Bus driver arrested for assaulting LASTMA official

The Lagos State Police Command has
arrested an 18-year-old bus driver for
setting the interior of his bus ablaze and
assaulting a Lagos State Traffic
Management Authority official. The suspect, Okwudili Oputa, allegedly
committed the offence during a scuttle with
traffic officials who accosted him for traffic
violation at the Ojota end of Ikorodu Road. The General Manager, LASTMA, Mr.
Babatunde Edu, said the officials accosted
the driver for obstructing the free flow of
traffic and inflicting hardship on other road
users. After being warned, Edu said the driver was adamant. According to him, he said when the driver refused to move his vehicle from the road, LASTMA official
attempted to tow it. The bus conductor, Daniel, who is at large was said to have assaulted one of the LASTMA officials, Ojutayo
Oluwarotimi, by removing the badge on his uniform. Daniel was said to have also urged Oputa to use a tactic that would scare the officials. It was in the process of trying to scare the LASTMA officials away that the suspect allegedly poured petrol
inside the vehicle and into the eyes of another official, Mustapha Kayode, before setting the vehicle ablaze. Edu said, “ Oputa of 13, Karimu Giwa Street Abule Oshun , tried to evade arrest by setting his bus with
registration number MUS 372XA ablaze at Total filling station, Ojota, opposite the Gani Fawehimi Freedom
Park. “The fire was quickly extinguished by LASTMA officials, Nigerian Civil Defence Corps and filling station
attendants.” “The driver latter confessed at the LASTMA office, Oshodi , that it was his conductor who brought out a bottle
of petrol and poured it in the vehicle which in the process entered the eyes of Mustapha Kayode.” Edu while assessing the extent of the injury on the affected officer, lamented that officers of the agency were
often being attacked resulting in the death of some of them. He appealed to motorists to always see LASTMA officials as friends and not hesitate to lodge a complaint
with the authorities whenever they were aggrieved about the operations and conduct of the officials. A policeman at the Alausa Division where the suspect is being detained, confirmed the arrest. He added that investigations were ongoing.