‘It’s not true Sanwo-Olu asked us to hand over seized cars to owners’

The Chairman of the Lagos State Taskforce on Environmental and Special Offences (Enforcement) Unit, Olayinka Egbeyemi, yesterday dismissed as untrue an online report that the state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has ordered the agency to hand over seized vehicles in their custody to their respective owners. Egbeyemi described the report as “a lie” targeted at misleading […]

The Chairman of the Lagos State Taskforce on Environmental and Special Offences (Enforcement) Unit, Olayinka Egbeyemi, yesterday dismissed as untrue an online report that the state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has ordered the agency to hand over seized vehicles in their custody to their respective owners.

Egbeyemi described the report as “a lie” targeted at misleading members of the public, whom he urged to “dismiss the matter with a wave of the hand.”

News of a directive allegedly issued by Gov Sanwo-Olu to the Taskforce over seized vehicles had gone viral on the social media at the weekend, compelling the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, to direct the Taskforce chairman to respond.

Egbeyemi, in a statement he issued yesterday to refute the claim, explained that the publication was misleading.

He explained that while the agency had written to the state government on the need to auction all seized vehicles in order to decongest its garage, he was not aware of the purported memo and he has not received any directive from the governor to release the impounded vehicles.

According to him, “Gov Babajide Sanwo-Olu is conscious of the provisions contained in the 2018 amended Traffic Law as it relates to the duties of the Taskforce and will never make pronouncements contrary to the provisions of the law.”

Noting that transportation and traffic management play prominent roles in the present administration’s T.H.E.M.E.S agenda, Egbeyemi recalled that Sanwo-Olu himself had on numerous platforms stated unequivocally that even if members of his family or cabinet ran foul or violated traffic laws, they should be made to face the consequences of such acts.

The Taskforce Chairman, therefore, implored the general public, particularly owners of such impounded vehicles, to disregard the “fake news designed to confuse and mislead them into not complying with court orders on vehicles in the custody of the agency.”