It’s a common thing in Lagos. You park your car, get out, go get what you need and come back – it’s nowhere to be found!
Or sometimes those bad men put an anchor behind your car tire.
That’s what happened to me earlier today.
It’s a common thing these days but what will we do, since there’s no parking lot I know around the market place.
This is the first time this type of stuff will happen to me this year and I’m so distraught. Apart from the money the touts asked for in the name of fine, they wasted almost my whole day.
LASTMA in this state are known for these wicked deeds. Many times, they just stay around, watching you do your stuff and once you get out of the car they come pin it down.
That’s crazy!
This morning, the touts who called themselves LASTMA officials explained to me that the state is intensifying its crackdown on illegal roadside activities.
I saw in the news the other day that the touts impounded about 155 vehicles recently. It was claimed that some of the garages and motor parks in the state aren’t authorized. How would I know that?
Lagos Island is the worst. The area is overcrowded, and the guys there seem richer and can pay more for fines, hence the intensity of impounding vehicles in that locality.
They informed me that my car blocked free-flow of traffic. I looked at it again and again and saw that it wasn’t true. Other cars were parked ahead of mine, so how did I happen to commit a crime?
Up and down, down and up, I spent over four hours, as the touts were also busy locking down cars, and having no time at all to concentrate on my own case. It appeared they were well bent on making the most money on a single day. that means not concentrating on a sole offender.
One of the touts paid a little bit of more attention to my plight but he was the one who wanted me to pay more; and if I couldn’t do that, head off to the station with him.
He called it something like 24-traffic management control. Something I don’t fully understand, since I hardly see LASTMA officials past 7pm.
At the end of the day, I had spent 10k in cash to free myself but precious time had been lost and could never be regained.
