A group of tricycle operators popularly referred to as Keke NAPEP, yesterday at the OPC Junction in Idimu had a face-off with commercial minibus drivers otherwise known as Korope operators.
The clash which started at about 10:45 a.m lasted for at least an hour.
The tricycle riders had been chased out of the Idimu bus-stop by the road transport workers in the area for boycotting ticketing and unlawfully lifting passengers outside the park.
The commercial tricyclists do not have a park, but they come from Ejigbo to lobby for passengers at Idimu. They do not pay for tickets at the park, and because they had been banned from the park, frustrated and enraged, they took to the OPC junction to hinder the commercial minibus drivers from operating.
When contacted by AlimoshoToday, Mr Koko Shobayo, the chairman of the minibus operators (korope) said the keke operators have been fighting them and do not want them to operate. "They come from Ejigbo. That is where their park is, but they always come here to hinder us from carrying passengers because they always lie in wait for passengers and pick them off before they could reach us at the bus stop. We are not fighting them as you can see. They have parked and barricaded everywhere in this OPC junction and we cannot move. Though everything will be fine soon," Koko said.
When contacted, the tricycle riders denied attacking anyone. One of them who refused to disclose his name said "if we are not allowed to work, nobody will work. Final!" he declared.
A commercial motorcyclist who witnessed the incident and identified himself as Wale Oba said: Keke operators have taken to the OPC junction to barricade the Ejigbo-Idimu Road, hindering korope operators (minibus drivers) from working".
