Five officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) from various parts of the Lagos metropolis are currently under detention on allegation of extortion and bribery.
The traffic officials were arrested following a complaint by a clearing agent identified as Babatunde Akinmolayan whose container truck with plate number AA 553 NGW was illegal apprehended at Marina area of the Lagos Island and officials subsequent demanded for eighty-thousand-naira bribe before the vehicle could be released.
Narrating his ordeal Akinmolayan said he was accompanying the container truck on Monday morning to deliver goods at Walter Carrington Street on Victoria Island, when the truck was forced to stop at Marina close to the State House by the three LASTMA officials in uniform working with some other men in mufti for driving at unauthorized hours.
Akinmolayan speaking further on the incident said “all pleas to allow the truck to go in order to meet with delivery time fell on deaf ears as the traffic officials and the men in mufti engaged him in fisticuffs, and the vehicle was eventually taken to Olowu removal yard of the agency on the Island, where they demanded for the sum of N80,000 before its release. It took the intervention of the zonal head and payment of N7,000 to the men in mufti before the vehicle was eventually released.
Officials involved in the shady deal include 48 years old Bamidele Shehu, a level seven traffic officer who reside in Oke Popo Street, Lagos Island, Ope Adisa, aged 32 level 5 traffic officer of 8, Freeman Street, Lagos Island, an Ikorodu resident’s 37 years old traffic officer in level 4 Babatunde Aluko.
In a similar development the duo of Jimoh Olaosebikan and Emmanuel Padonu were also arrested during the week by surveillance unit and provost officials of the agency in Okokomaiko and Mile 12 areas of the state respectively.
While Olaosebikan was arrested by men of LASTMA surveillance team unit along the Lagos- Badagry Expressway for illegally collecting N20,000 from a female motorist whom he alleged to have made an illegal U-turn in Okokomaiko, Padonu, on his part, was picked up by provost officials for using men in mufti to collect money from commercial drivers in the Mile 12 area of Kosofe Local Government of Lagos State on Wednesday morning.
LASTMA’s General Manager Mr. Olawale Musa while speaking on the arrests expressed dismay at the activities of unscrupulous elements within the agency and assured that with the assistance of members of the public such people will be eased off to protect the good name of the hard working officers who work assiduously to ensure free flow of traffic in Lagos.
