Days after his arrest, the Lagos State Special Offences (Mobile) Court sitting at Bolade, Oshodi, has sentenced a fake Lagos State Traffic Management Authority Officer, Omotutu Bamidele, to two years imprisonment for impersonation and extortion.
Bamidele was arraigned on a 2-count charge of impersonating a public officer by claiming to be a staff of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority and obtaining money by fraudulent trick, contravening sections 78 and 323 of the Criminal Law, Lagos State.
The convict was arrested over the weekend on Olu Holloway Road, Ikoyi, by LASTMA’s Monitoring/Surveillance team led by the Zonal Head, Ashafa Moyosore.
A press statement by the Director, Public Affairs and Enlightenment Department of LASTMA, Mr Adebayo Taofiq, stated that Magistrate Kehinde Ogundare sentenced Omotutu Bamidele without any option of fine after he pleaded guilty to the counts.
Magistrate Ogundare ruled that the convict should serve the jail term without any option fine due to the gravity of the offences as stated by the prosecutor, Barr. Olufemi Adekunle.
Reacting to the judgment, General Manager of LASTMA, Mr Bolaji Oreagba, said the judgment was a welcome development as it would serve as a deterrent to others, adding that the monitoring unit of the agency has been fully restructured to hunt bad elements disturbing the society.