A yet-to-be-identified driver allegedly stabbed an official of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), Olajide Ojukoya in the early hours of Sunday, while trying to evade arrest for a traffic offence in the Costain area of the state.
In a statement made available to newsmen on Sunday by LASTMA’s Public Relations Officer, Mr. Taofeek Adebayo, the agency said that the driver, who was apprehended for violating traffic rules, stabbed Ojukoya as a means of evading his arrest.
The statement read: “Operatives of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority today arrested a driver of a painted Volkswagen ‘T4’ commercial bus (LSR 966 YE) for stabbing a LASTMA officer after being apprehended for serious traffic obstruction around Costain round-about, Lagos”.
He disclosed further that the enforcement operations were carried out around Costain round-about inward Iponrin after several warnings by the state government to commercial bus/private car drivers to make use of designated bus stops before picking up or dropping passengers/friends across the state.
“Our enforcement team had successfully apprehended the driver despite dangerous driving attempts to escape before he brought out a knife and stabbed me.
“After seeing the deep cut he had inflicted with the knife, he decided to strip himself naked and caused serious commotions before he was eventually arrested by policemen from the Iponri police station”, Ojukoya said.
The spokesman further said: “After his arrest, dangerous weapons – cutlass and knife, were recovered inside his commercial Volkswagen ‘T4’ bus by security officers.
“The government had confirmed that the arrested driver would be immediately prosecuted to serve as a deterrent to other recalcitrant drivers”.
