The time was exactly 6:45 am on Thursday, December 9, 2022, and the shocking event we are about to describe took place around Adeniji Adele bus stop in Lagos.
All Femi Olaoluwa wanted to do was to drop his brother at the bus stop, where officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Agency allow motorists to drop their passengers. But providence had another plan for the man who happens to be the General Manager at an oil firm in the city.
As soon as the passenger alighted from Olaoluwa’s Toyota Highlander 2016 model, about 21 officials of the Lagos State Task Force and the Central Business District unit (popularly known as CBD Boys) crossed his vehicle.
A shocking encounter: While three of the officers stood in front of his car with cocked guns, two of the CBD boys forced their way into his car. Olaoluwa recalled the incident, telling Nairametrics:
- “Everything happened within 3 minutes like a movie. One of the officers with a gun was already drunk, staggering and ready to shoot at me. One of the CBD boys then told me to come down from the vehicle and talk to their team lead, who was in a small bus parked behind my car.
- “As soon as I stepped out of the car, another officer went in and drove off while I just gazed at them because I could not believe an officer of the law could lure me out of the car and then drive my car away without issuing me a ticket or even informing me where he was taking my car to. Meanwhile, before I could get to the bus where the team lead was, the driver of the bus also drove off.
- “It took me about 10 minutes to understand what was going on, as I could not tell where they were taking my car to. I did not find out till around 1:30 pm when I got to Alausa (their station) after I had made fruitless efforts checking at Sura (Lagos Island) and Oshodi.
- I was able to get my car out around 2:30 pm with the help of a friend after I had parted with the sum of N20,000. While I was waiting outside their office, three other vehicles were brought in by the officers and the owners parted with N40,000 each.”
More shocking encounters: Olugbenga George, a Public Relations Consultant, was another victim of the CBD Boys. A few weeks ago, he was returning from Acme Road when he was stopped by the traffic light by Femi’s Shrine. Suddenly, one of the CBD Boys dropped a piece of metal with nails in front of his front Tyre while another officer opened the front door, sat down and instructed him to drive to their office within Alausa without issuing a ticket. George said:
- “They alleged that I was not supposed to stop in the said lane, as my vehicle was blocking the traffic. Though, I knew it was all a means to extort me. The officers insisted I bribed them with N40,000 but I negotiated to N15,000, to which they agreed.
- “I believed it was an organised crime when they ask me to turn right by Ivory Music House and led me to a POS agent around Femi’s African Shrine. As soon as I got to the POS agent, they exchanged pleasantries like they are friends. I used my ATM card in the guy’s machine, made the withdrawal and the agent handed the cash over to the officers.
- “After I dropped them back at the point I was arrested, I went back to the POS agent, who disclosed that I was the 6th person they had accosted to him and forced to use his POS machine. According to him, others were forced to pay N20,000 or more after they had threatened that their vehicles will be auctioned by the Lagos State Government.”
Meanwhile, Olaoluwa and George are only two of the victims of the Lagos Task Force and the CBD Boys. More reports and testimonies have revealed that scores of motorists have also fallen into their traps.
No right to arrest: A source at Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASTMA) who spoke to Nairametrics anonymously, said the CBD Boys are not empowered by the law to arrest traffic offenders, as that is the sole right of LASTMA officials. He explained:
- “Most of their victims are ignorant of the law. They were all working with the defunct Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) and were only asked to join the Task Force to keep them busy.
- “Motorists have the right to challenge them and insist they were taken to their office either on the Island or Alausa. It is against the law for them to forcefully drive another person’s vehicle or arrest traffic offenders. The unfortunate thing is that the top government officials that are supposed to caution them also share out of the bribe.”
The government keeps mum: Efforts to get the Chairman of the Lagos Task Force, Shola Jejeloye, to respond to these allegations proved fruitless, as he didn’t respond to calls and text messages made and sent by our analyst.
However, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Transportation, Sola Giwa, had earlier condemned the acts during an interview, promising to fish out the suspects and prosecute them. He said:
- “I can assure you that we will get to the root of this embarrassing, indiscipline act.
- “Our monitoring team will be deployed to investigate the alleged extortion of this some yet-to-be-identified council officers for prosecution. Enforcement of traffic management by council officials is illegal and remains so in the state.”
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