A viral video circulated on Instagram on Friday showing a motorist lamenting as men in police uniforms seized her car for allegedly driving on the Bus Rapid Transit lane in the Ikorodu area of Lagos.

Driving on the BRT corridor is a serious traffic offence in Lagos State that attracts a fine of N70,000.

In the viral clip, the officers tied the woman?s vehicle to a van and attempted to tow it.

Nearly in tears, the motorist pleaded with Nigerians to intervene and stop the officers from removing her car.

?I was not on the BRT lane! I am begging you. I will die! This motor cannot tow my vehicle. I am begging the whole of Nigeria to help me!? she cried.

Her pleas, however, fell on deaf ears as one of the officers was heard ordering a driver to proceed with towing the car.

Still, the woman stood her ground.

?This motor cannot tow my vehicle. I am not on the BRT lane. My daughter?s convocation is today! Officers, you are wicked. What is my offence?? she screamed.

Netizens, who reacted to the video, claimed there was no sign indicating that the road was designated for BRT buses.

?This is my area. There is nothing she can do. The day it happened to us, I begged these people endlessly with my baby on my back. But when it was getting late, nobody had to tell us to pay N70,000?we even had to borrow the money. It was really a painful experience. Honestly, there is no signpost there,? a netizen, identified as @dbdelight_snacks, wrote.

Observers noted that the woman?s ordeal exemplifies how officers, believed to be from the police, the Lagos State Metropolitan Area Transport Authority, and other non-state actors, exploit the absence of clear road signs to make life difficult for motorists and private vehicle owners in Lagos daily.

Findings by Sunday PUNCH revealed that some of the hotspots for extortion in the state include bus terminals around Ikorodu, Oshodi, Obalende, Yaba, Oyingbo, Mile 2, the Aswani area/7&8 on Airport Road, Anthony, and certain sections of the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, including Ile Epo and Pleasure bus stops.

A visit to some of the locations on Thursday showed the absence of road signs distinguishing the lanes designated for BRT buses from those meant for other vehicles.

Despite the missing road signs, officers in police uniforms were observed stopping vehicles on the unmarked roads for traffic violations.

According to residents, visitors and people who may not be familiar with Lagos routes often mistakenly drive into the BRT lanes. Such drivers are allegedly extorted by security operatives.

Some activists argued that the absence of proper signposts has fueled extortion on many roads in the state. They noted that unmarked BRT lanes, one-way roads, and diverted routes have become traps for unsuspecting travellers.

A journalist cum activist, Segun O?Law, launched a campaign on Tuesday at Super Bus Stop, Oke Odo, in the Agege Local Government Area of the state in response to outcry over police extortion in the community.

In a video posted by O?Law on social media and seen by our correspondent, there is no warning sign for motorists to steer clear of the BRT lane.

While Segun was decrying how drivers usually fell victim to extortionate state agents, a motorist was captured driving into the forbidden side of the road.

After being warned, the driver reversed and took the other side of the road.

?A victim recently told me that he and two friends were driving in a convoy, following one another. The police arrested all three at the same time, collecting N70,000 each?N210,000 in total. This happened less than a month ago, and we receive reports like this daily. We got fed up and realised this seemed like a deliberate trap for unsuspecting commuters and drivers.

?The state government created lanes on federal roads and failed to put up any signs. Instead, they deployed officers to extort Nigerians. Why can?t the state government simply install a signpost that says ?BRT Only? beside the road for all to see? Isn?t that cheaper than placing a monitoring team to extort people?? Segun said.

Also, a netizen identified as Joseph Akinade, wrote on X, ?I was just in Nigeria and was extorted by the police every time I plied the Super/Ile Epo route?not even the BRT lane but another road leading to the Agege/Pen Cinema bridge. They are always on both sides of the uneven roads. In a month, I gave over N30,000 without committing any offence?just from listening to them begging for money.?

A shop owner at Pleasure Bus Stop, who identified himself only as Emeka, said officers often exploited the lack of traffic signs on diverted sections of the road to extort unsuspecting motorists.

He said, ?The officers claim there is a diversion, but as you can see, there is no evidence or sign to indicate that. Yet, they keep harassing people?even while armed. They hide at a corner on Sholabunmi Crescent Road before the bus stop and arrest any vehicle that crosses the supposed diversion to the other side. They charge motorists between N200,000 and N300,000 before releasing them.

?Just yesterday, a woman was rushing to take her sick mother to the hospital and unknowingly entered Crescent Road. But the officers stopped the vehicle and took all of them, including the sick woman, to Alausa.?

Similarly, a resident, Olayinka Aremu, popularly known as Omo Iya Adura, said officers usually arrived at the location as early as 7.30am.

?They park their vehicles on Crescent Road, and once they spot any car crossing the diversion, they move quickly to double-cross it. Sometimes, one of them wears a police uniform, while the others are in plain clothes. They are not even targeting vehicles driving on the BRT lane?just any car that crosses the diversion. This is what we witness here every day, and it is worrisome,? Aremu said.

Sunday PUNCH observed how some officers, under the pretext of conducting routine checks, extorted money from motorists in the area.

A tricycle driver, who begged to be reported anonymously for fear of victimisation, said extortion was commonplace at the 7&8 Bus Stop area.

?Na normal thing for here o. Sometimes, they claim you drove against traffic, and other times, they just stop you and demand money. This happens every day, and the officers are always in uniform. Even regular commuters know they must ?drop something? for the police,? he stated.

Prominent human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, told Sunday PUNCH that political thugs usually took advantage of the absence of road signs to extort money from motorists.

?Those extorting drivers are not just public officers. They are also thugs of the government. And the local governments are helpless in dealing with them,? Falana said.

According to him, about N100bn is collected annually in Lagos through this scheme, identifying Oshodi as one of the state?s extortion hotspots.

?They collect over N100bn per year?enough to fix the roads. In Oshodi, they arrest people indiscriminately. Go there, and you?ll see vehicles, including those belonging to people who have no other job but kabukabu. We drive on the road too, but where are the road signs?? the Senior Advocate of Nigeria questioned.

He said during the last election, the state government temporarily suspended the indiscriminate arrests and released impounded vehicles to their owners ?because they knew the action was unjust.?

?Look at another issue in Lagos?how many houses have numbers? Haven?t you had that experience where you?re searching for an address but can?t find any house numbers on the street? You keep driving around in circles. Yet, they claim Lagos is working. How is it working?? he added.

Reacting, the Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, denied the allegations, noting that the BRT lanes were well demarcated from other routes in the state.

He said, ?I drive on Lagos roads every day. I don?t pass through the BRT lanes because they are well-demarcated and clearly visible to everybody. What other signs are you looking for? Everybody knows a bus lane. They are well-demarcated with concrete. So what are we talking about? And for someone to accuse the government of removing the signs doesn?t sound sensible.?

When pressed on the absence of signs on some roads in the state, he said, ?I remember that there is a special unit in the Ministry of Transportation that is in charge of road signposts, and they are alive to their duties. I see signs every day. I know that they get vandalised by people, but as soon as the ministry finds out, they re-erect the signs.?

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, did not answer calls or respond to a WhatsApp message sent to him on the matter on Friday. (Sunday PUNCH)

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