A 30-year-old man, Omoyeni Ojo, has allegedly been stabbed to death
by an unidentified bus conductor in the Kilo area of Surulere, Lagos,
during a heated exchange on transport fare.
The Nation newspaper reports that the incident occurred on Saturday, November 28, 2015.
The late Omoyeni, it was learnt, boarded a commercial bus at
Ojuelegba area of Surulere and handed the conductor a N500 note in
payment of the fare. The conductor was said to have told the deceased
that he had no lower denomination of the currency to pay Omoyeni his
balance.
The altercation allegedly escalated and the duo engaged in a fight
but was separated by other passengers on the bus. The conductor stabbed
Rowland with a broken bottle, it emerged.
“He (Omoyeni) boarded the commercial bus at Ojuelegba and gave the
conductor N500,” said an eyewitness who asked not to be mentioned. “The
transport fare is justN50 and he demanded a balance of N450 but the conductor told him off.
They launched an argument that resulted in a fight but they were
separated by other passengers.“On getting to Kilo Bus Stop, where he disembarked, a fight again
broke out between the late Omoyeni and the conductor, when the conductor
could not provide his balance of N450. It was during the fight that the
conductor stabbed Omoyeni dead with a broken bottle.”
Another eyewitness, who simply identified himself as Gloria, said
that Omoyeni fell in a pool of blood and died a few minutes later after
drivers at a nearby Taxi Park allegedly declined to take him to
hospital.
“Omoyeni, aka Rowland, struggled in a pool of his blood for
about one hour but no one was ready to take him to hospital. Even the
cab drivers around did not assist in taking him to hospital before he
died.“Now, we are living in fear as youths in the area have vowed to take
up commercial bus and taxi drivers in the community. As we speak, you
can hardly get commercial vehicles to take you to Ojuelegba because of
the unfortunate incident.”
There was palpable fear among residents when our correspondent
visited the community on Monday. The incident led to a breakdown of
peace as outraged youths set the Taxi Park ablaze and chased away the
drivers, it was gathered.
A female resident who did not want her name in print said that the
late Omoyeni was scheduled to travel to the United States of America on
December 10, 2015.
“Omoyeni was a very easy going person and ebullient.
He was recently granted a visa to travel to US and had planned to leave
the shores of Nigeria on December 10. He would have been saved if he got
prompt medical attention, but taxi drivers at Kilo Bus Stop refused to
take him to a hospital despite the pleading of residents,” she said.