On Thursday, 8th September 2022, a motorist fell prey to officials of Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) who, without justifiable reason, found him guilty of ‘wrongfully overtaking’ another vehicle and without trial or fair hearing, issued him a fine totalling about ninety-five thousand naira.
Adebayo Enitan (not real name) who spoke with Gatekeepers News on Sunday, narrated his ordeal when accosted by the traffic agents for changing lanes after he had trafficated and was allowed by the other vehicle to overtake.
In his words “I was going to work in the morning from Ikosi. There was a little bit of hold-up at Idi Iroko bypass to Anthony. The hold-up itself was actually caused by the LASTMA and a danfo (a commercial vehicle). I thought of going through Ilupeju so that I can get to work on time. On my way going, that was when I found out that it was LASTMA officials that caused the traffic, so I decided to stay in the lane and continue because I know they would soon finish their issue with the danfo. I trafficated and a car allowed me to enter the other lane (NOT a BRT lane). The officials were at the BRT lane. I think they had a confrontation with one car and I think probably the person driving the car was a Force man.”
Adebayo explained that one of the LASTMA officials saw him entering another lane and ran to him, saying it was a “wrongful overtaking”. “How is it a wrongful overtaking when there is a holdup,” he queried but was ordered to come out of the vehicle.
According to him, the other officials who noticed that his vehicle had been stopped, ran to the spot with an iron rod and threatened to deflate his tyres while banging on his glass. Adebayo noted that he maintained his cool while all that was happening.
“They called a towing van, before the towing van got there, they deflated my tyres and detached my plate number. When the towing van came, they raised the car and towed the vehicle.”
He explained that his vehicle was impounded and towed to the LASTMA office in the Oshodi area of Lagos State where a fine ticket was handed to him with derogatory remarks in Yoruba language (unknown to them that he understands the language).
Upon getting to the LASTMA office, Adebayo said he tried to give an account of the incident to the official in charge but was told not to bother as the officers on duty already explained.
He was thereafter, handed a N50,000 ticket as a fine for ‘wrongful overtaking’; N20,000 for refusal of arrest; N20,000 for towing van and N1,000 daily for demurrage (until he is able to bail his vehicle from LASTMA premises). Adebayo noted that he hasn’t been able to bail his car due to unforeseen circumstances.
Efforts to reach LASTMA to get their side of the story didn’t yield the desired result as they were yet to respond at press time.
