorists Decry Insecurity On Expressway

Motorists plying Mile 2, Badagry and Seme Border route have cried out to the new Commissioner of Police in Lagos State, Mr. Marvel Akpoyibo, over insecurity of lives on the route following incessant attacks and harassment of traders and other road users by armed robbers who usually operate in unpainted cabs and some flashy cars, especially around Morogbo village along the expressway.

Their mode of operation, according to a victim, include blocking fully loaded commercial vehicles coming from Cotonou to Lagos with their car after which they divert the vehicle  into a bush path around Morogbo and dispossess the occupants of their belongings such as money, textile materials and other valuables after deflating the tyres of such vehicles.

Another method which the robbers employ, according to the residents, is parking their cars at a strategic spots around 11 p.m., sometimes with three or four occupants and immediately they sight passengers at the bus stop, they would drive there and pose as commercial vehicle operators wanting to ferry passengers to Mile 2 and charge N150 instead of the normal N200 fare, just to attract patronage. Immediately the unsuspecting passengers board such vehicles and getting to a deserted area around Morogbo, the robbers would veer off the road and rob them of their belongings and at times brutalise those who could not provide anything and even rape the female victims. Once they are through, they will order their victims to lie face down, while they flee the scene.

The motorists therefore called on the new police commissioner to, as matter of urgency, beef up security on the ever busy expressway to prevent robbers from inflicting pains and injury on hapless  travellers.

—Paul Iyoghojie