Damaged flyovers: Fashola writes Ogun Attorney, demands prosecution of culprit

The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has written the Ogun State Attorney-General to take over prosecution of a case of damage to three flyover bridges on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway against one Folarin Temitope.

The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice of the Federation, Mr Abubakar Malami, had specifically directed the Attorney-General of the 36 States of the Federation to immediately take over both pending and new cases of damages to Federal roads, bridges and other public utilities within their jurisdictions.

In a statement signed by the Ministry’s Director of Press and Public Relations, Mr Boade Akinola, on Thursday, the defendant was accused of damaging three flyover bridges at Ogunmakin, Isara and Sapade respectively along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway while driving a low-bed Renault trailer with registration number *MUS 758 XU,* conveying an excavator on March 12, 2021.

It said investigations carried out by the Ogunmakin Unit of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) revealed that the excavator inflicted the damage on the bridges because its height was above the clearance level allowed by the bridges, leading to the booking of the driver for road obstruction and dangerous driving while the Isara Police Division impounded the vehicle and charged the driver to the Isara Magistrate Court in Ogun State.

However, it said the Court had ordered the release of the vehicle owners when the case came up for hearing at the Court on August 3, 2021.

But, the Minister in the same vein, has requested the Ogun State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice to take over the prosecution of the suit saying the seriousness of the case required that the Commissioner for Justice should “exercise his constitutional power to take over the suit” as directed by the Federal Government.

The statement quoted him as saying: “having regard to the seriousness of the offence and the implication of the damage occasioned by the negligence of the driver on the affected bridges, the Federal Government is interested in ensuring that the matter is prosecuted diligently and professionally by the Ministry of Justice with Counsel in the Ministry of Works and Housing holding watching brief.”

He said the move became imperative to stem the tide of willful damage to Federal Roads and other infrastructure across the country as the FG strives to renew the nation’s infrastructure.

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Damaged flyovers: Fashola writes Ogun Attorney, demands prosecution of culprit