Tension as bus conductor allegedly stabs LASTMA Officer in Lagos

A commercial bus conductor allegedly stabbed a traffic officer of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) during a routine enforcement operation at Ile-Epo Market along the Lagos-Abeokuta Road on Monday.

The General Manager of LASTMA, Mr Olalekan Bakare-Oki, disclosed the incident in a statement issued in Lagos.

According to Bakare-Oki, the attack occurred after a LASTMA patrol team intercepted a Volkswagen commercial bus for allegedly obstructing traffic along the Ile-Epo Market corridor heading toward Abule-Egba.

He said the conductor reportedly turned violent during the operation and stabbed one of the traffic officers while officials were carrying out their enforcement duties.

Bakare-Oki, who condemned the act, said that the officer was carrying out his lawful duty.

“The officer was carrying out his statutory responsibility of ensuring unobstructed vehicular movement and maintaining order on Lagos roadways.

“The driver of the commercial vehicle vehemently resisted lawful enforcement procedures.

“ In a shocking escalation of events, the vehicle’s conductor armed himself with a screwdriver and violently attacked a LASTMA officer, inflicting a stab wound during the altercation.

“The injured officer was immediately evacuated to a nearby medical facility where he received urgent medical attention and is currently responding positively to treatment,” he said.

He said the matter was promptly reported at the Abattoir Police Division, while the suspect was apprehended and taken into police custody for further investigation and possible prosecution.

Bakare-Oki expressed concern over hostility directed at traffic management personnel while discharging their lawful duties.

He said that Lagos State Government would not tolerate any form of assault, intimidation, harassment or attack on officers entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining sanity and order on public roads.

According to him, anyone found attacking LASTMA personnel in the course of their lawful duties will face the full weight of the law.

“Our officers are deployed across the state to facilitate seamless movement of people, goods and services as well as to ensure strict compliance with extant traffic regulations.

“Any act of violence against them constitutes an affront to public order and the rule of law and will not go unpunished,” he said.

He urged motorists, commercial transport operators and other road users to comply with all traffic regulations as stipulated in the Lagos State Transport Sector Reform Law, 2018.

He said that cooperation with traffic management authorities remained indispensable to achieving a safer, more efficient and more orderly transport ecosystem.

He appealed to transport unions to continually sensitise their members on the importance of respecting law enforcement and traffic management officers. (NAN)

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