Much Ado on extortion, character assassination, a need to move forward 

By Seyi Mordechai Adekanmbi,

We saw the latest letter by Aroyewun to the Amuwo local government and the manner it was presented on many news forums as a plain attempt at assassinating the character of Mr, Ola the Amuwo Odofin Local government Lagos State Trucks and Cargo Operators Committee (LASTCOC) head of the operation, with the ultimate aim of reversing the success made by LASTCOC at Amuwo Odofin local government.

In actual fact, even when we know that the tickets which were displayed by Aroyewun with the letter signed by his new recruits called Folorunsho do not belong to our head of operation, neither was it linked to him by the letter.

The fact that he never credited LASTCOC and its head of operations for working assiduously to ensure the eradication of these practices in Amuwo, and the timing of the letter as a follow-up to his last letter where he accused our head of operation of selling local government tickets in Amuwo, was intended to give the impression that the displayed tickets are part of his reasons for fighting Mr Ola.

We know that this latest letter has nothing to do with his hatred for extortion and extortionists, but is part of his systemic attempt to cast LASTCOC in a bad light, with the ultimate objective of undermining our efforts and weakening our resolve as a group, in our efforts to ride the truckers of extortionist under various names on the roads.

Even when he refused to acknowledge our good works at arresting those selling various illegal revenue tickets, we believe he should be fair enough to point out those who own the tickets he displayed, because they are not ghosts, instead of making it open-ended to allow for speculation that the tickets belonged to those he was fighting against at Amuwo (Ola Amuwo).

Furthermore, we know from discernible patterns that his various accusations were intended to strengthen the extortionists on the roads, as will be shown here.

For instance, since the inauguration of LASTCOC on November 2O23 till date, Mr Aroyewun has written roughly about 46 petitions against LASTCOC and none has been written against the RTEAN & NURTW and other extortion bandits on the roads.

This gives us an average of 6 petitions against LASTCOC in a month. Some of these petitions which were sent to the security agencies are plain blackmail, character assassinations, and misrepresentation of facts, with outright demand for stoppage of our operations and presence on Lagos Roads, to which he has been told bluntly on each occasion that the security agencies have no power to stop the state policy.

During this same period, LASTCOC has been able to rescue over 78 broken down trucks from the area boys on Lagos Roads, we have been able to release about 164 trucks from various government agencies like VIO, LASTMA & FRSC (not all cases were documented). 16 accident cases have been treated by LASTCOC, with over 225 area boys arrested and 23 remanded in prisons, to ensure deterrence.

Apart from that, Truckers’ issues were treated at Conference 57, and a general consensus was reached among the 57 local government and development areas that they have no right to issue any tickets for revenue generation from our Trucks on the Road, an achievement that was made possible through the backing of the state Government via the Ministry of Transportation.

Not only that, the leadership of LASTCOC has been made to sit with the leadership of the two Unions known as NURTW & RTEAN, and the two Unions made to know they have no business collecting money from Trucks, because they are under LASTCOC, and were made to disowned the boys on the roads as Touts.

This is why we could raid and arrest the boys harassing truckers on the roads, even when they are wearing uniforms, without their leadership coming out to identify with them openly, (even when they ensure their release behind the scenes).

It is unfortunate to know that Yinka never says anything about these achievements nor speaks against these extortionists, rather he has been working for them to ensure their return when or where we can dislodge them fully.

Statistically, we have about 28 Zones in Lagos Roads with only 1O selling tickets as of today, out of which we have been able to bring the activities of these hoodlums under control in four Zones, three of which are Odonguyan in Ikorodu, Agbara, and Amuwo.

At Ikorodu, which happens to be the town of Aroyewun. An average truck pays about 28 thousand at Odonguyan junction, we met with the local government chairman who denied giving revenue tickets to the boys on that road, we met the scrap dealers association, and they made it clear that their tickets of 2 thousand would be restricted to trucks carrying their scraps only.

In other not to create a security challenge in that area, we allow the collection of 5OO each by five different groups which are grounded and hitherto have been collecting between 2 to 5 thousand each. In total, the money allowed to be collected at Ikorodu by LASTCOC is a total of 25OO or 45OO, (plus 3OO LASTCOC tickets we have 55OO or 75OO) to be paid by Cargo trucks and scraps dealers trucks respectively at Odonguyan junction in Ikorodu, and in other to enforce this, we decided to station our men with them at that junction.

In response to this, and from the prompting of the Unions and extortionists that we dislodged, Yinka Aroyewun decided to write the Commissioner of Police for Lagos, alleging that LASTCOC stationed its men on the roads for collection of money at Odonguyan.

He never mentioned how we reduced the money on this road, neither did he write any petitions against the Unions before or after we dislodged them.

