Despite the ban placed by the Lagos State Government on the activities of traffic officers and special traffic task forces and squads in the 57 local governments and development areas in the state, motorists are still subjected to harassment and extortion by recalcitrant council officials and operatives, reports KUNLE AKINRINADE.
ALL that was on the mind of Vincent Akanmode on Wednesday, September 14, was to drop his daughter at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) in Akoka, Yaba where she is a student. After navigating the ever-chaotic traffic in the Yaba axis of the state, Akanmode finally dropped his daughter off at her hostel and father and daughter bade themselves goodbye as the Lagos-based journalist zoomed off in his Toyota Highlander Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV).
A few minutes after, Akanmode, a Deputy Editor of the weekend title of The Nation newspaper had reasons to return an urgent message via his phone and he pulled up on the street near the Atan cemetery, Yaba, to avoid infraction with traffic. Before he knew it, two fierce officials of the Somolu Local Government under which the area falls jumped into his vehicle and ordered him to head to their council secretariat where he was slammed with a N35,000 fine.
“I told the overzealous council workers that there was no sign around the spot suggesting that vehicles could not park on the roadside. Then one of them asked if I did not see that the spot where stopped to respond to a text message was close to a cemetery.
“They insisted on taking me to their boss at the council secretariat and I was left with no choice but ride with them to an old building on Humani Street whose rusty and weather-beaten gate bore the inscription of Shomolu Local Government.
“On getting into the compound, I saw some other motorists they had dragged to the place begging and negotiating with them on the fines they were asked to pay.
“Their boss told me that my fine was N35,000 but I told him that I had no such money to pay for breaking no traffic rule.
“He reduced the fine to N20,000 but I insisted that I would not pay a dime and opted to leave the vehicle on their premises.
“As I was making my way out of the gate, I was accosted by one of the men who tried to persuade me to negotiate the fine for further reduction.
“At that point, I placed a call to one of my colleagues on crime beat who confronted them on the phone and threatened to report them to the Chairman of Somolu Local Government Council. That was when they told me to go with my car.”
While Akanmode was lucky to avoid parting with his money for a contrived traffic offence the outlawed council officials had demanded, Sam Anokam, another journalist with The Nation newspaper, was forced to pay more than N6,500 for which only a receipt bearing N5,000 was issued.
Anokam, an entertainment reporter with the newspaper, said he had parked his car on his street in the neighbourhood of Mushin to carry out a transaction at a cyber café when his car was taken away by self-acclaimed transport taskforce operatives of Mushin Local Government in June this year.
According to the report published in The Nation on Saturday, June 11, 2022, the Mushin council’s illegal task force allegedly impounded a Toyota car belonging to Anokam and extorted money from him.
As the story goes, Anokam, who lives in the neighbourhood, had barely parked his Green Toyota Highlander car (LSR 789 DW) on Kekereowo Street in Ilasamaja when the unlawful local government officials towed his vehicle to Zone D area where he was asked to pay the sum of N40,000 before his car could be released.
He however ended up coughing out N6,500 before his car was released while only a receipt in the sum of N5,000 was issued.
He said: Around 1 pm on Friday, June 10, I parked my car on Kekereowo Street in Ilasamaja in front of a business centre where I was making photocopies of some documents. But by the time I came out of the business centre, I discovered that my car had been towed away.
“Upon inquiry, I was directed to the Zone D area of Mushin Local Government where I saw my vehicle and I asked what was going on. I was taken to an office where I was told that my car was illegally parked on a street and I must pay the sum of N40,000 as a fine.
“I introduced myself as a journalist residing in the neigbourhood and also reminded them that the state government had disbanded and outlawed the operations of abandoned vehicle squads in all local government areas but the operatives turned deaf ears and collected in cash the sums of N5,000, N1,000 and N500 as fines, gate fees, and vulcanizer charges respectively.
“Interestingly, by the time my car was released, only a receipt of N5,000 was issued for all the money collected from me.
“Within the premises, there were lots of victims of these illegal operations lamenting various degrees of extortion.”
It was gathered from some people in the neighbourhood that the illegal operations have the backings of the top hierarchy of the local government.
