….As Boboye vows to presecute offending officers
For asking some policemen driving against traffic to turn back and use their rightful lane, Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, personnel were attacked, threatened with a gun and the mobile phone with which one of them was recording the incident smashed.
Reacting, the Corps Marshal, FRSC, Dr. Boboye Oyeyemi, has vowed to prosecute the offending policemen, who were said to be escorting VIPs.
The incident, according to the Sector Commander, FRSC Lagos, Olusegun Ogungbemide, occurred at Ibafo, along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Lagos.
Though the FRSC boss did not disclose the names of the VIPs, he, however, vowed that the policemen who pointed guns at the FRSC officers and smashed one of their phones, would be prosecuted for traffic violation and assault.
The Sector Commander, FRSC Lagos, Olusegun Ogungbemide, who made this known on Tuesday, recounted how some security operatives providing escorts VIPs on the highway, threw caution to the wind and maltreated the FRSC men on duty, for asking them to obey the traffic rules at the gridlock.
Ogungbemide said: “The Corps Marshal has frowned at this act and, therefore, directed that the affected operatives and their vehicles be prosecuted for traffic violation and assault on FRSC personnel.”
Narrating what led to the attack, the Sector Commander said: “Following the traffic gridlock caused by one-way driving by some police escort of VIPs at Ibafo area on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway at about 7a.m., on Monday, the policemen attacked FRSC operatives from Ibafo Outpost, who were trying to ease the gridlock.
“The FRSC personnel noticed a standstill traffic situation on the outward Lagos section of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and made effort to track the cause of the heavy movement.
“They discovered that at Mountain Top University area, a convoy of four vehicles with police escort was driving against the flow of traffic, thereby causing gridlock within the narrowed lane.
“The FRSC team led by the outpost head approached the police operatives, insisted that the vehicles turn back and follow their rightful lanes.
“But the drivers and the escort refused to obey. Rather one of the policemen pointed his rifle at our men and threatened to shoot.
“Also another of the policemen, who sighted a Marshal who was recording the happenings around the scene, rushed to the Marshal with his rifle, snatched the phone and smashed it on the road, damaging it completely.
“Eventually, the policemen realised that the FRSC operatives weren’t going to give in. They arrogantly turned back and followed the right lane.
“It is a known fact that the high echelon of all agencies is never in support of the misconduct of these disgruntled few.”
Ogungbemide also warned that this lawlessness will no longer be accepted and promised to prosecute any security operative who attacks any of its personnel while discharging their lawful duties to safeguard lives on the roads.
He advised motorists to desist from driving against the flow of traffic, and to always adhere to traffic rules and regulations.
