…10 ARRAIGNED FOR ASSAULT ON LASTMA OFFICERS
The Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice, Mr Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN) has reiterated the commitment of the State Government to prosecute any form of assault on government officials to the full extent of the law.
He said this, in view of recent cases of attack on LASTMA and Taskforce officials in the State, where he stated Ten persons have so far been arraigned before the Courts for assaulting LASTMA officials on lawful duty
He also mentioned that the Mobile Courts in the state within a year, arrested, arraigned and convicted 62,477 traffic offenders.
Onigbanjo made this revelation on Wednesday while giving an account of his stewardship from April 2020 to April 2021 at the 2021 Ministerial Press Briefing of the Lagos State Ministry of Justice.
He noted that during the period under review, 62,477 persons had faced the law over various traffic offences such as the use of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lane, street trading, driving against traffic, willful obstruction as well as violation of the COVID-19 Regulations.
“The Mobile Courts sits on Saturdays at different locations across the state and deals largely with violators of COVID-19 Regulations,” he said.
According to Onigbanjo, the Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had also issued 954 Legal Advice during the time frame.
“The DPP is currently prosecuting 1,860 cases at the High Courts and Magistrate Courts including 10 offenders who have been so far charged over attacks on officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASTMA).
“The Community Service Unit of the DPP during the review period (April 2020 – April 2021), also supervised 557 community service sentences.
“The community service sentences were for street trading, loitering, fighting and environmental offences,” he said.
The Attorney-General noted that the Directorate of Civil Litigation had obtained 18 rulings and 34 judgments in favour of the Lagos State Government.
He said that the Directorate had helped the state government reduce contingent liabilities with suits worth N95 billion being dismissed by the courts.
Citing an example of such cases, Onigbanjo said the Federal High Court on February 3, 2021 in Olukoya Ogungbeje v Lagos State Government and 7 Others, affirmed the position of the state government restricting the the use of motorcycles and tricycles as a means of transportation on specific routes within the six Local Government Areas and 9 Local Development Areas in the state.
