EXTORTION PALAVER
Truck drivers accuse LASTMA personnel of demanding
tips
By CHIKEZIE ONYELUKAJAH
Thursday, April
3, 2008
 |
•Trucks
Photo: Sun News Publishing |
| |
The drivers of 21 trucks, which were damaged, recently by
the officials of the Lagos State Traffic and Management Authority
(LASTMA) in the Mile 2 area of Oshodi-Apapa expressway which
would have led to the break- down of law and order have accused
the traffic managers of extortion.
The trucks, which were conveying containers to SAPID terminus,
along Oshodi-Apapa expressway, were damaged by LASTMA officials,
while 10 of the drivers were arrested. Windscreen of the trucks
were smashed and the tyres punctured.
Daily Sun gathered that LASTMA officials were attracted to
the area by a long queue of trucks stretching from SAPID gate
to Mile 2 Oke bridge.
Our reporter was told that instead of assisting to control
the traffic, they started demanding money from the truck drivers
and threatening to tow the trucks to their office for wrong
parking.
The drivers, who were obviously angered by the excesses of
the LASTMA officials especially, the "settlement syndrome,"
allegedly revolted and started hurling stones at them.
Realizing that the enraged drivers would overpower them, the
officials left and returned with mobile policemen, who started
shooting sporadically as soon as they arrived the scene.
The drivers were allegedly manhandled by LASTMA officials,
trucks damaged, while they lost handsets and some money in
the melee.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of Containers Transfer Association,
Alhaji Mohammed Adams, has condemned the treatment meted out
to the drivers by the officials.
He explained that the action of LASTMA had caused the state
and stakeholders large sum of money.
Adams, therefore, appealed to the Federal Government and Governor
Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State to come to the aid of the
drivers.
He argued that the truck drivers pay tax to the government,
adding that the purpose of voting for the governor would be
defeated if LASTMA officials continue to harass them.
The chairman of Inland Container Depot (ICD) Transfer, while
addressing the drivers, condemned the level of destruction
but enjoined the drivers to be calm as his office was working
hard to ensure that the problem was resolved.
He told them that the 10 members detained at Oshodi had been
released, adding that efforts were being made to release the
26 trucks and the containers impounded by LASTMA.
He said: "We cannot pay evil for evil."
One of the detained ICD officials, Mr. Kayode Ahmed, said
when he was told of the problem between his members and LASTMA
officials, he rushed to the terminal but was refused entry
by some mobile policemen.
He said when they insisted on going in to ascertain what was
amiss, the policemen manhandled and bundled them into their
vehicle and drove them to Oshodi where they were detained.
Another truck owner, Mrs. Toyin Adewunmi, narrated how she
was waiting for the driver of her truck to queue up only to
see LASTMA officials, threatening and demanding money from
the drivers resulting in the crisis.
"Those who failed to comply were harassed and the LASTMA
officials started towing the trucks," she said.
When Daily Sun visited the Chief Executive of LASTMA, Mr.
Young Arebamen, a retired commissioner of police, he was not
available, but the Special Assistant to Governor Fashola,
Mr. Shola Giwa, who spoke on behalf of Arebamen, told Daily
Sun that the truck drivers had the habit of constituting nuisance
on the road.
He said the LASTMA officials were only trying to ensure compliance
with traffic rules before they were attacked by the drivers.
Giwa confirmed the arrest of some truck drivers, adding that
they were handed over to the police for prosecution.
He, however, declined to comment further, as the matter was
still being investigated.
|
