Activities of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA, were recently called to question, when a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos declared that the agency had no power to impose fine on traffic offenders, but rather, such offenders should be brought to the appropriate court of law, which has the power to impose such fines.

Justice Okon Abang, who adjudicated on the suit filed against LASTMA by Mr. Jonathan Odutola, declared that Sections 9, 11, and 13 of the law setting up the agency did not empower it to become a judge on its own matter. Put differently, LASTMA breached the principles of nemos judes in causa, (nobody should be a judge in his own case). This is a universally accepted principle in law, which is often fragrantly abused in Nigeria.

The judge went ahead to award a fine of N500,000.00 (five hundred thousand Naira) against LASTMA for arresting Mr. Odutola and slamming of illegal fees. In a swift reaction, the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), directed an appeal against the judgement, arguing that traffic control management all over the world is a municipal affair which is handled by the city authorities.

Nobody can fault that, but the issue raised by the learned judge is that government agencies and institutions, especially, those with power of law enforcement are becoming laws unto themselves believing that they can trample on the intelligence, the rights and dignity of other Nigerians.

When LASTMA was created by the Tinubu administration in 2001, Lagosians received its emergence with mixed reactions. While some welcomed its establishment, others saw it as an avenue to provide jobs for party thugs and street urchins. There were also misgivings that it would become an instrument of oppression in the hands of the ruling party in the state. It did not take long before the unsavoury battle between the former Minister of Works, Chief. Adeseye Ogunlewe and the former Governor of Lagos State, Alhaji Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, over the power and jurisdiction of LASTMA, was sparked off.

It must be said that LASTMA has done a commendable job in traffic management in a state like Lagos, where traffic rules and regulations have been turned upside down by various categories of road users. The fear of LASTMA has blunted the excesses of many motorists, who hear the tales of woe from those who are taken into the agency’s offices to go through the punitive processes before being released.

It has also become an instrument of extortion. LASTMA officials often tell offenders that they have been given a financial target to meet on daily basis. Consequently, they lay traps for their would-be victims, who may not know of the various changing laws introduced in the state. They often leave broken down trucks and trailers and impound small cars that develop mechanical problems on the roads.

We believe that the time has come for Governor of the State, Fashola to order the leadership of LASTMA to review its mode of operation and conduct its assignment in a more civilised manner. The culture of impunity, which seems to be permeating into the process of governance in the state, must be checked.

One of the prime attributes of democratic governance is adherence to the rule of law. We want to state that the excesses of organisations like LASTMA have strengthened the argument against the idea of State Police.

We want to use this medium to implore LASTMA to study the mode of operations of the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, but more importantly, to enthrone a culture of due diligence and humanness in the use of state powers to function effectively.

LASTMA is a tipping point in the emerging culture of misuse of powers of the state.