FG Taskforce’s Invasion Of Lagos Ominous

In the last few days, the pervading peace being enjoyed in Lagos State, Southwest Nigeria, has been threatened by the sudden takeover of Lagos roads by an illegal Federal Taskforce directing traffic. Before now, the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA, in collaboration with the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, and the police have been doing wonderful job in decongesting the heavy traffic in the city of Lagos.

But a few days ago, a large number of men dressed in grey and black uniforms were seen controlling traffic at old tollgate and Ojota areas while LASTMA officials had to stay away from those areas to avert a clash. People wondered where the traffic wardens came from as there was no prior notice of the emergence of such taskforce in Lagos.

Further investigations revealed that officials of this Federal Taskforce were recruited and trained at the former office of the Federal Road Maintenance Agency, FERMA, at the Lagos Tollgate. Numbering about 5,000, these officers were said to be under the Federal Government’s Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme, SURE-P. The recruits were made to purchase forms and their uniforms at exorbitant price and were then drafted to Lagos roads.

They were deployed to strategic locations where they engaged LASTMA officials who challenged them in arguments, claiming that they were sent to take over federal roads. They took Lagosians by surprise and instilled fear in a lot of people who were going to their offices early, as many could not explain their mission in the areas noted for being peaceful and hitch-free. But for the intervention of the police from the Lagos Command, the situation could have degenerated into a skirmish.

What is worrisome is that this new taskforce is not backed up or established by any law of the country. The FRSC and LASTMA are statutorily recognized by laws setting them up and spelling out clearly their mission and jurisdiction. No law passed by the National Assembly recognized the establishment of any Federal Taskforce.

It is also worrisome that at this critical period of serious insecurity in Nigeria and with the bombings by Islamic terrorists, Boko Haram, such an illegal and unknown body is allowed by the Federal Government to invade Lagos roads under the guise of creating jobs for youths through SURE-P. While we are not against creating jobs for youths, it is dangerous to foist an illegal outfit on Lagos.

One wonders why the Federal Government still has time to disrupt the peace being enjoyed in Lagos with this taskforce. Government should be concerned about how to salvage the nation from its present quagmire of insecurity. The danger of this is that unscrupulous people or Boko Haram can capitalize on this new taskforce, which is creating security lapses in Lagos, to detonate bombs in the state.

Also, why set up this taskforce when we already have proven and tested traffic bodies, such as LASTMA and FRSC in Lagos State? If the Federal Government could establish FRSC through a proper law, why this move to destablise Lagos? Is this in connection with the plot to capture Lagos State in 2015? Certainly, there must be an ulterior motive in smuggling this taskforce to Lagos.

This taskforce is like a replica of the FERMA gang used in terrorising Lagos in 2006 by the then Minister of Works, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe. FERMA thugs were unleashed on Lagos then and were used to drive LASTMA away from federal roads. Several LASTMA officers were attacked with bottles, cutlasses, guns and other weapons.

The dastardly act was carried out a year to the 2007 elections. It was a plot by the administration of Olusegun Obasanjo to capture Lagos, but it failed. Is this taskforce not another move to unleash mayhem in Lagos ahead of next year’s elections? There is certainly a political motive behind the illegal establishment of this body.

In the light of the danger this illegal taskforce portends  in the midst of growing insecurity, we call for the outright ban of this illegal outfit. It must not be allowed to operate in Lagos as there are already established traffic enforcement bodies in the state. The fact that this taskforce only exists in Lagos shows that there is a hidden agenda to this. Why is this taskforce not in Abuja and other states?

We urge the National Assembly to immediately call for the proscription of this illegal body as it is a slap on the legislative body that a taskforce it did not approve is operating in a peaceful state to cause commotion and crisis. The Federal Government should focus its attention on this critical period of the nation’s nascent democracy in finding the Chibok girls and tackling the insecurity in the nation which has clearly overwhelmed her.