Kunle Adelabu
The Oyo State Road Transport Management Authority (OYRTMA), has described the letter by the National President of the Maritime Truck Unions and Associations (COMTUA), Comrade Adeyinka Taofeek Aroyewun, to the Governor of Oyo State, Mr Seyi Makinde, alleging threats and harassment by its Chairman, as spurious and blackmail not enough to prevent the union from paying necessary fines.COMTUA Chairman had, in a letter, alleged that Executive Chairman, OYRTMA, Mogaji Akin Fagbemi, had threatened to beat him and his team and also harassed them when they visited him for clarification on account an offending truck was asked to pay into.
Mogaji Fagbemi, who was not available to pick our reporter’s calls earlier in the day or respond to SMS sent to him on the allegations, later returned the call to explain his side of the story. He did not only deny all the allegations made by the COMTUA President, but also sent the official response of his agency, other details with pictures to THE IMPACT.
In the OYRTMA’s response, titled, ‘’Your Spurious & Blackmail Insufficient To Exonerate You from Paying Government Fines’’, the agency said that the container, which was involved in an accident at Challenge area of lbadan, was abandoned for three weeks, causing untoward hardship to the people and embarrassing the Oyo State Government.
According to the transport agency, the allegations by the COMTUA National President, Comrade Adeyinka Aroyewun, that OYRTMA demanded that fine be paid into a private account instead of that of the government is not right and an attempt to distort the facts.
‘’In the said publication, one Adeyinka Aroyewun, who was identified as National President of the Council of Maritime Truck Unions and Associations (COMTUA), was reported to have addressed a letter to His Excellency, Governor Seyi Makinde, Executive Governor of Oyo State, raising insinuated allegations that OYRTMA demanded payment of the sum of Eight Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira Only, into a private account’’, the statement said.
‘’This is not only laughable, it is clearly a well-orchestrated attempt to drag the reputable name of the Authority and Government in the mud by distorting facts in a bid to curry undeserved public sympathy after subjecting the lives and properties of the same general public to untold hardship and dire risks for over three weeks.
‘’The public may recall the uproar generated by the prolonged abandonment of a gigantic and fully loaded container along Efunsetan Roundabout, Challenge, Ibadan, the State Capital, for over three weeks despite OYRTMA’s frantic efforts to evacuate the item considering the immense danger it posed to the environment and the motoring public.
‘’It may also be recalled that it took the intervention of the Government of Oyo State to prevail on the Police to allow us to remove the container after about three weeks of back and forth to conclude investigations into the road crash that resulted in the fallen container”.
OYRTMA further explained that the abandoned truck was eventually removed from the road by the agency after necessary clearance from the Nigerian Police and Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), with hired private equipment.
During a phone conversation with Mogaji Fagbemi, he explained that it was the sum charged by the private firm that evacuated the truck that his agency asked the fine to be paid to and not the Oyo State Government or OYRTMA.
‘’With the benefit of hindsight, the public may also recall that the Authority, having obtained necessary cooperation from the Police and the Federal Road Safety Corps, swiftly moved to evacuate the container on 30th March 2023, in full public glare and with the services of hired privately owned crane and lowbed service providers from another State since such was not readily available in Ibadan as at the time’’, the statement said.
‘’Immediately after the evacuation exercise, on 31st March 2023, the owners of the container led by Alhaji Abdul-Mumeen, had visited our Executive Chairman, Mogaji Akin Fagbemi, to tender unreserved apologies to the people and Government of Oyo for their inability to swiftly resolve circumstances that debarred them from removing the container in due course.
‘’They regretted the inconveniences caused the motoring public and assured of their readiness to pay for the service charges incurred by the Authority in hiring the crane and lowbed service providers from another State as well as Official Fine of One-Million Naira issued by the State Government through OYRTMA for infractions of sections 16 (a,b,c,p) and 17 (d) of the Oyo State Road Traffic Management Authority Law 2009’’.
The transport agency alleged that Comrade Aroyewun, on visiting its office, attempted to influence the release of the truck without the payment of the statutory fines and charges.
‘’In a twist of events, the aforementioned National President of the Council of Maritime Truck Unions and Associations (COMTUA), Adeyinka Aroyewun, on Wednesday 12th April 2022, visited OYRTMA’s administrative headquarters in an attempt to influence the release of the container, claiming that he is a revered member and stalwart of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State, and as such has a close personal relationship with the Executive Governor of Oyo State, Engr. Seyi Makinde’’.
‘’He boasted that he will subsequently secure the release of the container without the payment of statutory fines and charges slammed against the owners. In his words, Mr. Aroyewun said: “lt is shocking that with our plea and influence, this container is not released without fines. I will call the Governor myself and secure its release. Even in Lagos, we do this things, how much more Ibadan”.
Mogaji Akin Fagbemi, also speaking, said that there is no amount of intimidation or interference that will stop the agency from performing its duties and ensuring safety on roads in the state.
“No amount of intimidation or interference will stop the Authority from executing its constitutional responsibilities of ensuring safety on all roads in Oyo State, and issuing fines to defaulting groups or individuals to serve as deterrent to others. If you so much love the public whose sympathy you now seek, you would not have allowed your member to jeopardize the lives and properties of the people of Oyo State for such a long time’’, the OYRTMA boss said.
“As a matter of fact, you will not only pay the Service Charges to the owners of the Crane and lowbed equipment used in removing the container, you will also pay the sum of One Million Naira Only as official fine for contravening sections 16 and 17 of the Oyo State Road Traffic Management Authority Law, 2009. In addition, you will pay in full for the damages caused to the body and properties of those innocent road users whose vehicles were damaged in crashes caused by the abandoned container. This is Oyo State. We have laws guiding us and our operations”, Fagbemi emphasised.
