September 19, (THEWILL) – Many air travellers were stranded on Monday morning, following a protest embarked upon by members of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) on the Murtala Muhammad International Airport access road in Lagos.
The students who trooped out in the early hours of the day protested the seven-month industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) by blocking a section of the access road to the Murtala Muhammad International Airport in Lagos.
The situation led to gridlock as the vehicular movement in and out of the airport was stalled for several hours at a stretch.
The students, who arrived at the NAHCO Junction along Ajao Estate – Murtala Muhammed International Airport Expressway at about 7 am on Monday, condoned off the road leading to the international terminal wing and tollgate link of the airport with their vehicles, singing solidarity songs.
The students were very orderly and peaceful while they maintained that no vehicle would be allowed to pass through the blockades on the access roads.
A team of security operatives led by the Deputy Commissioner of Police Airport Command, DCP Sunday Kayode, and Nigerian Air Force (NAF), Commandant, Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, were seen appealing to the students to maintain the peace while carrying out their protest.
Also at the General Aviation Terminal, (GAT) of the airport, the, National Chairman of African Action Congress (AAC) and former President, NANS, University of Lagos, Omoyele Sowore, who showed solidarity with the protesting students, urged them to remain peaceful and nonviolent as they push forward their agitation.
Dressed in a black suit without his usual yellow beret or emblem, Sowore later departed the domestic airport terminal in a red golf car.
A leader of the protesting students, Afeez Babateye, assured the security officers that the protest would remain peaceful as long as the students were not molested by security operatives.
However, many travellers whose vehicles were denied access to the Lagos airport terminals were seeing trekking to the terminal, carrying their pieces of luggage on their heads while some dragged them along.
About the Author
Anthony Awunor, is a business correspondent who holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Linguistics (UNILAG). He is also an alumnus of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria Kaduna State. He lives in Lagos.
