Mr. Akintola Makinde, Esq, has served the Lagos State Transport Management Authority (LASTMA) for seizing his car and Maliciously prosecuting him before the Special Offences (Mobile) Court of Lagos State.
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In the Notice which was signed by his lawyers, Shola Bojuwoye and Olajide Salami, Makinde said his vehicle broke down along Osborne Road, Ikoyi, and officers of LASTMA impounded the car and towed it to their office after which they accused him of “allowing his vehicle to develop a fault.”
The charge failed and Makinde was discharged and acquitted. He accused LASTMA of maliciously prosecuting him and same has caused him “untold psychological trauma, embarrassment, ridicule and opprobrium”
Makinde, therefore, gave LASTMA one month within which to apologize to him and take disciplinary action against their officers, else, he will file an action in court to seek exemplary damages of Twenty Million Naira among others.
Read the full notice below:
WOC/LG/VOL.03/060/2020
30th September, 2020.
The General Manager
Lagos State Transport Management Authority (LASTMA)
LSTC Building, Apapa-Oshodi Exp.
Ilupeju, Lagos.
Dear sir,
NOTICE OF INTENTION TO COMMENCE LEGAL PROCEEDINGS AGAINST THE LAGOS STATE TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY (LASTMA) AND MR. BAMIDELE, SHEHU TIJANI, AN OFFICER OF LASTMA; ISSUED PURSUANT TO SECTION 69 OF THE LAGOS STATE TRANSPORT SECTOR REFORM LAW, 2018.
The above subject refers.
We act as counsel to Mr. Akintola Makinde, “our client”, and on whose instruction we write this letter.
Our client informed us and we verily believe him, that, on 10th August, 2020, while himself and his colleague were on their way to work, somewhere along Osborne Road, Ikoyi, the temperature gauge of our client’s vehicle rose beyond normal, thereby indicating that the engine was overheating. Startled by this development, our client calmly checked his rearview mirrors for oncoming traffic, before safely pulling over to the side of the road in order to investigate what could have caused this.
As our client safely pulled over, he immediately activated his hazard light. He then requested that his colleague retrieve and set up the “C-caution” in his trunk, while he opened the bonnet to investigate what may have gone wrong. Within seconds, Mr. Bamidele, Shehu Tijani, an officer of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), attached to Zone 18, Sura, Lagos Island, and another officer whose name is unknown, in company of some men in plain clothes, operating a towing van, rudely accosted our client. Our client courteously explained to Mr. Bamidele and his team the situation of things and that he would not mind if the vehicle is towed to his (our client’s) office, which is only a few meters away from the scene, for a fee. Mr. Bamidele, who was obviously in charge of the team, and his colleague in uniform, declined our client’s offer. According to them, our client had committed an offence by allowing his vehicle to develop a fault. They specifically demanded that our client pays them some money, if he did not want his car to be towed to their office, where he would be made to pay a more humongous sum to the state’s coffers in addition to the cost of towing.
Being a lawyer as well as a law-abiding citizen, our client maintained that he has not breached any law. He equally insisted he could only pay for any towage services rendered to him in respect of his vehicle, and that he would not be intimidated into giving a bribe. This infuriated Mr. Bamidele who immediately ordered his men to tow the vehicle to LASTMA Zone 18, at Sura, Lagos Island, Lagos. Following Mr. Bamidele’s instruction, the vehicle was towed in a manner which caused severe damage to the bumper, the fog lights and signal lights, as well as the front panels of the car.
Upon arrival at the LASTMA Zone 18, our client’s vehicle was impounded and he was subsequently issued with a Notification of Offence, which said offence was clearly stated to be “Breakdown”. A copy of the notification of offence is attached to this letter as Annexure 1. Subsequent to the foregoing, and due to our client’s insistence on his right, he was arraigned at the Special Offences (Mobile) Court of Lagos State, on 11th August, 2020, on a trumped up two-count charge of “Vehicle causing obstruction on highway if broken down” and “towing” read out against him. This was done despite the fact that, by all available pictorial evidence, it was glaring that no traffic was obstructed and there was no need for the impoundment and towage of his vehicle to the LASTMA office, in the first place. A certified true copy of the Charge sheet is attached to this letter as Annexure 2, for your ease of reference.
