Lagos Lawyer petitions LASTMA over illegal ambush, arrest of vehicle

*Osa Director, Esq., a veteran journalist and legal practitioner, describes the action of Policemen and officials attached to the Lagos State Traffic Management Agency as ‘barbaric and antediluvian in this modern age of technology to physically ambush a vehicle and drive it to an unknown destination’

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

For alleged outright ambush and illegal arrest and detention of his vehicle, Osa Director, Esq., a notable journalist and lawyer, has petitioned the Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASTMA), seeking redress.

Director, in the petition titled, “Petition Against The Ambush, Illegal Arrest And Detention Of My Vehicle”, dated August 25, 2023, and addressed to the General Manager of LASTMA, stated how the officials of the transport management agency seized his “SUV vehicle, Ford Edge with registration number KSF 47GJ in a most undignified manner” at Iyana-Ipaja, in Lagos.

The petitioner also noted: “On Thursday, 24th August, 2023, I was driven to the park of ‘God Is Good Motors’, GIGM, at Iyana Ipaja, by my mechanic who was to take the car for repairs thereafter.

“I was booked to leave for Benin City by GIGM at 7.30a.m.

“Sadly, when we arrived at the park, two GIGM vehicles were on the designated lanes reserved for parking on the roadside.”

The legal practitioner also stated:

“Another GIGM motor was parked beside, thereby creating double parking.

“On sighting such, I disembarked from the vehicle parked behind the two GIGM vehicles on the proper parking lot, which was quite a distance and entry point of the adjourning compound to GIGM.”

He gave further details of what transpired: “But to my surprise, as my mechanic who never came down from the car as the ignition was on made to move away, we saw the GIGM driver on the double parking lane rush into his car, and accelerated.

“In the process, he blocked my driver who was negotiating to enter the road.”

The petition stated that the some Nigeria Policemen and officials attached to LASTMA “in a gestapo fashion… dashed out from beside the GIGM vehicle and blocked my car from exiting.”

According to him, when asked why the obstruction of his vehicle’s right of way, he said the officials simply accused his driver of “double parking”, and subsequently arrested the car.

 

“Shockingly, in a bid to fish for evidence, they only started videoing the vehicle after the departure of the GIGM vehicle that was in front, which they apparently used in blocking my vehicle to effect the arrest.

“More shocking was their decision to yank off the person who drove me from the steering wheel,” said the lawyer.

The petitioner as well mentioned the valuables and money inside the vehicle at the time of arrest to “include $1,700 (One Thousand Seven Hundred Dollars), a Samsung phone and an expired travelling passport belonging to my wife.”

Director said of the incident: “There is no gainsaying the fact that their action was barbaric and antediluvian in this modern age of technology to physically ambush a vehicle and drive it to an unknown destination.”

He urged the General Manager of LASTMA: “I, therefore, urge you to use your good offices to release my vehicle and ensure that the above stated valuables and money are intact inside the vehicle.”

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