CITIZENS COMPASS– LAGOS State Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA, says it has apprehended a Special Traffic Mayor, and an inpositor at Mobolaji Bank-Anthony Way area of the state over unlawful operation.
The Traffic Mayor, Ibrahim Abu, and his accomplice, Olamide Oshin, were arrested for illegally apprehending a logistic motorcyclist.
The spokesperson for the agency, Olumide Filade, in a statement on Friday, said Abu obtained another mayor’s reflective jacket number to print a fake identity card for Oshin to operate unlawfully, adding that the two of them had been handed over to the police.
He said, “Two purported Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, Special Traffic Mayors, Ibrahim Abu and Olamide Oshin, were arrested yesterday by a patrol team from LASTMA Headquarter on Wednesday, August 17, 2022, around 12.30pm at the Sheraton Hotel bus stop, Mobolaji Bank-Anthony Way, for illegally apprehending a logistic motorcyclist.
“Remember that there have been incidents of impersonation of LASTMA personnel by some unscrupulous members of the public in the past. This is one of such cases which the agency has vowed to handle with the laws of the state.
“Upon proper investigation, it was discovered that Ibrahim Abu was truly a LASTMA STM. He obtained another mayor’s reflective jacket number to print a fake identity card for Olamide Oshin in order to perpetuate fraudulent acts and thereby whip up public sentiments against lawful officers on traffic management duties.
“The two culprits, who have been handed over to the police at Area F, are cooling their heels in police custody. It is pertinent to note here that the creation of LASTMA STM was a strategy adopted to increase voluntary assistance for authorised traffic personnel in traffic management, as the operational guideline of the STMs does not authorise them to apprehend traffic offenders.”
Filade said the General Manager LASTMA, Bolaji Oreagba, noted that, not too long ago, the agency noted a fake online publication soliciting membership and training as a special traffic mayor for a fee.
