The Lagos State Government on Tuesday urged security personnel to comply with the State Traffic Law and desist from plying Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor along the Ikorodu Road axis.
General Manager of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), Mr. Bashir Braimah said this following a joint enforcement against BRT violation with the military police and the Nigerian police carried out on Monday.
He noted that the 15 vehicles found plying the BRT corridors during the exercise were either driven by the military or with military paraphernalia hanging in the vehicles.
He wondered why military personnel who should be the custodian of the Traffic Law were the ones flouting it. Case in point is the recent assault of a LASTMA official Peter Owolabi, who dared to take the photographs of the black Honda Accord car of some military men after they violated the BRT corridor at Obanikoro bus stop at Ikorodu
“The officers were stopped during a routine exercise to prohibit the illegal use of BRT bus corridor by other motorists. The violators were presented with fine ticket in accordance with the new approach of the agency of booking offenders on the spot and allow continuing with journey without their vehicle being impounded,” Braimah said.
“However, unlike their civilian counterparts, the Military officers refused to collect the tickets and rather opted to obstruct movement of other vehicles from exiting the corridor and in the process caused pandemonium and created ugly scenes unbefitting of a modern army,” Braimah said.
The LASTMA boss said the military personnel physically attacked passersby who dared to record the incident and in the process, manhandled the LASTMA cameraman and damaged his camera.
“It’s worthy to note that LASTMA officials are only empowered by the law to ensure orderliness, sanity and safety to Lagos roads.
“The attack was a clear case of what LASTMA personnel usually go through in the hands of some uniform personnel at a time that the state government is making effort to restore orderliness on state roads. It has become a habit for some of the military personnel driving commercial buses in uniform to flout the state traffic law and collaborate or encourage commercial drivers to violate traffic law on Lagos roads,” Braimah said.
