Police issues 7-day Ultimatum to owners of unregistered vehicles in Lagos

Joy Anyim 

The Lagos State Police Command has issued a seven day ultimatum to owners and operators of unregistered vehicles, vehicles with no plate numbers and those with plate numbers carrying names and titles, to register their vehicles or face the full weight of the law. 

According to the Lagos Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Elkana Bala, who issued a press statement on this on Sunday, vehicles displayed for sale in various car stands, must also have the dealer’s sticker conspicuously pasted for easy identification. 

Bala further stated that the ultimatum which will start January 6, 2020 and elapse by 11.59pm of January 12, 2020, became necessary to restore sanity on the roads. 

Giving a detailed explanation, the PPRO said: “Also affected are vehicles with covered or defaced plate numbers, vehicles with fake plate numbers and vehicles without plate numbers. 

Users of plate numbers with special inscriptions like ‘Chief’ ‘Chairman’,  ‘Ambassador’, ‘Baale’, ‘Iya loja’, ‘Sarki’, or bearing personal name among others, are required by law to register such customized plate numbers.

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“Escorts vehicles and bullion vans must also be registered. It is not enough to inscribe just the word ‘Escort’ or ‘Pilot’ as it is not sufficient enough to track such vehicle. Vehicles displayed for sale in various car stands must have the dealer’s sticker conspicuously pasted for easy identification. The Commissioner of Police Lagos State, CP Hakeem Odumosu, has set up a Special Operations to clampdown on violators of traffic laws and to embark on massive enforcement at the expiration of the seven days ultimatum. 

“This enforcement becomes necessary considering the fact that criminal elements in recent past have device a means of operating with such vehicles to attack unsuspecting members of the public without any trace. A recent example was a case that occurred at Allen Avenue, Ikeja, where an operator of bureau de change was attacked, robbed and murdered by a criminal gang that used an unregistered vehicle, making it difficult for detectives to track the vehicle. 

“For the avoidance of doubt, Section 4(1) of the Road Traffic Act, Cap 548 prohibits the use of unregistered, unlicensed and unmarked vehicles. Any person who forges or fraudulently defaces, alters, mutilates or adds anything to a license or identification mark or uses on one vehicle a license or identification mark belonging to another vehicle is guilty of an offence under Section 32 of the Act. See also the provisions of Lagos State Traffic Law for various offences.”

 He warned that traffic violators will instantly be arraigned before the Lagos State Special Offences Mobile Court.