Some commercial and private vehicle drivers in Abia have expressed their happiness with the July ,2023 judgement of Court of Appeal, Asaba which barred the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC from operating on roads that are not Federal roads.
The drivers, who spoke to News Echo about the development, said it was a welcome development as according to them, the FRSC should obey the Court ruling and concentrate on only the Federal roads in Abia State. Some of them, Tochukwu Ibe , Nnamdi Osondu and Kenneth Benson among others, said the Appeal Court had saved them from multiple taxation and harassment which they allegedly suffer in the hands of FRSC men in some roads in the State.
They urged the Federal Road agency to obey the Court ruling by manning the Federal roads only forget about upturning the ruling in Supreme Court. They further alleged that it was not easy for them fulfilling different by-laws set up by the Corps on the roads.
The drivers further complained that the men of FRSC usually made them to pay huge sums of money in designated official bank accounts, just for commuting the slightest form of traffic offence. They noted that there was no need for the Federal agency to go to the Supreme Court.
News Echo recalls that the Court of Appeal sitting at Asaba, in July this year, delivered judgment in Appeal No. CA/AS/276/2019: FEDERAL ROAD SAFETY COMMISSION and DARLINGTON UGO EHIKIM ESQ. and dismissed the appeal filed by the Federal Road Safety Commission challenging the judgment of the Federal High Court, Warri delivered by Hon. Justice E. Nwite.
The Federal High Court had on the 25th day of January 2019 entered judgement in Favour of the Plaintiff, who is a member of the NBA Warri and granted all the reliefs sought, which includes a declaration that the Federal Road Safety Commission has no right to operate and/or carry any activity on State and local governments roads.
The trial court also issued restraining orders against the Commission from operating on roads other than federal highways and also awarded cost of N10m against the Federal Road Safety Commission. Plaintiff’s lawyer, Mr. Kunle Edun commended both the trial and appellate court for standing by the proper interpretation of the law and that by this Judgment, FRSC personnel who are on roads inside cities and towns except Federal highways, have no right to be there, as their operations on such roads which are mainly to extort road users are illegal.
Kunle Edun further stated that the Judgment is a re-emphasizing of the federal structure of the country because the FRSC being a federal agency should only concern itself with federal roads. However, the FRSC has already obtained a stay-of-execution order against the judgment.
