A reporter with Channels TV, Olu Phillips was harrassed and manhandled by Police Officers stationed at the Lekki Toll Gate on Friday morning.
Phillips was covering the re-opening of the Toll Gate which has been shutdown since the October 2020 #EndSARS protests when armed police officers attacked and bundled him into a waiting van.
According to Phillips, It took the intervention of some pedestrians and commuters who witnessed the incident and challenged the officers before he was released.
In March 2021, the Lekki Concession Company, LCC generated controversy when they announced plans to resume tolling. The move was seriously resisted by many Nigerians who are still aggrieved by the shooting of unarmed protesters by military personnel at the toll gate in the heat of the #EndSARS protest in 2020.
The Lekki Estate Residents and Stakeholders Association in a meeting last Wednesday with the LCC rejected the move. In a letter to the Governor, Babajide Sanwoolu, the organization stated that it was wrong and the timing of the re-opening was bad as the nation is currently experiencing serious economic hardship.
“Let’s first paint a picture of the current reality being faced in the socio-economic environment: According to the Central Bank of Nigeria/National Bureau of Statistics, unemployment is at 33% while youth unemployment is at a staggering 42.5%; and when you add youth under-employment, you have 63.5% of youth either unemployed or underemployed.”
“Also, Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) is currently at 15.70% resulting in increasing cost of food compounded by the increased cost of electricity, fuel and diesel prices. In addition to all of this, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is on strike, meaning students are at home, with other unions threatening to go on strike.
“It is therefore evident that with elections around the corner combined with Nigeria’s precarious socio-economic climate, any additional triggers increasing the burden of citizens could produce unexpected outcomes. We view with deep concern and trepidation the less than transparent attempt at recommencing tolling activities at the Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge, even as matters relating to the #EndSARS protest, which led to the termination of tolling activities in the first place, remain largely unresolved.”
Watch the video below;
“@IamSamzyPR: Channels TV Journalist covering the #Lekki Ikoyi link bridge tollgate reopening, Olu Phillips harassed by Police.
Gidi_Traffic #LekkiTollGate pic.twitter.com/rsToxXJKy8
— GIDI (@Gidi_Traffic) April 1, 2022
