The Lagos Circumstance Executive has clarified that the new Federal Prime Court docket ruling in Abuja, which bars the Directorate of Automobile Inspection Services and products from preventing cars, impounding them, or implementing fines on motorists, does now not observe in Lagos.
The judgment, delivered on October 2, 2024, by means of Justice Evelyn Maha, stemmed from a basic rights enforcement swimsuit filed by means of human rights activist and people passion lawyer Abubakar Marshal.
Justice Maha, within the judgment, correct with the applicant’s contentions that there used to be deny felony foundation for the VIO and its officers to cancel, impound, or confiscate cars, or to levy fines in opposition to motorists.
Alternatively, in a remark issued on Tuesday, the Lagos Circumstance Commissioner for Transportation, Oluwaseun Osiyemi, emphasized that the ruling, delivered by means of Justice Maha within the basic rights enforcement swimsuit FHC/ABJ/CS/1695/2023, is territorially restricted to Abuja.
He defined that the courtroom’s resolution used to be in response to the being lacking a selected regulation in Abuja empowering the VIO to hold out such movements, noting that during Lagos Circumstance, the condition is other.
“It is important to note and be informed that, in law, a court has limits to its territorial jurisdiction, and in this case, the judgment is restricted to Abuja,” he mentioned.
Consistent with him, Lagos operates underneath the Shipping Sector Reform Legislation of 2018, which establishes the tasks and powers of the VIO in the order.