My ordeal at the hands of CBD officials - Lola Talabi Oni

Lola's car

A reader of this blog wants to share a bitter experience with you all. Read below...

I’m sharing this hellish story, one to add my shout to stories of injustice and wanton immoral behavior of Lagos State Agents on our roads, and two, to ensure that ALL Lagos residents are treated with dignity and respect by officials who are paid with the enormous taxes that we as residents pay to the Lagos State Government.  On Thursday morning, around 11am, I stopped by a shop by the foot of the Apongbon bridge going into Marina to make a purchase. As I was putting my bags in the car, I see several Central Business District “agents” (what do we call them, agents, officials?) clamor about my car.  Their tow truck angling to clamp my car. 

 While still asking what was going on, one of the CBD men, jumps into my car and tells me to drive quickly if I don’t want them to clamp my car.  His name was Mutiu Balogun as I would later read on the tag of his shirt.  In the confusion, I get in the car and just start driving.  I ask him where exactly we were going and he responded, “Onikan swimming pool.” Still confused and shocked at what was happening, I asked this Mutiu exactly what I had done wrong and what the fees where.  Mutiu says he cannot tell me any offence and cannot tell me what the fines where.  At this point, quite frankly, I started to get really fearful and asked Mutiu if I could veer to the right and call my husband to come and meet me at the CBD “office” at Onikan Swimming Pool, Mutiu barks at me that I cannot call my husband.  I have no choice, and I’ve been told not to call anyone.  So I continue driving. 

Since I live right by Onikan Swimming Pool, I proceeded to drive there using the route that I normally use and I’ve used for 3 years since living in Lagos Island – Marina, turning into Joseph Street, turning into Catholic Mission Street, turning into Military Road, then onto King George.  I’ve taken this route many times.  As I turn into Joseph Street, this Mutiu Balogun immediately starts agitating and asking why I’ve turned, saying that is not the way to swimming pool.  I started to explain to him that this is the way I know and since he didn’t give me any directions, I was just taking the way I knew.  Before I knew it, this man who is taller and obviously stronger than I am, raises his hands and strongly smacks me across my chest as he attempts to shove my hands from the steering wheel. How can a public officer put his hands on me for any reason?

 The car is swerving at this point and of course a crowd had started to gather in front of Mr. Biggs on Joseph Street.  Mutiu then proceeds to use both of his hands to pull the hand breaks while the key was still in the ignition, and I was still driving.  He then starts yelling about how he’s going to show me a lesson and that by the time he is done with me, I would “pay more money than I’ve ever paid in my life”.  Through all this I was still traumatized, and the now sizeable crowd had started to beg said officer Balogun.  He stood by the driver door of my car, refusing me entry into my car and called his colleagues on the phone saying “the madam is proving difficult now, bring the towing truck.” I’m not sure how many minutes passed here, the towing truck arrives, clamps my car on Joseph Street, no word is said to me and they drive off.  I had to quickly flag down a taxi who then tells me that it is likely they are towing my car to their makeshift “office” at Onikan Swimming Pool.  I call my husband at this point and he meets me at the “office.”

This is where the true nightmare starts.  A man by the name of Abayomi Adetoro, hands me a Notification of Offence for N20,000 to be paid to “The Office of the Special Adviser on Central Business District” with a handwritten account #003503010000259, and a teller for N10,000 to be paid to City-Wide Eko Enterprises.  The Notification of Offence had no offence written on it, just the amount.  I asked Abayomi Adetoro what the offence was and he said he couldn’t tell me, “I should just go and pay”.  The back of the Notification shows that the highest fee was for “Towing of a Trailer or tanker” and/or “Driving in a direction prohibited by Road Traffic Law”.  I was neither driving a tanker, nor driving in a direction prohibited by law so I have no idea where the fee came from and no official wanted to tell me even though I asked severally for what offence it was I committed.  Furthermore, who is City-Wide Eko Enterprises?  No one at the makeshift Onikan Swimming Pool office was inclined to answer ANY of my questions.  Abayomi Adetoro even said “Mutiu just pushed me a little bit and so that was of no concern to them.”  How can a state official assault a married woman in her car and his superiors respond to me that “it was just a small push”.  The man was already in my car and we were already driving to his office, WHY HAS THIS MAN ASSAULTED ME?

I asked to speak to the manager at the makeshift office and I kept being passed back and forth to several men who upon speaking to them would tell me “Sorry I work with the fire service” or “Sorry I don’t work for CBD”.   There was no derogatory word or insult that was not thrown at me in the process.  I was yelled at, ignored, shoved aside, laughed at.  After finally reaching who was supposed to be the H.O.D, my lawyer being present at this time asked for his name, he refused to give it.  He reiterated that his “boy” was doing his job and that this is Lagos not London, and he was going to teach me a lesson.  Is this the mandate of CBD agents?  Am I to be assaulted and harassed for refusing to bribe agents and to follow the law and procedure?  Is there no recourse to appeal fines and levies?  That being that, I asked if Mutiu Balogun was doing his job as he assaulted me and this man said again, “he just pushed me”.  Are CBD Agents mandated to assault drivers in the course of fining for an infraction? 

While this was going on, my husband had gone on to in fact pay the N30,000 naira total, complete with a Lagos State Government receipt.  The said H.O.D who we later found out was called a Mr. Masorun, refused to order the release of my vehicle.  The minute I mentioned that I was heading to Area A police station to report the assault of his officer, he runs and jumps into his van and drives off.  My car spends all of Thursday, all of Friday at CBD Swimming Pool.  I paid the fine on Thursday at 2pm, WHY DID MY CAR SPEND TWO DAYS AT CBD?  On Friday, they refused to release my car still and said that myself and my lawyer have to come and apologize to them and that I have to hand over all the notes I was taking during the whole incident so they can use it “to wipe their asses”. 

Is this how Lagos works?  Are Lagos State agents above the law?  Above procedures?  More importantly, are tax-paying Lagosians not deserving of being treated with dignity and without physical assault?