Trial was concluded on 18th August, 2020, whereat, the Honourable Magistrate, Mrs O.O. Fagbohun, though graciously granting the release of the vehicle on bond pending the determination of the Charge, adjourned to 17th September, 2020, for judgment. The vehicle was, however, not released in line with the interlocutory order of the court, until 28th August, 2020, thereby leaving our client stranded and without any means of transportation during a worldwide pandemic (COVID-19) that has led to the loss of over a million lives. In other words, during this dangerous period of the COVID-19 pandemic and the attendant need for social and physical distancing, our client was constrained to using public transport (car rentals) due to the fact that LASTMA and Mr. Bamidele had deprived him of his vehicle unjustly and unlawfully. He was, thus, not only left to bear the cost of the repair of his badly damaged vehicle, but also the cost of daily car rentals for 18 days, while being daily exposed to the risk of COVID-19 infections.
Notably, Her Honour, delivered the court’s judgment on 17th September, 2020, striking out both charges, as well as discharging and acquitting our client of any wrong doing, as according to the court, he has not conducted himself in any way offensive to the law. A certified true copy of the judgment of the court is attached to this letter as Annexure 3, for your ease of reference.
Kindly bear in mind that our client is a legal practitioner of repute; thus, the fact that he was docked for an act which does not constitute an offence, caused untold psychological trauma, embarrassment, ridicule and opprobrium to our client. This is added to the cost of engaging the services of counsel for the prosecution of his defence.
From the review of the facts made available to us, the prosecution of our client was occasioned by malice, as a result of his refusal to bribe Mr. Bamidele and his colleague who effected his arrest.
In light of the foregoing, TAKE NOTICE that except LASTMA, within one month of the receipt of this letter, tenders a formal apology, addressed to our client and published in two daily newspapers with national coverage; as well as commence disciplinary actions against Mr. Bamidele, Shehu Tijani (and all concerned) in line with the Lagos State Public Service Rules, 2015 or such other relevant Rules, for their wrongful conducts, we have the instruction of our client to commence an action against LASTMA and the said Mr. Bamidele, for illegal arrest as well as seizure and willful damage of property, malicious prosecution, and such other relevant cause of action that may be distilled from the facts. We shall, in course of the said action, claim the following reliefs against Mr. Bamidele and LASTMA, jointly and severally:
- A DECLARATION that the towage, impoundment and seizure of the claimant’s car on 10th August, 2020, is unlawful, illegal, unconstitutional and contrary to the Lagos State Transport Sector Reform Law.
- A DECLARATION that the prosecution of the claimant in Charge No. SOC/LMA/F/013/2020, between the ATTORNEY GENERAL OF LAGOS STATE v. MAKINDE JONATHAN AKINTOLA & 6 ORS, which said prosecution was set in motion by Bamidele, Shehu Tijani and LASTMA, is malicious and/or intended to cause undue embarrassment and ridicule to the claimant.
- AN ORDER OF COURT, directing LASTMA to activate disciplinary measures against Bamidele, Shehu Tijani (and all other employees involved) for his/their wrongful conduct(s) in relation to the claimant.
- AN ORDER OF COURT directing a formal apology from LASTMA, addressed to the claimant and advertised in the Punch, Guardian and Vanguard (or such other dailies with wide national coverage as the Honourable Court may order).
- AN ORDER for special damages under the following heads:
i. Cost of Car hire for the period of seizure of the claimant’s car N450, 000.00 (Four Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira, Only).
ii. Cost of repair of the damaged portions of the vehicle in course of seizure and towage – N710,000.00 (Seven Hundred and Ten Thousand Naira, Only).
iii. Cost of engagement of legal services at the Magistrate Court – N7,525,000.00 (Seven Million, Five Hundred and Twenty Five Thousand Naira, only).
6. AN ORDER for Exemplary damages to the tune of N20,000,000.00- (Twenty Million Naira, only)
7. Pre-judgment interest at the rate of 15% (Fifteen Percent) per annum, until judgment is delivered.
8. Post-judgment interest at the rate of 15% (Fifteen Percent) per annum, until the judgment debt is liquidated.
9. Cost of this action.
While we note that the above reliefs are without prejudice to such further and/or other reliefs that may be sought by the claimant at trial, please, be assured of our high regards and esteem.
Yours faithfully,
PP: Wole Olanipekun & Co.
Shola Bojuwoye, Esq. Olajide Salami, Esq.
Encl: 3
CC:
- The Honourable Commissioner for Transportation
Lagos State Ministry of Transportation
The Secretariat
Obafemi Awolowo Way,
Ikeja, Lagos.
- Bamidele, Shehu Tijani
LASTMA Office
Zone 18, Sura,
Lagos Island, Lagos.
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