Why was he doing this, if not to ensure that the extortionist had their way? In actual fact, there are terminals where we can station our men to give tickets, but the strategic thing to do in this case is to stay on their points to monitor them and protect our trucks (since we have able-bodied men with the backing of the State).

Coming to Agbara, there is a place where the various extortionists gathered to collect money totaling 25 thousand naira from every passing truck.

With the assistance of the various security agencies and other non-state agencies security, we have been able to take control of this point and reduce the tolls to about 2 thousand nairas, with LASTCOC tickets, we have a total of 5 thousand collectibles at that Point.

Just because we have been able to weaken the extortionists on this spot, Aroyewun wrote a letter to the military high command to accuse the soldiers of helping LASTCOC to collect revenue, instead of saying they gave us protection from his extortionist friends.

Again it is clear that Aroyewun and his group are only out to weaken us wherever we got it right.

Coming to Amuwo, having engaged the local government of Amuwo, it was agreed that Amuwo’s local government does not authorize anyone to collect revenue for them again. Before this time, apart from money being collected by various Unions which ran into over 12 thousand, the revenue collection duty was given to Mr. Ola who is now our head of operations at Amuwo.

With his membership of LASTCOC, he stopped collection of various dues for the local government and it was agreed that the CDA of a particular community whose roads are impassable be allowed to collect 1thousand naira from trucks for the sole purpose of maintaining the roads.

With this, the money being collected at Amuwo, including that of LASTCOC has been reduced to 4 or 5 thousand naira. Furthermore, all the money being collected by the Unions was stopped by Ola who is our head of operations.

Although, we are aware that some groups of people (Union men) do indulge in the acts of ” midnight raid to catch them in a corner.”

It is like a ten to twenty minutes operation where the Touts mount a roadblock and make demands from truckers, then change position before they can be apprehended by our men, (because we have mandated our head of operations to sanitize Amuwo and get the culprit arrested).

All of this was made possible because we have men on the ground under the leadership of our zonal chairman in the person of Alhaji Kunfaya Kun, and ably coordinated by our head of operations (Mr. Ola) which Aroyewun is out to destroy his reputation.

All the same, we are not surprised to see Aroyewun doing what he has been paid to do by our detractors, but we are determined and can not be blackmailed by Yinka Aroyewun, who has decided to switch to what he called “PLAN B which involves collaborating with the enemies (extortion bandits under Unions like RTEAN & NURTW) of his enemy (LASTCOC).

Today, LASTCOC seems to be the major enemy that must be stopped by Yinka Aroyewun and his extortionist friends hiding under unionism. But one sure thing is that, if his intentions are evil and self-serving, he is bound to fail.

On our part, we will not relent, neither do we intend to compromise the truth, but will rather extend our hands of friendship for the last time, as a sign of magnanimity.

However, in our efforts to display an open-door policy of inclusivity, without recourse to what has happened in the past, we know that the only thing we all claimed to believe is the interest of the truckers, just as we may have different ways on how we think the objective can be achieved.

If that is the case, we can still assume that all the activities of each divide, (including Aroyewun and LASTCOC) were aimed at achieving the said goals, but in the absence of Trust.

Nevertheless, we firmly believe that it’s time for us to unite as stakeholders in the maritime transport industry if truly we have the Love of the industry at heart.

In summary, for the sake of record and the spirit of love for the industry and not out of cowardice, we humbly request the support and cooperation of all divides, (including Aroyewun) to join hands with Lagos State Truck and Cargo Operators Committee in our efforts to bring about positive change.

Through a United front. Together, we can collectively address the challenges facing us for a successful, efficient, and profitable Maritime trucking business.

In the absence of a United front, we urge Aroyewun to engage LASTCOC in constructive dialogue, and to stand as an alternative voice to correct and create awareness about our shortcomings if any truly exist, just as he must also be ready to give credit when it is due as an alternative voice, and not as a sworn enemy.

We expect him to actively participate in discussions and initiatives aimed at finding viable alternatives to foster a culture of synergy and cooperation among stakeholders, including transport unions, associations, and regulatory government agencies, to ensure the smooth and seamless movement of goods on our roads, without fear of extortion: rather than shouting double taxation against LASTCOC with closed eyes against the various extortionist on the road.

In conclusion, we are appealing and begging every stakeholder to raise their voices and give support to our cause. In other to make a difference for a transport system that can truly serve the interests of the stakeholders.

We believe there is time for everything, we have had time to fight and disagreement, and we have had time to work at variance, but this is the time to agree on a better future for the Maritime trucking industry, it will be wrong to have our best brains working at cross purposes when we can channel all our efforts towards the betterment of the industry.

We hope this will mark a new phase (either positively or negatively) in our struggle for a better tomorrow.

Adekanmbi, President of Green initiatives Maritime Transport Forum and the PRO of LASTCOC