The Lagos State Government had outlawed the activities of traffic officers, special taskforce and squads operating under the guise of traffic management across the 57 councils and development areas in the state, and reiterated that only the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) is created and empowered by law to oversee traffic management across the state.
However, like Akanmode and Anokam, Mathew Akinrefon was also cornered by traffic officers from Igando-Ikotun Local Council Development Area (LCDA) who extorted the sum of N12,000 from him.
The 74-year-old pensioner reportedly would have paid more than N12,000 before his car was released but for the intervention of a senior member of the staff of the LCDA.
Akinrefon said: “I was coming from Iyana Ipaja and going towards Ojo. At Igando, my wife alighted to look for plantain. As I tried to move forward to look for where to park my car, a man opened the car door and told me that I should move forward.
“The next thing he said was What do you have for us? I said I had nothing to give him as bribe but would pray for him if he wanted. He led me to Igando Health Centre and handed me over to another man who demanded the sum of N75,000, which he said was just half of the official fine I was supposed to pay.
“I pleaded with them that I am an army pensioner and a septuagenarian but they told me to pay the sum of N30,000 and insisted that I should pay before they would let me go.
“Since my plea fell on deaf ears, I had to give them the N12,000 I had on me while they insisted on collecting the balance of N18,000.
“I was still looking for the balance at Igando Health Centre where my vehicle was impounded when a senior council officer, who preferred anonymity, intervened and prevailed on them to let me go.
“They however did not return my N12,000.”
Dayo Badmus, a reporter with a Lagos-based media house, would not forget in a hurry how he was stopped on Isolo Road by traffic officers attached to Mushin Local Government, who took his car to one of the council’s offices around Zone D area, where he was asked to pay the sum of N50,000 as fine for an unnamed offence.
Badmus’s car was however released following the intervention of the Information Officer of the council area, Mrs. Funmi Muffler.
Arrest of perpetrators
Operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of the Lagos Police Command recently arrested four men for extorting N50,000 from a female motorist in Lagos.
The men were said to have posed as officials of the disbanded Lagos State Committee on the Removal of Abandoned Vehicles and impounded the vehicle of the motorist for “changing lanes” at Alausa, Lagos, on May 28, 2022.
A statement issued by the police spokesman, Benjamin Hundeyin, a Superintendent of Police (SP), explained that two of the suspects, Adedire and Osukoya, had in 2020, defrauded a professor at the Lagos State University (LASU).
The statement read in part: “The motorist stated that the suspects took her vehicle to a park in front of Elephant Cement House, where she was asked to pay N50,000 as fine. She, however, reached out to friends who contacted the Rapid Response Squad (RRS).
“The RRS arrived at the scene promptly, arrested the suspects, and commenced preliminary investigations.
“While the investigation was ongoing, their leader, one Taiwo Falodun, came along with a government official identified as Olalekan Edu to solicit the release of the arrested suspects. They were both arrested too.
“RRS fingerprint records showed that Taiwo Falodun and Adedire Olaniyi were once arrested in 2020 for extorting a university professor while posing as local government officials on LASU-Igando Road.”
The statement added that the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, CP Abiodun Alabi, had directed the Commander, RRS, CSP Olayinka Egbeyemi, to charge the suspects to court at the conclusion of investigation.
It will be recalled that the Lagos State Government had banned local councils and their officials from carrying out traffic management and enforcement activities in January 2017, while the ban has been restated several times by the present administration in the state following complaints about the unending cases of extortion of motorists by local government traffic officials.
The then Acting Commissioner for Transportation, Mr Anofiu Elegushi, had said: “There are traffic units in all the 57 local councils and local council development areas (LCDAs). However, this is not the responsibility for the third tier of government. We have reported instances of illegal arrest, extortion, and general impunity on the part of the council operatives.
“It is then appropriate to disband all the units and outfits parading as Local Council Traffic Units. This has been communicated to all the agencies.
“For the avoidance of doubt, officials of the ministry will start monitoring and any infraction will be dealt with in full compliance with the law.”
He added: “Let me also reiterate that only the Nigerian Police, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), the Taskforce on Special Offences and the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) can perform traffic duties.”