Police Officers at the Owutu Police Station in the Ikorodu area of Lagos have asked Sunday Agbeyi, a commercial bus owner, to pay N50,00, after escaping an imminent road accident.
On Tuesday, around 11 pm, Agbeyi’s mini-bus broke down after its steering rack stopped working while his driver was moving along Isawo Road.
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“He had a very hard time parking the bus to the side of the road because the steering which would have aided that was the same that was damaged,” says Agbeyi. “By the time I got a mechanic to fix the bus at about 6:30 am today, I learnt some police officers had tolled it to their station.”
When Agbeyi arrived at the police station on Wednesday, around 8 am, the officers insisted that he must pay N20,000 for tolling and N30,000 for road obstruction.
According to him, the officers claimed they begged the officials of the Lagos Station Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) on duty not to toll the vehicle to their own office.
READ ALSO: ‘They Only Collected Bribes from Lawbreakers’ — LASTMA Spokesman Defends Corrupt Officers
“Had this driver been on speed when the steering got damaged, lives would have been lost,” Agbeyi said, after seeing the condition of the bus at the police station.
Cyril Nwobu, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Owutu Police Station, did not answer his calls when contacted by FIJ for reaction. He also did not respond to our inquiry message on the matter.
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