A FAKE LASTMA OFFICER BAGS TWO YEARS JAIL TERM
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An impostor, Mr. Omotutu Bamidele, who made it a career to feigning as an officer of the Lagos State Transport Management Authority, LASTMA, and with that pretense often extorted members of the public, especially motorists; has been sentenced to a two-year jail term without an option of fine.
Reading the judgment, Magistrate Kehinde Ogundare of the Lagos State Special Offences (Mobile) Court sitting at Bolade, Oshodi, on Monday, 27th of March 2023, explained that the convict should serve the jail term without any option of fine due to the gravity of the offenses committed.
The convicted fake LASTMA Officer, Omotutu Bamidele, was arraigned on a two-count charge of “impersonating a public officer of the Lagos State Government by posing as one of the personnel of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA, thus flouting section S.78 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015”.
While the second count charge was that “you Omotutu Bamidele, did regularly obtain a pecuniary reward by fraudulent tricks which are contrary to section S.323 of the Criminal Law, Lagos State”.
The Prosecutor, Barrister Olufemi Adekunle, said that both offenses levied against the convict contravened the Criminal Law of Lagos State (2015).
The accused, however, pleaded guilty to the two-count charges hence, Magistrate Kehinde Ogundare sentenced him -Omotutu Bamidele- to a 2-year jail term without any option of fine.
Hence the accused was railroaded to prison and it was expected the verdict will serve as a deterrent to numerous others playing pranks with such nefarious and criminal activities in the transportation space and elsewhere in the socio-economic sector of Lagos state.
In his reaction to the promptly delivered judgment, the General Manager, of Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, (LASTMA), Mr. Bolaji Oreagba, said the judgment was a welcome development as it would serve as a deterrent to others who are still extorting money from innocent members of the public under false pretenses.
Oreagba further said, “Our Monitoring and Surveillance Unit which has now been fully restructured would continue to hunt for other bad elements disturbing the peace of the society”
Oreagba however, urged motorists particularly commercial bus operators to adhere strictly to the dictates of the Lagos State Transport Sector Reform Law of 2018 and henceforth stop attacking Officers of LASTMA as the act could equally earn culprits a jail term
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