A great number of protesters at Alausa, Ikeja, on Friday, attacked a van believed to have been sent by Musiliu Akinsanya, popularly called MC Oluomo, the chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Lagos chapter, to deliver water and drinks to protesters.
MC Oluomo, Mudashiru Obasa, Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, and the Lagos State government were earlier accused of sponsoring armed thugs that launched an attack on protesters on Thursday.
Several protesters were said to have been injured at Alausa, Ikeja, on Thursday, after thugs armed with guns, machetes, knives, and axes attacked them.
A day after the incident, MC Oluomo in an attempt to save his image sent water, food, and drinks branded with his name to the protesters.
However, Youths seem not to trust him as they rejected the food and drinks donated to them at the Lagos State House of Assembly on Friday, while some other protesters, unknowingly, collected the food and drinks before one of them raised an alarm about who sent the food.
One of the protesters (Name withheld) shouted, ‘MC Oluomo sent them, he wants to poison us, don’t drink the water.’
Other protesters on checking the label on the bottles started throwing the bottles at the van that brought the package.
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Protesters clamored, ‘We don’t want any support from MC Oluomo, they are trying to break us, they want to penetrate again.’
The transport union chief in a video he shared on social media denied the allegation against him and asserted that his support is for the #ENDSARS protest. He noted that even the government has come to realiSe that the SARS unit of the police has caused more harm than good for society and have therefore banned the unit. MC Oluomo assured young Nigerians that he is on their side on the matter of #ENDSARS.
The NURTW is the most influential transport union in Nigeria, and Its members include private bus drivers and conductors and the thousands of garage boys, popularly called ‘agberos’ who assist the government in retrieving taxes, coordinating, and enforcing transport ground rules in the state.
In Lagos, MC Oluomo and the NURTW are believed to have a strong relationship with the governing party in the state, APC.
In response to the Thursday incident, the government has pledged to ensure the prosecution of officers who assaulted and killed some protesters. They also assured protesters of the release of all arrested protesters.
Adenike Omosanya
Photo Credit: PMNews
