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Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos has ordered immediate release of two vehicles seized by men of the Lagos State Ministry of Transportation Test (MOT) taskforce.
Men of the MOT taskforce had on Thursday, April 4, stormed The Nation head office in Matori, Mushin, allegedly molested the drivers caught in their vehicles as they waited on the security for clearance to load newsprints to Abuja, and newspapers for other parts of Nigeria.
It was gathered that the drivers were severely battered, and tear-gassed to the point that one of them collapsed and was revived by the security team of the newspaper.
As a witness to the attack, Abidemi Daodu, the Vintage Press Chief Security Officer, said he initially thought the MOT men were armed robbers, wondering how enforcement would be done in the dead of the night with so much violence.
Daodu added that the men came in a Volkswagen bus and two mini buses, beat up the drivers and later drove the vehicles off to Alausa.
When the drivers went to Alausa on Thursday to retrieve their vehicles, they were slammed with N150,000 and N90,000 respectively for the truck and the circulation vehicle.
The officers at Alausa, claiming they were on official duty, later slashed the fines to N50,000 for each vehicle, but insisted that they must be paid before the vehicles would be released.
However, Governor Sanwo-Olu, through the Chief of Staff, Tayo Akinmade Ayinde, ordered the waiver of the fines and immediate release of the vehicles.
A Deputy Director of the Ministry of Transportation, who spoke on condition of anonymity, called the officers on Friday, April 5, and informed them of the governor’s order.
The ministry’s official said:
“I have been directed to inform you that the Chief of Staff has directed that the vehicles be released immediately free of charge. Kindly ask your drivers to come to our office to pick up their vehicles.”
Daodu, who followed the drivers to Alausa, reported that though all the tyres of both vehicles had been deflated, the officials were very cooperative as all permits were speedily processed for the vehicles’ release.