WHAT will make a Colonel rush out of his car, stand straight, raise his right hand and deliver a sharp salute right on the road on a sunny afternoon in Lagos?
The fear of the law, of course. But, for Col. Ki Yusuf, it was not just the fear of the law, but the fear of the law officer.
Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) arrested the top army officer and a Staff Sergeant, AJ Adeomi, who drove on the dedicated Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lane yesterday.
They were accosted on the BRT lane at the Outer Marina in Central Lagos. Col. Yusuf was driving in an army green Peugeot 406 with registration number BO1 – 150 NA. Staff Sergeant Adeomi drove in a black Toyota Camry.
As Fashola moved towards the oncoming vehicle, Col. Yusuf came down from his car, saluted severally and kept muttering: “I am sorry; very, very sorry.”
The Governor said: “Why, as a senior military officer, would you choose to break the law instead of preserving it?”
A huge crowd of spectators gathered to watch the scene. Many praised Fashola for showing good leadership and expressed joy that the senior military officer got caught in the act.
Fielding questions from reporters after the incident, Fashola described as “very unfortunate” the fact that those who ought to stand in defence of the democratic values of the nation are the ones violating the law.
The governor, who noted that the highest levels of the Military Command have expressed continuously their commitment to supporting democracy and to subjecting themselves and their officers to the laws of the country, said: “Those officers that I caught today are a very bad example for the military.”
The Governor said he had already made a representation to the superiors of the culprits, expressing optimism that they would be sanctioned appropriately. He, however, added: “But it signifies my commitment and the commitment of the Lagos State Government that all those who will not comply with our laws should leave our state. We will not back down.”
“There is a zero tolerance for lawlessness. There is zero tolerance for breach of our regulations and we are going to do more of this. We are going to take control of our traffic. We cannot build our way out of traffic congestion; our responsibility is to manage traffic and manage congestion,” the Governor said.
Insisting that people must behave well, Fashola said: “I don’t use the BRT lane; I sit down in traffic and I expect everyone who wants to drive his car to do the same. The alternative is to use the bus.
“The bus is for those who cannot afford to buy cars. They have the right also to use the road and we cannot encroach on that lane which we have reserved for them. This is democratisation of the road and I will defend it.”
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