A medical doctor and a popular music video director have separately recounted how they were extorted and terrorised by street touts, popularly called area boys, while carrying out their professional activities in Lagos.
The doctor, Olusina Ajidahun, popularly known on social media as The Bearded Sina, an internal medicine specialist and health influencer, disclosed via his page on X, formerly Twitter, that a free medical outreach his team organised in Mushin last year was besieged by touts who demanded money and threatened to cause pandemonium if they were not settled.
Ajidahun said the outreach, which had been in planning for months, was designed to offer health awareness talks, free medical tests, cooked and raw food packs, sanitary pads and other items to residents, and was carried out alongside security operatives.
Dr Sina. Credit: X | The Bearded Dr Shina
He said, “When we got there and started our activities, you need to see how these boys swarmed us. They kept asking for money. Some of them even threatened that they could scatter the outreach and cause a whole pandemonium despite the security presence.
