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FG To Prosecute Anyone That Damages Roads
Federal Government has directed Attorneys General of the 36 states of the federation to, henceforth, prosecute motorists and persons who willfully damage the federal roads and other infrastructure across the country.
The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami, had specifically directed the Attorney-General of the 36 States of the Federation to immediately take over both pending and new cases of damages to Federal roads, bridges, and other public utilities within their jurisdictions.
According to the letter dated October 14, 2021, the fact of the case, Re-Charge No: *MIS/221/2021: Commissioner of Police vs Folarein Temitope, ‘M’ 30 years*, is that on March 12, 2021, one Folarin Temitope, while driving a low-bed Renault trailer with registration number *MUS 758 XU,* conveying an excavator, damaged three flyover bridges at Ogunmakin, Isara and Sapade respectively along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
Investigations later by the Ogunmakin Unit of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), the statement, noted, revealed that the excavator inflicted the damage on the bridges because its height was above the clearance level allowed by the bridges and this led to the booking of the driver for road obstruction and dangerous driving while the Isara Police Division impounded the vehicle and charged the driver to the Isara Magistrate’s Court in Ogun State.
Consequently, the court ordered the release of the vehicle owners when the case came up for hearing at the court on August 3, 2021.
On the strength of the directive, the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has written to the Attorney-General of Ogun State requesting him to take over a criminal case of damage to three flyover bridges along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway against one Folarin Temitope.
The Minister declared: “Having regard to the seriousness of the offence and the implication of the damage occasioned by the negligence of the driver on the affected bridges, the Federal Government is interested in ensuring that the matter is prosecuted diligently and professionally by the Ministry of Justice with Counsel in the Ministry of Works and Housing holding watching brief”
