Okodo
The police in Lagos State have arrested a 38-year-old driver for knocking an officer into a canal while trying to evade arrest by law enforcement agents along Airport Road, Lagos.
The driver, who was caught in a viral video driving against traffic and tipping a policeman over a bridge, was yesterday taken to the Yaba Magistrate Court for arraignment.
A statement yesterday by the police spokesperson, Muyiwa Adejobi, said the reckless driver caused injuries to the officer.
He identified the driver as Sunday Okodo, a resident of Alose Close, Apapa, while the police inspector, who was knocked down, was David Zapania.
“The incident occurred on Wednesday around 5:30 p.m. when some personnel of the Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASTMA), who was backed up by the police on enforcement duty within the state, intercepted a Toyota SUV driving against the traffic along International Airport road.
“The driver resisted arrest and while trying to escape, a police inspector, David Zapania, was knocked down from the bridge and fell into a canal. The police inspector was rescued and rushed to the Lagos State Emergency and Trauma Center, where he was attended to and discharged, but sustained fracture on his left hand,” the police said.
Okodo, it was learnt, will be arraigned for driving in the direction prohibited by law (one-way) punishable under Part (III) item 25 of the Lagos State Transport Sector Reform Law of 2018, which attracts a one-year jail term and the vehicle forfeited to the state government, while a second-time offender risks three years in jail.
It will be recalled that two weeks ago, the Lagos State Ministry of Justice and the state’s Task Force on Environmental and Special Offences supervised the public auction of 83 vehicles forfeited for violating the Lagos State Transport Sector Reform Law 2018.
The auction, which held on the premises of the State Task Force in Alausa, Ikeja, was conducted by a licensed auctioneer, Mr. Ade Onanuga of Confidential Realtor Limited Auction House. The exercise was a sequel to the orders of the Lagos State Special Offences Mobile Court.
The auctioneer, Onanuga, said the government is only looking for the fairest way of disposing of the forfeited vehicles and the fairest way of selling them is through auction, which is an open bid.
One of the exotic cars up for auction, a red Toyota Corolla car, went for N6.5 million as the stake kept rising against the bid of the determined car owner bent on having his prized vehicle back.
It’s about two months since the closure of the bridge linking Oshodi-Apapa Expressway to the Airport Road, with road users lamenting the continued closure of the bridge. The Lagos State government had on January 10 announced the closure of the bridge following the inferno that occurred on the expressway as a result of an explosion from a tanker.
Road users seeking to ply the route now face daunting tasks continuing their journeys. The closure causes logjams on the busy road, even as the Commissioner for Transportation, Dr Frederic Oladeinde, has remained silent on the reopening since the announcement of temporary restrictions to vehicular movements on the bridge.
