Five jailed 150 days for assaulting LASTMA officials

LASTMA officers on the road

The Lagos State Special offences court has sentenced five of the 12 persons arraigned for attacking and assaulting officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority at Empire Junction to 150 days without an option of fine.

LASTMA said in a statement that 12 people committed the offence but seven were arrested while five were still at large.

The suspects — Ejike Obuke, Amos Philips, Eyo Edem, Abrah Sunday, Daniel Obigwe, Destiny Koseide and Ramsey Akpan — were all charged with unlawful obstruction of officers from carrying out their official duties and assaulting the trio of Jimoh Yusuf, Ojabodu Jaiyeola and Adenuga Yusuf, who are all LASTMA officials.

Two of the suspects, Philip and Obigwe, pleaded not guilty to the charges and were granted bail by Magistrate Jade Adeyemi in the sum of N100,000 each with two sureties each in the like sum, who must be gainfully employed.

The statement read in part that, “Obuke confirmed at the police post inside the agency headquarters, Oshodi that it was a vendetta against LASTMA officials and mentioned five other members of the gang which included, Emeka, Sunday, Monday, Chinedu and Tochukwu who were at large.”

General Manager, LASTMA, Babatunde Edu, recalled that the patrol team of the agency impounded a commercial bus that contravened traffic law at Ojuelegba and in the process of taking the bus to the LASTMA office, no fewer than 12 men appeared and unleashed terror on the officers . They freely used sharp objects such as broken bottles, machetes and screw drivers to stab the officers.

PUNCH