• Beat, tear-gas drivers
• Cart away circulation vehicles
• They’re doing their job, says official
In a manner reminiscent of the infamous era of military dictatorship, officials of the Lagos StateMinistry of Transportation (MOT) invaded the headquarters of the Vintage Press Limited (VPL) Publishers of The Nation newspapers on Wednesday night, molested two of its drivers and impounded two distribution vehicles awaiting to load newsprints and newspapers for circulation.
Thousands of copies of the Thursday papers affected were those slated for distribution in some parts of the Southwest as well as the Port Harcourt and South South editions, which one of the vehicles was preparing to off take from the printing press before the men struck.
The other vehicle was meant to take newsprints to Abuja.
VPL Chief Security Officer, Mr Abidemi Daodu, who witnessed the invasion, said the men numbering about 15 who were fully armed, stormed The Nation Newspaper at about 2am in two mini vehicles, popularly called Korope.
Without provocation, the men descended on the drivers, who were in their vehicles which were parked outside the exit gate of the premises.
“Initially, we thought they were armed robbers because none of them wore any uniform indicating they were from the Lagos State government. They descended on the two drivers, beat and tear gassed them. They dragged them down from the vehicles, collected the keys to the vehicles and drove off.”
He said it was when they were leaving that they disclosed their identities as officials of the Ministry of Transportation and that the drivers should come and pick their vehicles at day break at Alausa Secretariat.
Dauda said the traumatised drivers were revived after about two hours.
On getting to Alausa later in the morning, the vehicles were ticketed with N150,000 and N90,000 fines respectively.
He said the fines were later slashed to N50,000 for each of the vehicles.
One of the drivers, Idris Lawal, described the MOT officials’ action as barbaric.
“I was waiting for the security to open the gate around 2am when about 10 armed men pounced on me. It was like a robbery scene where they forcefully snatched the vehicle’s key and tear-gassed me and the other driver. They beat me with weapons,” he said.
The other driver, Abubakar Adebayo, said he was yet to recover from the shock
“I was about to drive and load newsprints meant for Abuja press when these people descended on me and gave me the beaten of my life. As we were telling them that we are officials of The Nation newspaper, they kept beating us and tear-gassing our faces. At some points, I lost consciousness. I was later revived,” he said.
The MOT officials claimed they were simply doing their jobs and they did not know The Nation or whatever it stands for.
A senior official asked us if the company obtained the permit to park vehicles on the setback.
The official lied that they were fines for “illegal parking” despite the fact that the drivers were waiting for the security check before driving into the premises.
Editor of The Nation Newspaper Adeniyi Adesina said the actions of the government’s officials disrupted the operations of the newspaper as the company was not able to circulate to some parts of the Southwest, Abuja and the Southsouth and Port Harcourt.
Besides, the revenue loss in terms of copy sales, the newspaper lost massively a huge advertisement revenue as advertisers who had paid for spaces in the paper could not see their advertisements.
He described the action as unbecoming and amounted to a return of the era of gagging the media.
He wondered what kind of enforcement the officials were carrying out at 2am, even when they found the drivers in their vehicles parked right in front of the office.
“What enforcement do they need to carry out at midnight when the vehicles concerned are not abandoned vehicles? It is only abandoned vehicles that are usually treated in that manner and towed to their office, not operational vehicles, whose operators are met inside their vehicles.
He said the drivers according to their account, were heavily molested and tear gassed just for trying to eke out a legitimate living, an act he described as unbecoming, barbaric and condemnable. (The Nation)
