Indecorous conduct

•Edo State must probe alleged assault of its traffic officer by a legislator

A member of Edo State House of Assembly, Mr Roland Asoro, representing Orhionmwon South Constituency did the unthinkable and the unwarranted when he assaulted a traffic officer who apprehended his wife over violation of traffic rules. Mrs Asoro was reportedly apprehended by traffic officers but she refused to step out of the car, causing heavy traffic in the process. She then pulled a call through to her husband and, as if to remind the traffic officers of who she was, allegedly handed the phone to the traffic officers but they refused to answer the call.

She then zoomed off after an argument, only to storm their office with her husband and a policeman as well as two other men. The law maker then demanded the officer that assaulted his wife. As the traffic officer, Osaretin Osazuwa, stepped out, Mr Asoro reportedly slapped him twice and kicked him in the groin, right in the presence of the agency’s managing director who reportedly looked on helplessly because he did not want to offend a man in power. This naturally angered other traffic officers who threatened to protest against their boss’s lukewarm attitude to the assault.

Traffic officers are recruited to ensure sanity on the roads. We can only imagine the chaos that roads will be like in the absence of these officers, especially in our kind of environment where many people behind the wheels are in a hurry and would stop at nothing to want to have right of way, even if it means driving against traffic.

But, a situation where the wife of a law maker would beat up a traffic officer in the course of his official assignment leaves a sour taste in the mouth.

Mr Osoro’s main duty as a legislator is to make laws for good governance. If he or his colleagues in the house think they or their spouses require immunity or exemption from traffic rules, they should have so legislated. To the extent that they have not, they are duty bound to obey extant rules that bind any other citizen within the state’s jurisdiction.

We wonder what the state government is waiting for if it had not caused Mr Asoro to be arrested by now. The point must be made that the law is no respecter of persons. Being a member of the state legislature is not a licence for him or his wife to violate traffic rules.  Edo State government would be setting a dangerous precedent if it makes any attempt to cover up this matter. Indeed, it is a matter in which the government must stand on the side of what is right, legal and lawful, as well as commonsensical, and find the law for the poor, in this instance, the traffic officer.

The state government would be shooting itself in the foot if it treats the matter as a ‘family affair’. It would be an indirect way of  sanctioning impunity which, in the long run, will run counter-productive to the raison d’être for the establishment of the state’s Traffic Management Agency (EDSTMA).

We commend those who recorded the sordid incident and posted it on the social network. We also commend Edo State Civil Society Organisation ((EDOSCO) that has equally condemned Mr and Mrs Asoro’s conducts, as well as called for the arrest of the lawmaker.

We however appeal to the colleagues of Osazuwa in EDSTMA who, in solidarity with their colleague had threatened a showdown with the managing director of the agency, Mr Dennis Oloriegbe, to exercise restraint. We empathise with them and condemn their boss’s action. But the traffic agency’s boss has to realise that if people treat his officers and men the way Osazuwa was allegedly treated and get away with it; it is only a matter of time for law and order to break down on the roads and he would be the one to blame because, ultimately, the buck stops on his desk.

It is because of abuses like this that we call for strengthening of our institutions. Where the traffic agency’s boss sees himself as responsible to Edo State people and not to those in power, perhaps he would have treated the matter differently.