I hope you all remember this video that was posted last week about the LASTMA official that was demanding bribe from a traffic offender? If you miss it you can watch the VIDEO HERE.
The
Lagos State Government has intensified effort to arrest a junior
officer with Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), Mr.
Michael Ekundayo, for allegedly demanding and collecting bribe.
Ekundayo was allegedly caught on video collecting N8, 000 bribe from a
motorist. Sources have, however, said that law enforcement agents may
now go after Ekundayo’s relatives to assist them in producing the
suspect who is now at large.
A source, did not want his name mentioned, told National Mirror that
efforts to arrest the suspect had not yielded any result ever since the
video spread like wildfire on the social media.
Ekundayo, a Grade Level 4 officer, who National Mirror learnt lived
on 11 Fadeyi Street, Ilupeju, was caught redhanded demanding bribe from a
motorist who is suspected to have deliberately broken the Lagos Traffic
Law to expose corrupt law enforcement agents.
The source said: “Since Saturday, we have been looking for Ekundayo.
Our provosts went to the house where he was said to be living before the
incident. His mother said he had not becoming home since that day. But
it is unfortunate that LASTMA lacks the power to arrest, it is the
police that will do that. By the time his wife and other relatives are
arrested, he will make himself available for arrest.”
Ekundayo had accused the motorist of beating the traffic light on
Alfred Rewane Road, Ikoyi, Lagos. He was said to have stop the motorist
at the Golden Gate Chinese Restaurant Junction, where an amateur video
of his transaction with the offender was recorded and sent to the
iWitness platform of Channels Television.
After having demanded N8, 000 bribe from the motorist, the suspect
accompanied him to the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) to withdraw the
cash to pay the bribe. According to the video footage, the motorist
presented N4, 000 to the LASTMA officer, but he rejected it and was
angry that the motorist broke the agreement to pay N8, 000, but later
took the money after expressing his feelings, unknown that he was being
recorded by hidden camera.
Meanwhile, the state government has promised to punish the officer,
expressing regrets that the suspect could embark on such a disgraceful
act in spite of efforts to train and retrain LASTMA personnel. In a
statement signed by the Commissioner for Transportation, Mr. Kayode
Opeifa, the government said it would take appropriate action against the
suspect who, according to him, had not been found since the news broke.
The government expressed regrets that the suspect could embark on such a
disgraceful act in spite of the consistent training being given to all
government officers and public servants in the state.
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