The Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria in Lagos has called on the state government to urgently intervene in the fracas between it and the National Union of Road Transport Workers.

The Publicity Secretary of RTEAN, Abdulrahman Amusan, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Thursday.

Some NURTW and RTEAN’s members had on Thursday morning at Obalende Motor Park on Lagos Island, engaged in a turf war involving sporadic gunshots.

The police later said they had restored normalcy.

“We want the Lagos State government to, as a matter of urgency, intervene in the matter. We are for peace. We have been working in Obalende for many years without any problem.

“We are owners. We are not touts; we love and cherish peace. We want our members to maintain peace and ensure law and order no matter the provocations,” the RTEAN spokesman said.

He claimed that the fight occurred because NURTW’s members attempted to dislodge RTEAN’s members from their area of operations at Obalende.

According to him, RTEAN members resisted the attempt, and a fight broke out.

“We have been working at Obalende for long. All of a sudden, on Monday, members of the NURTW encroached into the area of operations of RTEAN.

“This morning, when they came, they met with resistance from our members there, and that led to the fracas. We had been co-existing for so many years,” he explained.

However, the state NURTW Chairman, Musiliu Akinsanya (aka MC Oluomo), claimed that the fight occurred because the RTEAN members attacked their NURTW counterparts in a bid to take over the motor park.

(NAN)