The Corps Marshal, Federal Road Safety Corps, Dr. Boboye
Oyeyemi, said on Tuesday that the corps would prosecute wife of the Speaker,
Abia State House of Assembly, Mrs. Victoria Kalu, for alleged traffic offence and ordering the
shooting of some road marshals.
Oyeyemi, who said at least four different assaults were
visited on officials of the FRSC in less than one week, condemned the attacks
and vowed to sue all those involved.
Two FRSC officials were on Saturday July 15 reportedly
shot by policemen attached to the Speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly,
Chikwendu Kalu. The marshals were said to have stopped the vehicle the
speaker’s wife was travelling in along the Umuikaa/Aba-Port Harcourt
Expressway, having reportedly found her not wearing seat belt.
The corps marshal said on a radio programme monitored in
Lagos that although the police authorities had dealt with the policemen that
allegedly shot the FRSC officials, the speaker’s wife would not be spared
either.
“The case is not closed yet. I’ll prosecute the wife of
the speaker,” Oyeyemi said.
Apart from the Abia case, there were three other
attacks/molestation of the FRSC officials recorded in Abuja, Jigawa and Oyo
states within one week.
A statement by the Corps Public Education Officer, FRSC,
Bisi Kazeem, quoted the corps marshal as saying that a day before the Abia
shooting, some members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers had
challenged the FRSC officials on patrol of Kiyawa-Dutse Road in Jigawa State
for daring to check their vehicles for excessive overloading and installation
of the speed limiting devices.
“They not only set the FRSC patrol vehicle ablaze but
also badly damaged another vehicle. The FRSC office was destroyed by the
rampaging NURTW officials. The Jigawa incident resulted in fatality as one
person was killed and several others injured,” he said.
FRSC shooting: IG, prosecute Abia speaker, killer cops
Two days earlier, Oyeyemi recalled that in Abuja, a
patrol team had flagged down a driver for routine checks. And “when his car was
to be impounded for running foul of traffic law, a female FRSC official was
attached to the offender’s vehicle to accompany the vehicle to a nearby FRSC
office for other necessary processes as contained in the operational procedure,
the driver sped away with the female worker. A patrol team, obviously concerned
about the motive of the fleeing driver, had to apply force to rescue the female
operative.”
The FRSC boss also narrated the Oyo State case where an
FRSC marshal “was almost strangled to death by a driver who was accosted for
contravening traffic laws.”
Oyeyemi, who condemned the attacks on the road marshals,
said, “Many road users are abusing the civility of the unarmed personnel that
are trained to be cautious while discharging their legitimate duties.”
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