Three officers of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) attached to Ogbomoso Area Office of Oyo State have been caught in the web of corruption. The three Officers, Salaudeen, Ogunjobi and Adetoye Adefemi Moses allegedly received a bribe of Four Thousand Naira (N4,000) Only from a driver plying the Oyo-Ogbomoso road on Thursday, February 24, 2022.
According to the driver, a trained journalist who preferred anonymity was driving around 9:30am along Oyo-Ogbomoso road shortly before the popular Odo-Oba market when he was waved down by Officer Salaudeen who requested for the car documents.
The anonymous journalist explained that, the bad section of the road makes it naturally for motorists to create a permanent office to extort motorists along the road.
He narrated that, having presented is valid car documents, Officer Salaudeen further requested for the fire extinguisher and C-caution after he had inspected the tyres. He stressed further that, not satisfied with the obedience and up-to-date documents, Officer Salaudeen requested for the driver’s licensed which had expired on Wednesday, February 23, 2022 a previous day to his trip.
The journalists maintained that, he explained to Officer Salaudeen that he was supposed to have traveled on February 22, 2022 to renew his license, but was prevented due to some unforeseen circumstances couple with the fuel scarcity in the country. He added that, his plan was to renew his license as soon as he returned to his destination, but Officer Salaudeen turned a deaf ear.
“But unfortunately, Officer Salaudeen did not accept the excuse and turned a deaf ear. He instantly reported the issue to his superior, Officer Ogunjobi.
“Officer Ogunjobi, a superior indeed, directed that the journalist’s car be booked and taken to their office in Ogbomoso. I pleaded but all to no avail. Given my personality, I eventually concurred to be booked and ready to renew my license in their Ogbomoso office because Officer Ogunjobi claimed that my offence is equivalent to 10 points. And according to him, the penalty for the 10 points is N10,000 (ten thousand naira only).
“While I requested Officer Salaudeen to advance to their Ogbomoso Area Office for the renewal of the license, the language changed. “What would you like to do so that you can proceed on your trip?” Officer Salaudeen retorted. I insisted that I was ready to go to their office in Ogbomoso for the renewal of the license. But there was a deliberate delay by these officers which made me to resort to teach these FRSC officers some lessons of life.
“I, therefore, told them that “I have no cash on me except N500 (five hundred naira)”. “If that’s the case, we can take transfer” was the swift response of Officer Salaudeen. He quickly informed his superior, Officer Ogunjobi, who was busy with other motorists in their business transaction. Officer Ogunjobi then directed them to collect N4,000 (four thousand naira). In the process, Officer Moses, came to drop his account details, a Guaranty Trust Bank account. At this instance, it occurred to me to expose their corrupt practice.
“Therefore, as demanded, a sum of N4,000 (four thousand naira only) was transferred to the GTB account of Adetoye Adefemi Moses, 0218369516. The attached bank transaction receipt is a clear evidence.”
More unfortunately, the journalist, without disclosing his identity, was delayed until Officer Moses received the alert of the transaction. The journalist renewed his license on getting to his destination the same day.
He, therefore called on the Corps Marshall of FRSC, Dr. Boboye Olayemi Oyeyemi, MFR, mni, for investigation in order to take appropriate punitive measures against these erring and misfit officers.
“The tradition of excellence, civility, incorruptibility and professionalism known of FRSC in the days of the past, have all gone into limbo. If this corruption continues unabated, we see a situation where the FRSC officers will be offered poisonous bread on the road as a compromise to due diligence in the line of duty. We would follow up on this case to ensure that these corrupt officers and misfit bear the nemesis of their action. A copy of this report has already been e-mailed to the Corps Marshall, Dr. Boboye Oyeyemi via his official emails on: bo.oyeyemi@frsc.gov.ng and comace@frsc.gov.ng and we are waiting to see his line of actions on the matter.
“The Nigerian public should watch out as events unfold on this matter,” he submitted.
