The Executive Chairman, Oyo State Road Transport Management Authority (OYRTMA), Mogaji Akin Fagbemi says the personnel of the agency has recovered a stolen vehicle causing obstruction at Bodija area of Ibadan.
Fagbemi made this known on Monday saying that the abandoned vehicle was removed from the road few weeks ago and was immediately towed to the agency’s administrative office at the state Secretariat, Agodi.
He encouraged vehicle owners to always install trackers in their vehicles to check mate activities of car snatchers. His words:
“We just came in respect of the vehicle that was removed by our officers few weeks ago. The vehicle was abandoned and part of our mandates is also to remove obstructions from the road. And during one of our night activities, this vehicle was seen around 2:30 a.m at Bodija by the middle of the road. After waiting for about 30 minutes, we discovered there was no one to pick it up. So, our officers brought the vehicle to this place.
“Today, one of the DPOs in Oyo State came up to say the vehicle was stolen and snatched as it were from his son and they have been looking for it since when the armed robbers collected it at gun point around Eleyele area. But we want to thank God that we have also supported the good work of the governor in terms of helping the security system of the state.
“So, we want to say here that we will continue to give support to our other security and paramilitary agencies within the state.
“While we are carrying out our duties to remove vehicles, we also carry out surveillances within our mandate. We have helped Lagos State to recover an abandoned truck sometime in 2019 and we are also doing this. People around us are in love with what we are doing.
“I want to encourage those who use vehicles to always put tracker. When you do that, it can help to assist to check mate some of these car snatchers. Wherever snatched cars are abandoned, we are ready to see that they are removed.
“So, we are happy that we are also supporting the security agencies with regards to that.
Speaking on awareness, he said: “Yes, we do that. You know that these abandoned vehicles we remove on the road, we are operating an open door policy on it. We always encourage people to come here. You can see around that people always come around. It is an open office. The governor has always said we are in to serve the people and we should give maximum support as it were to the teeming public.
“For us, what you have seen today is a result of the openness of the system. And for somebody to remove vehicle off the road around 2:30 a.m, it shows we work 24 hours, which we see as service to humanity.
“We also want to encourage people to come around to see, peradventure they have issue like this, they can come around. We control traffic, remove obstructions.
“People have been coming here. If they have their valid documents, we release to them for free.”