DAYO OYEWO, who visited the headquarters of LASTMA in Oshodi, Lagos, writes about the plight of motorists, who are arrested on trumped-up charges by officials of the agency
A distraught-looking Moses Salami was seen limping and pacing along the corridor of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority around 2:55pm under the scorching sun on Friday, September 2, 2022.
The 72-year-old commercial bus driver needed someone who would either help him add N3,500 to the N11,500 with him so he could retrieve his bus or assist in talking to one of the LASTMA officials who had arrested him, impounded his vehicle and asked him to pay a sum of N15,000.
Having watched him roam helplessly while his bus conductor trailed after him for close to thirty minutes, our correspondent decided to approach him. Salami, who saw this as an opportunity he had been waiting for, did not waste time as he started narrating his ordeals.
Moses, who plies Idumota to Oshodi, said the officials stopped him and claimed to have snapped him at Ojuelegba bus stop for violating traffic rules. Although shocked by the allegation, Salami said he demanded for the picture but his request was rebuffed.
“I was coming from Ikorodu and when I got to Anthony, this man called Yemi stopped me and put the iron across the road. I asked what my offence was but he did not answer me. He just said I should come down. That was when the other officer called Fashola dragged me out of the bus. I know them. Look at me, I am an old man and I have been on this road for 22 years. I cannot tell a lie. So, I came down, and then Yemi asked them to tow my vehicle to Oshodi. That was when he said they snapped my picture when I stopped at Ojuelegba, which was untrue.
“Before God and man, I loaded at Idumota and my first stop was Onipanu. Whenever we load at Idumota, we tell Ojuelegba, barracks and Agip passengers not to board the bus. So, Fadeyi had always been our first bus stop, even on the said day, I did not stop at Fadeyi but at Onipanu. And after Onipanu, I stopped at Palmgrove, then Anthony, where they arrested me. And when I asked them to show me the picture, they did not show me.’’
When asked if he was booked for an offence, Moses said he was not booked, adding that proof of his offence was also not shown to him. He said, They did not give me any ticket. They just asked me to go and bring N15,000 and I only had N11,500 with me. What they are doing is illegal work I know them very well. Yemi, who they call Yemiton has one star and one eagle. If you can assist me, I will appreciate it. If I don’t bring my bus out today, the next opportunity will be on Monday. I don’t know what to do and my wife is in the village asking me to send money to her.’’
Much as our correspondent did not want to disclose his identity, all efforts to intervene on the driver’s behalf proved abortive. One of the officers who arrested him was also seen to have changed from his uniform to a mufti and perhaps was ready to go home but had to wait for Moses to pay the money. “How far, you don bring am?” he asked Moses, who led our correspondent discreetly to where his bus was parked since people were not allowed to go into the yard where the impounded vehicles were parked.
While looking around to help Moses, our correspondent stumbled on Godfrey, another bus driver who was arrested for the same offence. The fair-looking middle-aged man was similarly pleading with the officer who arrested him. When asked what led to his arrest, Godfrey, who plies Yaba to Oshodi and was arrested at Anthony bus stop, said he was told that he committed a traffic offence a few days back, with a picture of his bus taken in the process.
Godfrey said, “I asked them what my offence was, but they did not tell me. One of them later said I committed a traffic offence some days ago and they took a picture of my bus. When I asked them to show me the picture, they started to scroll through their phones but they still failed to show me. This got my passengers, most of whom are students angry as they joined me in demanding that they provided the picture. One of the students started to record the officers and this got them angry and they insisted on bringing my bus to Oshodi. When I got here, they still did not show me any record or photo of my offence when I asked, but since my bus has been impounded, there was no point claiming any right again other than to look for the money. I am a widower and I have children to fend for.”
It was not too long after that the officer, Akiode S. who arrested him showed up and they began another round of negotiation after insisting on collecting N20,000.
While Moses eventually paid N13,000, Godfrey paid N15,000.
LASTMA rules, background
The agency, which was established on the 15th of July, 2000, operates under the Ministry of Transportation to transform the state transportation system, ensure free flow of traffic in the state and also reduce road accidents.
With a city growing and expanding by the day, the agency has contributed in no small way in decongesting traffic in most parts of the state.
However, the high handedness of some of these officials when dealing with motorists has become a major source of concern.
Lagos residents and motorists have accused some of them of unprofessional conduct and being unruly, especially for deliberately arresting motorists without providing evidence of wrongdoing or infraction.
This has fuelled the allegation that the officers deliberately set traps for unsuspecting motorists so as to arrest them.
Our reporter visited the yard three times. The first visit was on September 2, then on October 3 and lastly on November 3, to monitor the activities of the officials. This reporter also pretended to be an arrested driver to enable him relate closely with other victims and observe proceedings.
