We Earn Almost N1 Million Each Month—Fake LASTMA Official

Omotutu Bamidele, a 55-year-old fictitious employee of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), has said that his team earns an average of N1 million while acting as employees of the organization.

The suspect admitted to have been in the business for a very long time when he and his colleagues put on luminous jackets with LASTMA inscribed on them. He was apprehended over the weekend by LASTMA agents in Ikoyi, Lagos.

Bamidele, a native of Ondo State, said, “I reside in one of the army camps in Lagos with my younger brother. I typically work at Obalende, Ikoyi, Apongbon Bridge, Iporin, and Olowu. I stop private and business vehicles for breaking the state’s traffic regulations, which include going against the flow of traffic (one-way).

“I and my guys extort unsuspecting members of the public, earning an average of N35,000 every month.

“Any driver, especially a private vehicle owner, that I capture putting someone off at an unauthorized bus stop must pay between N15,000 and N20,000 in fines, while drivers who are stopped for driving against the flow of traffic must pay at least N35,000 in penalties.”

The suspect was apprehended by a LASTMA monitoring and surveillance team headed by Mr. Ashafa Moyosore on Olu Holloway Road in the Alfred Rewane neighborhood of Ikoyi, according to the organization’s general manager, Mr. Bolaji Oreagba.