How Lagosians were forced to pass the night on the highway for violating COVID-19 curfew
Several videos of stranded Lagos residents have been circulating on social media with claims that they were forced by law enforcement agencies to spend the night on the highway for staying out beyond 8pm when the overnight curfew was supposed to commence.
Some social media users who were also caught in the web claimed that security operatives enforcing the 8pm – 6am curfew in the state have started mounting roadbloks on major highways to stop residents from having thoroughfare to their destinations once it is 8pm.
President Muhammadu Buhari in his broadcast on Monday March 27 had imposed an overnight curfew on the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Lagos and Ogun States, after easing the five-week lockdown which was imposed as part of measures to curb the spread of COVID-19.
Several social media posts examined by Neusroom revealed that some motorists along Osborne road in Ikoyi were stuck at a spot on Tuesday night with several cars stuck on one lane of the road. Some of the motorists alighted from their cars and sat on the median barrier of the highway, while some sat on their car boots.
An Instagram user with the handle @Femiolasebikan who was also stuck on Osborne road shared several videos from the scene and captioned: “Make una help us beg Governor @jidesanwoolu oooo. We won’t do it again… I want to go home. We’re all sleeping on the road tonight.”
Another user @atulevincent whose post also suggested he was a victim of the Osborne road deadlock wrote: “It was a very sad experience yesterday, the most painful part is like the leadership of the country lives in another planet. They continue to create problem between the police and the citizens. And the police men on the roads are taking advantage of the situation at expense of citizens who are taxed every month. Very sad.”
In other parts of the state, some residents also took to social media to accuse the police of indiscriminate arrest and harassment of residents seen on the street after 8pm without asking for any means of identification to know if they are essential workers exempted from the lockdown and overnight curfew.
The Lagos State chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) also accused the police of harassing health worker in the state while enforcing the curfew.
The association, however, said all doctors under NMA in Lagos would “proceed on a sit-at-home starting from 6pm” on Wednesday, which would continue until rules on the curfew were clarified.
NMA accused the Lagos Police Commissioner, Hakeem Odumosu of “issuing conflicting directives on social and mainstream media to the effect that essential workers, including doctors and other health workers are not exempted”.
The doctors said before they could consider returning to work, a written statement, signed by the state government and police authorities, with clear terms on the status of essential services, including healthcare services and its providers, should be issued and “advertised in the social and mainstream media, and a copy submitted to the Secretariat of the Lagos State Branch of NMA.”
The Commissioner of Police could not be reached for reaction. He did not respond to calls and text messages sent to him to seek clarifications.
None of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s aides was available to discuss the situation with Neusroom.
Meanwhile, the General Manager of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), Olajide Oduyoye exonerated his men from the roadblocks mounted in different parts of the state by security operatives.
He told Neusroom in a telephone conversation on Wednesday night that LASTMA officers now close early so they can also get to their homes before 8pm.
“We don’t want them to get caught up in the curfew so officers go home early, Oduyoye said.