A large number of the commercial bus drivers at the compound seemed to be familiar with most of the officers.
A commercial bus driver, Qudus Adekunle, said he and some other drivers pay certain dues to the LASTMA officials at Anthony bus-stop to avoid their trouble. He said, “The money we give them is just to delay evil days. They have collected money from me twice this morning and they still arrested me because my door was slightly open.”
It was however a different case with Musa Tajudeen, who was headed to Ikeja from Ojuelegba when a team of LASTMA officials led by one Igbimo accosted him, seized his vehicle and asked him to pay N35,000.
He said, “I was about connecting the service lane from Maryland under bridge when I saw them trying to arrest the vehicle ahead of me. They didn’t successfully get him arrested, and next they approached me and started to ask for my driver’s licence and my LASDRI which I provided and before I knew it, they entered my car and when I demanded to know my offence, their team leader who initially sat in their operational vehicle stepped out and told me that he deliberately wanted to punish me. That was how I found myself here. I brought Quran the following day for him to swear that I indeed committed an offence but he refused to. He insisted I pay 35,000. I eventually paid N20,000 through a third party. The person gave him the money in my presence, and he was even threatening me that my vehicle would have rotten in the yard if I had not paid the money.”
Pattern of arrest
The pattern of arrest by the officials and the double mode of payment by the drivers arrested for traffic offences piqued the curiosity of our correspondent. It was discovered that some of the drivers in the corridor of the LASTMA office were arrested for offences they did not commit, as the officials that arrested them failed to show evidence of their offences or reasons for their arrests. This added fuel to the wide held insinuation that the innocent motorists were arrested for offence spuriously contrived by the traffic officials. This mode of payment further corroborated the scam.
The PUNCH learnt that any driver arrested for a traffic offence is meant to be handed a fine equivalent of the offence but it was observed that while those who were genuinely caught and booked for a fine went about processing their payment, those clandestinely arrested were charged any amount from N25,000 naira upward.
Findings at the head office also revealed that once a vehicle is forcefully taken from a motorist for an alleged offence, the LASTMA official drives it down to the yard and will be nowhere to be found, while another official will take over the negotiation process.
Meanwhile, the questionable activities in LASTMA was further highlighted when our correspondent was accosted by one of the police officers attached to the agency who asked him to remove his phone from his shirt pocket and keep it in his trouser pocket. He was repeatedly ordered to do so when he kept returning the phone to its former position. This move must have been to prevent any recording of the happenings in the office.
The “beer parlour” remittance
Motorists have constantly complained about the alleged notoriety of the officials at Anthony bus-stop for a long time. Findings by our correspondent also revealed how the LASTMA officials allegedly use a drinking joint tucked in the taxi park as a point of remittance/collection after arresting motorists.
This became known to this reporter when Eto, a commercial bus driver who was waiting for the release of his vehicle, made a veiled remark about the circumstances that led to his arrest. According to him, a patrolling LASTMA officer had arrested him for failing to remit a sum of N7000 to a “beer parlour” somewhere around Anthony.
He said, “My bus has been here for four days. I was arrested because I did not deliver the money I was asked to take to a beer parlour at Anthony. I drove from Iyana-Ipaja to Yaba and one of the officers, Rasheed, who is always riding their patrol motorcycle, stopped me about two weeks ago and said he was arresting me for illegal parking. I was surprised and before I could say anything, he threatened to impound my bus. It was after I begged that he asked me to take N7,000 to a beer parlour at Anthony. Though I said the money was too much, he insisted. And just because I did not take the money to the place, he trailed me, arrested me and brought my vehicle here.”
Out of curiosity, this reporter tried all he could to get him to mention the specific location of the ‘’beer parlour’’ but he felt did not bulge. He, however, collected Eto’s phone contact in an attempt to further probe his claim. This was after he had also followed the driver to the point where he retrieved his vehicle, without being given a ticket.
A call made to him about a week later confirmed the location of the said “beer parlour.” Our correspondent, who pretended to have found himself in a similar situation, told Eto he needed to locate the spot to pay the money before he gets rearrested. The sympathy for a fellow bus driver made him tell our reporter that the spot was inside the taxi park by Anthony bus-stop. Except for commercial drivers who are familiar with the officers, no one could easily notice the said drinking joint in the park. A visit to the place, however, confirmed Eto’s claim as there were three shops backing the exit inward Oshodi-Apapa Expressway. Although the one in the middle, which Eto specifically mentioned does not have the outlook of a beer parlour, some of the officers were however seen seated around a middle-aged woman who supplied them drinks.
Story from punch except headliines
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