We Have The Right To Arrest And Impose Fines..FRSC Boss

The Corps Marshal and Chief Executive of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Boboye Oyeyemi, has said there are enough judicial pronouncements to the effect that FRSC has adequate legal and statutory backing to perform its functions as stated in the FRSC (Establishment) Act, 2007 and the National Road Traffic Regulations, 2012.

This was contained in a statement on Sunday by Sani Abdullahi, Superintendent Route Commander, Media Assistant to the Corps Marshal and Chief Executive.

The statement said, among other that “Our attention has been drawn to some media reports concerning the statutory functions of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) which gave erroneous impressions on some recent judicial pronouncements.

“Conscious of the negative implications that such insinuations could have on unsuspecting members of the public and in view of the need to clear the air on the matter, we wish to point out that while there were cases decided against the FRSC in the recent past, there were equally others that were in favour of the commission, as delivered both at the High Courts and the Court of Appeal.”

The commission said it was important for members of the public to know that “The October 31 judgment of the Court of Appeal in FRSC vs Emmanuel Ofoegbu made it abundantly clear that the FRSC has statutory and constitutional powers to arrest, detain vehicles of road traffic violators, regulate and set deadline for the usage and renewal of motor vehicle licenses, number plates and driver licences.”

The commission said: “It is also evidently clear that those brandishing the judgment in the Tope Alabi case as  delivered in September, 2014 as against the plethora of other cases from the Federal and State High Courts that were in favour of FRSC, which  emphasised the constitutional powers of FRSC to arrest erring road traffic offenders, impound vehicles used to commit such offences and  impose  statutorily stipulated fines for such offences are deliberate mischief makers bent on misleading unsuspecting members of the public for reasons best known to them.”

The Corp Marshall, therefore, appealed to members of the public to disregard such people, while urging road users “to obey extant road traffic laws and regulations in their overall legal and safety interests.”

Oyeyemi also promised members of the public that FRSC and its operatives would “continue to perform within the ambit of the law, and seeks the understanding and collaboration of all citizens as we strive to evolve a safer road environment that would be immensely beneficial to all of us as individual road users and our nation at large.”

Presenting its latest legal victory, the commission said “On 2 March 26, 2014, in Suit No. FHC/L/CS/1332/13 between Emmanuel A. Ofoegbu and FRSC, the plaintiff sought the following reliefs among others; An order of the court declaring that threatening to arrest and/or arresting  the plaintiff and/or impounding his vehicle as from 1/10/2013 or any other date for using a number plate pursuant to the National Road Traffic Regulations, 2004 without any law validly made in accordance with the 1999 Constitution prohibiting the use of the said number plate and/or declaring its use, an offence and prescribing penalty thereof in a written law was a violation of applicant’s fundamental rights under Section 36(12) of the 1999 Constitution.

“An order of injunction restraining the FRSC from arresting the applicant or his vehicle for using the said number plate…etc. Justice JT Tsoho, presiding, held, inter-alia that, FRSC had no statutory powers to set deadlines for change over the new number plates since there was no enabling law to that effect. “This decision was immediately appealed against by the FRSC and on  October 31, 2014, and the Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos, unanimously held that FRSC had statutory powers in line with the 1999 Constitution under the FRSC (Establishment) Act, 2007 and National Road Traffic Regulations, 2012 to regulate the use of number plates and to set deadlines for change over to new ones as provided for in the National Road Traffic Regulations, 2012.”

The statement said: “On October 31, 2014, in deciding the case between FRSC vs. Emmanuel Ofoegbu, in Suit No. CA/L/412/2014, the Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos, overruled the judgment of the Federal High Court (supra) decided in March, 2014, and held, inter-alia, that the FRSC (Establishment) Act, 2007 and the National Road Traffic Regulations, 2012 were valid laws made pursuant to the 1999 Constitution and that the provisions of the NRTR, 2012 were enforceable from  October 1, 2013, the deadline earlier set by FRSC.”

Thus, the commission said the hierarchy of courts and based on the principle of decided cases, the decisions of Appellate Courts are superior to those of Lower Courts. “Accordingly, we wish to state that the recent Court of Appeal judgment in favour of FRSC in the case of FRSC vs. Emmanuel Ofoegbu supersedes that of the High Court judgments.”

As the year winds to a close, the statement said the corps marshal appealed to all road users “to use the road carefully so that we can all have a crash-free, peaceful and joyful yuletide celebration.”