One March morning, Kunle Ifeola (not real name) was going about his day 's business when at Cele Bus Stop, in Odogunyan, a settlement in Ikorodu, he came across a group of soldiers, who dragged him from his bus and beat him up.

The men did this to him because he was "too slow" in paying for the N50 ticket they issued to all commercial vehicles plying that route. "They beat me like a thief that day," the 32-year-old said.

"They less (deflated) my tyres and I didn't work throughout that day. I don't know why we should be collecting tickets from army people." Barracks-cum-tollgate Odogunyan is on Ikorodu Road, which connects Lagos to Shagamu, a town in Ogun State.

It is home to the I74 Battalion of the Nigerian Armed Forces. The army officers' compound is opposite the PZ Industries Plc, . Cele or Mammy Market Bus Stop is a two-minute walk away.

The bus and truck drivers, who spoke to NEXT, said the military officers rule that community with a strong
arm. Most of them refused to have their names published for fear of retaliation from the soldiers. They said they have been paying the soldiers money to allow them carry passengers at Cele Bus Stop for years.

When NEXT visited the spot on Thursday, a man in a white T-shirt and shorts was seen issuing tickets to bus drivers and collecting money from them. Many of the drivers called out "Awua" (Lagos slang for soldier) to him as they drove off. He responded by either waving or saluting.

Sitting under shades close by were three other army personnel, equally in mufti. They looked relaxed, hardly expecting anyone to challenge their collector for the day.

Drivers moan

"They started with all these trailers that come to lift products from the factory," said one bus driver, in Yoruba.

"They were collecting N200 from them every day. Then, we used to give them N20 or N30 in the mornings. Now this year, they became bolder and started forcing us to buy N50 tickets daily. If you don't pay, you can't carry passengers at Cele."

A truck driver confirmed this. He said failure to pay attracts beatings and tyre deflation, after which the ‘offender' must pay before he can inflate them again.

"We pay them (military officers) N200 for morning and evening tickets," he said. "We sometimes have to wait for some days to get the product, so for every day we are here, that is N400."

Further investigations revealed that the soldiers take turns to stay at the stop. The common punishment for those who ‘default' is their buses, trucks have their tyres deflated, or the buses are detained in the barracks.

"You can't argue with them," said a recharge card seller in the area. "Even stubborn drivers become soft when they get here."

Protectors or oppressors?

The drivers said they wished to know what the collection was for. Attempts to reach the battalions commander were unsuccessful . An officer, who was coming out of the compound, said he was unavailable on Thursday afternoon.

A civil lawyer, Gbolahan Ore, said collecting dues was out of the soldiers' work scope.

"It is shameful that these soldiers are doing this," Mr. Ore said. "Even if there is hunger in the land, must protectors become robbers? If (Governor) Fashola does not want trouble one day, he should tell or ask them to stop this."

This is not the first time the men of 174 Battalion are involved in a controversy. In mid-November 2004, some residents of Igbopa, a small Ikorodu community, handed over two male officers to the Ikorodu Police Station. They said the men were hired to chase them off the land.

Newspaper reports said the men were later released.

Meanwhile, those who have to board early buses at Cele Bus Stop share in the drivers' misery. They are getting to work late, as most drivers refuse to pick passengers there before 6am to avoid the soldiers.
One of the drivers justified this with this question, "Why will monkey work and baboon chop?"