There was confusion in Bawa Estate area of Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, on Friday, following a clash between students of Ekiti State University (EKSU) and members of the mini bus unit of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW).
The students and the mini bus drivers were said to have been in dispute for some time over fares and the number of passengers the small buses could convey as they run the shuttle service to EKSU from the town.
The students had insisted during an earlier protest that the small buses should not carry more than three passengers per row of their seats due to the small width of the vehicles, but the drivers had said if they must do that, they would increase the fare.
The disagreement degenerated on Friday when some of the EKSU students and the drivers engaged themselves in a free for all, a situation which led to traffic build-up at Bawa neighbourhood of the Ado-Iworoko Road as the drivers stopped their colleagues who were on the road and discharged their passengers.
An operative of the Directorate of State Security (DSS), who was caught in the traffic, and who made efforts to clear the logjam was beaten by the drivers, who were said to have initially mistaken him for a student.
His clothes were said to have been torn while he had bruised.
The arrival of the other DSS operatives and their shots into the air, brought the situation under control and scared the drivers, who were armed with cudgels and stones.
