The Lagos State Mobile Courts have ordered the remand of six out of seven suspected notorious miscreants apprehended for orchestrating a violent and reprehensible assault on personnel of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) and other sister agencies during a meticulously coordinated midnight enforcement operation along Airport Road, Lagos. The seven suspects were arraigned on Tuesday, 23rd of December, 2025 before the Chief Magistrate of the Lagos State Mobile Court on four-count charges, after which the matter was adjourned to February 19, 2026, for further hearing. One of the defendants, having entered a plea of not guilty was consequently admitted to bail, while the remaining six were remanded in custody.

The nocturnal enforcement exercise, personally led by the General Manager of LASTMA, Mr. Olalekan Bakare-Oki, was executed in strategic collaboration with other government agencies, including security operatives, the Kick against Indiscipline (KAI) Corps, the Lagos State Task Force and LASTMA field officers. The operation was precipitated by an avalanche of formal complaints submitted by the Nigerian Airport Authority (NPA), lamenting the persistent and unlawful encroachment on its facilities by criminal syndicates and recalcitrant commercial bus operators operating in flagrant defiance of extant regulations. According to the Management of the Nigerian Airport Authority, the activities of these notorious miscreants and illegal operators had degenerated into a grave public nuisance and an unsightly blight on the airport corridor, with recurring reports of harassment, intimidation and the dispossession of unsuspecting members of the public of their personal effects.

During the lawful execution of the enforcement operation, five officers of the joint task force were viciously attacked with dangerous weapons, while one of the Authority’s tow trucks was deliberately set ablaze by the rampaging miscreants in a desperate attempt to sabotage the exercise and brazenly challenge the authority of the State. Despite the severe provocation and imminent threat to life and public assets, officers of the joint enforcement team exhibited exceptional professionalism, commendable restraint and conspicuous courage in the face of the coordinated onslaught. In the course of the operation, a total of 56 vehicles were impounded for various traffic and environmental infractions, comprising 44 commercial buses, five private vehicles and seven trucks. The General Manager of LASTMA, Mr. Olalekan Bakare-Oki, reiterated the unwavering resolve of the State to safeguard critical public infrastructure, guarantee the safety of all road users and uphold law and order across the metropolis.

He warned unequivocally that the Government would neither capitulate to intimidation nor tolerate violence from criminal elements, stressing that every act of lawlessness would be met decisively with the full weight of the law. LASTMA Boss further assures members of the public that enforcement operations along critical and strategic corridors of Lagos will remain continuous, intensified and firmly anchored within the confines of the law, in close collaboration with sister agencies, to eradicate criminality, restore public order and safeguard lives and property.

Adebayo Taofiq Director, Public Affairs and Enlightenment Department of LASTMA