A mob lynched a commander of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), Mr. Bakare Olatunji to death on Thursday after a motor boy was allegedly hit and killed by the traffic enforcers’ van.

Bakare was reportedly beaten to death by his attackers in the Apapa area of the state.

According to eye witness reports, a group of truck drivers parked their vehicles indiscriminately while relaxing and upon sighting a LASTMA van approach, took to their heels.

A motor boy was hit by the traffic agency’s van in the ensuing chaos as he made to escape. He died instantly.

The death of their member prompted the fleeing group of truck drivers to regroup and launch an attack at the LASTMA officials.

Bakare was beaten and stabbed to death in the process, while another official was injured.

“The drivers were relaxing around 10.30am when they saw a LASTMA van approaching. They felt the officials had come to arrest them for parking vehicles indiscriminately. So, they ran away. A motor boy, who was sleeping beside a tanker, was woken up by the commotion. Before he could escape from the spot, the LASTMA van hit him and he died instantly,” Punch quotes a witness, Uthman Salau as saying.

“One of the drivers, who saw the boy lying in a pool of blood, called his colleagues and they stormed the scene with cutlasses, bottles and all sorts of weapons. The officials fled with the van except their team leader (Olatunji). They stabbed him to death.”

A conflicting account of the incident however claimed Bakare and his men were in hot pursuit of a motorist when they accidentally knocked the motor boy down.

A LASTMA official said the men would normally not have gone for operations in the Apapa area but they had been accused of laxity in enforcing traffic law and tasked by the management to deliver.

“Ordinarily, they would not have gone for operations in that area. However, two weeks ago, the management was angry that we have not performed to expectation in terms of enforcement. Each zone was asked to generate N12m by December 19. So, we are under pressure to deliver. That is the reality we are battling with,” he said.

Lagos State Police have have begun investigations into the unfortunate incident.