LASTMA Officials (File)
The Police have arrested a driver of King Solomon Chariots Transportation who allegedly knocked down an official of the Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASTMA) on August 7, 2018.
The incident occurred when the driver, Abuchi Okpara, attempted to escape arrest by the official after he violated the traffic law in the Igando area of Alimosho, Lagos State.
Driving a Ghana-bound Nigeria commercial vehicle, Okpara was said to have dropped passengers at an undesignated spot at Igando, after which efforts by the traffic official to make him move the vehicle to the nearest lay-bye proved abortive.
In an attempt to escape being apprehended, he ran over the traffic official with his Toyota Sienna vehicle.
Okpara sped off immediately and eventually absconded to Ghana.
The officer, on the other hand, was immediately rushed to the hospital.
But officers of the Igando Police Station continued to search for the absconded driver and with the help of the General Manager of the transport company, Johnson Ogbonnaya, they discovered his whereabouts and arrested him.
According to a statement by LASTMA’s Public Affairs Officer, Mamud Hassan, on Tuesday, Ogbonnaya personally travelled to Ghana to apprehend the suspect, brought him to Nigeria and handed him over to LASTMA and the police.
He was also charged before an Igando Magistrate Court on Monday where he was eventually remanded in Kirikiri Prison.
Addressing the issue, LASTMA’s General Manager, Olawale Musa, condemned the incident, saying the trend of vicious attacks on the state traffic officials by unscrupulous people was of great concern to the government.
He, therefore, asked that aggrieved individuals should take advantage of the various complaint channels set up by the agency to channel their grievances for immediate action instead of taking laws into their hands.
He said noted that LASTMA officials remained committed to discharging their duties and responsibilities to the people of the state.
Furthermore, he urged vehicle owners to take a cue from the action of Ogbonnaya by cooperating with the agency and ensuring that violators of laws on their pay roll are not allowed to go scot free.
“We like to commend Mr Ogbonnaya for this rare display of patriotism and exemplary behaviour and urge others to take a cue from him because this can only encourage traffic officials to continue discharging their duty effectively.
“We also like to commend the Igando Station Police Officers. What we have noticed is that LASTMA officials are increasingly becoming hesitant in responding to accident victims due to the fear of being attacked and our message to the public is that attack on our personnel can be counterproductive to the victims of such accidents since they usually serve as first responders at most scenes of accidents.
“So, it is in our collective interest to stop the menace of offenders attacking traffic officials, while the government will also not relent in intensifying efforts to continually address same,” the LASTMA boss said.
The post Police Arrest Driver Who Allegedly Knocked Down LASTMA Official appeared first on Channels Television.
Police Arrest Driver Who Allegedly Knocked Down LASTMA Official
