NEWS UPDATE: LASTMA DENIES COMPLICITY IN BUS BURNING

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The management of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), has denied that any of its officers was involved in the alleged burning of a vehicle in the Obanikoro Area of Lagos state in a went viral yesterday.

This was mentioned in a statement which was made available to Hotjist on Friday.

However, the management expressed sympathy to the owner of the burnt vehicle involved in the incident depicted in the video.

The Statement reads in part, “The management of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) has been made aware of a video that has been trending online since yesterday, Thursday, June 23, 2022, and which claims that LASTMA employees were complicit in a bus fire at the Obanikoro neighborhood on Ikorodu Road. The video was posted by an uninformed blogger on Facebook.”

“After carefully examining the video, LASTMA Management expresses sympathy to the owner of the vehicle but vehemently denies that any of its officers were involved in the incident depicted in the video. Instead, uncalled-for mob violence, which seems to be occurring these days at the least, seriously injured one of the LASTMA patrol officers who had offered assistance with the burning truck.”

The interviewees were not eyewitnesses nor participants in the incident; rather, they were residents of the inside street, near to the location of the incident on Ikorodu Road, which was not supported by any visual evidence in the video report. Their evidence consisted solely of hearsay and was confined to the period following the arrival of security agency personnel to uphold law and order, the period following attacks on a LASTMA official, and the period following the arrival of the firefighters who had come to help put out the vehicle’s fire.

The State Government has declared zero tolerance for attacks on its officers who are carrying out their responsibilities as prescribed by the law or as directed, and LASTMA officials do not operate in side streets.

We want to emphasize that when carrying out their duties or providing public service, LASTMA staff cannot be harmed or assaulted.

In order to promote a tranquil and orderly society, the LASTMA administration also takes this chance to ask journalists and bloggers to make an effort to carry out thorough investigations and provide facts rather than sentiments in their reporting.

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