It was not a hit and run -Eyewitnesses denies LASTMA ‘s accusation

Hammed Balogun, LASTMA official, who was allegedly run over by a female banker, Yinka Johnson, might actually have been hit by a reckless Danfo bus and not the banker as originally portrayed.
The banker, a mother of three including a 2month old baby who is with her in detention, according to the traffic authority,she was said to have been driving against traffic along Lekki-Ajah expressway when she was accosted by the now-deceased 33-year-old LASTMA official.

'Please if you are the eyewitness or you know anyone who knows the eyewitness to come forward and give statements at Panti......if not for anything,for the sake of the two month old baby in detention with her) Better put......let the truth be told.'

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According to the General Manager of the traffic management authority, Mr. Babatunde Edu, “The driver, whose identity was revealed by the auto inspector device as Yinka Johnson, an employee of IBTC, drove in a green LandRover Jeep with registration number CY 276 LSD against traffic from Mega Chicken inward toll plaza two.

“She was intercepted by three officials of LASTMA led by the head of Operations, Mr. Quayum Asafa, for traffic violation. Johnson started driving recklessly in order to escape and in the process ran over the officer. “The deceased was rushed to Germaine Hospital where he later died as a result of injury sustained from the accident.

 The corpse was deposited at the Lagos State Teaching Hospital, Ikeja for autopsy. “Realising what she had done, she ran and escaped from the scene of the incident into Ikota Estate, Ajah with the security men shutting the gate.

“The situation became riotous as the security attached to the gate refused all entreaties to open the gate until the intervention of the area commander in charge of Area J, Mr. Felix Uwamli, who called for backup before access could be gained into the estate.”

Eye-witnesses at the scene of the incident however say that the official was hit by a Danfo driver and not the banker whose car was stationary when the incident happened.

Doyin Akinlade, a Lagos TV producer, who claimed to be privy to the circumstances leading to her arrest, said that “the LASTMA authorities, for some unexplained reasons are trying to pin the alleged crime on Yinka Johnson whose car was not even moving at the time Hammed Balogun was hit. She did not even see the man being hit.”

He agreed that the banker violated the law by driving against traffic but he insisted that it was not true that she hit the official. He also noted that there was no sign of impact on her car but the said Danfo had its windscreen broken.