The banker didn’t murder anyone: Eyewitnesses deny LASTMA hit and run story

by Isi Esene

There are indications that the LASTMA official, Hammed Balogun, who was allegedly run over by a female banker, Yinka Johnson, might actually have been hit by a reckless Danfo bus and not the banker as originally portrayed.

The banker, according to the traffic authority, was said to have been driving against traffic along Lekki-Ajah expressway when she was accosted by the now-deceased 33-year-old LASTMA official.

According to the General Manager of the traffic management authority, Mr. Babatunde Edu, “The driver, whose identity was revealed by the auto inspector device as Yinka Johnson, an employee of IBTC, drove in a green LandRover Jeep with registration number CY 276 LSD against traffic from Mega Chicken inward toll plaza two.

“She was intercepted by three officials of LASTMA led by the head of Operations, Mr. Quayum Asafa, for traffic violation. Johnson started driving recklessly in order to escape and in the process ran over the officer.

“The deceased was rushed to Germaine Hospital where he later died as a result of injury sustained from the accident. The corpse was deposited at the Lagos State Teaching Hospital, Ikeja for autopsy.

“Realising what she had done, she ran and escaped from the scene of the incident into Ikota Estate, Ajah with the security men shutting the gate.

“The situation became riotous as the security attached to the gate refused all entreaties to open the gate until the intervention of the area commander in charge of Area J, Mr. Felix Uwamli, who called for backup before access could be gained into the estate.”

Eye-witnesses at the scene of the incident however say that the official was hit by a Danfo driver and not the banker whose car was stationary when the incident happened.

Doyin Akinlade, a Lagos TV producer, who claimed to be privy to the circumstances leading to her arrest, spoke to YNaija saying that “the LASTMA authorities, for some unexplained reasons are trying to pin the alleged crime on Yinka Johnson whose car was not even moving at the time Hammed Balogun was hit. She did not even see the man being hit.”

He agreed that the banker violated the law by driving against traffic but he insisted that it was not true that she hit the official. He also noted that there was no sign of impact on her car but the said Danfo had its windscreen broken.

Yinka Johnson is a of mother three, including a two month old baby who is reported to be held with her in detention.

We will continue to monitor developments.

Comments (43)

  1. Is it possible for the car to hit the Lastama official with sufficient impact and not be dented by the impact? Let us see the car to determine if it has been involved in the crash or not> Before eyewitness accounts, a physical examination of the vehicle is our first point of call.

  2. As campaigned, it is time for Fashola to defend and protect Yinka Johnson, she is a Lagosian, and to ensure police/LASTMA do not take advantage of the simile Lagos traffic laws

  3. Infact the rate at which LASTMA officials operates now,only God knows. Since there's no more agbero on the road,they've turned themselves into agbero. I was on my way from Sango yesterday evening,on getting to Adua bus stop,I saw sets of so called LASTMA official arresting buses and collected N200 each from each bus arrested. What can we call that? Are they not endanger their lifes by themselves. May God help us in this country. Since there's no sign of any dent on the bankers car as people says,I don't think she she should be held captive in the police custody. At least there should be a signed on the car that she truly hit the official. Let free the innocent soul.

  4. U knw d bigest liar in Nigeria are d men in uniform pls God help Her.

  5. I truly sympathize with the family of the bereaved lastma official that lost his life on that day. Life is precious and no one prays for such to happen.

    With that been said, it is also wrong to blame an innocent person for a crime they didn't commit.

    The picture of the 'hit and run' car posted on the LASTMA website does not collaborate their story. The picture shows the car parked behind their tow truck in perfect condition with no signs of an impact. If her car was used for the so called 'hit and run', why didn't they (LASTMA) post a picture of the car showing a dent/scratch with blood stains on it at the scene of the crime?

    Even if we were not informed of when LASTMA took the picture; Before or After the incident. Either way, the LASTMA version of the story doesn't add up. If it was BEFORE the incident, then it means the car was stationary (waiting to be towed by LASTMA). How can a stationary car be used to hit someone? On the other hand, if it was AFTER the incident, why doesn't the car have any visible signs of impact?…Haba!!! This is a no brainer my people, it's sooo obvious that it's all a frame up!!

    Pause and think about it for a moment?

    They (LASTMA) have no witnesses but themselves to back up their story, yet Yinka has been judged guilty

    They have no physical evidence whatsoever on the car to support their 'hit and run' story, yet Yinka has been judged guilty

    The nigerian way is 'guilty until proven innocent'! Hmmmm, God help us in this country!! Does this also mean that one is proclaimed guilty when a LASTMA/Police officer SAYS you are (with or without evidence)? If this is the case, then we should all buckle up because there will be many more false accusations by LASTMA on traffic offenders. (Especially with the many new traffic laws that have been introduced in Lagos). So watch out, because you could be a culprit!

    I am also a wife and mother with a suckling infant, and I cannot even begin to imagine what the Johnson's would have had to go through in the past few days…it is so sad that our local authorities would prefer to 'stick' to a lie than to admit their wrong… Where are we heading to in Nigeria?

  6. The fact that lastma changed their story from Yinka hitting the guy with her car, to Yinka being responsible for pushing the guy in the path of the moving danfo shows that Yinka is innocent. This is so embarassing to the Lagos State Government! Governor BRF please ensure these guys do not go unpunished!

    Yinka & family: pls ensure u sue d reporter of d false news and Lastma/its officials for defamation of character! God is already fighting your battle Yinka. The truth will always prevail.

  7. Lol, Kehinde!!! True talk oh!! Abi are we not Nigerians again!!! Lmao!

  8. Some wicked people will want her in jail just for driving an suv or for being a banker

  9. So because she took one way, she should go to jail for murder! Niaja I hail thee oh!!!

  10. I wan,t Nigerians to remember that we are all govern by the law and constitution of the country,both rich and poor.If this lady do the right thing,Lastma will never chase her,if she respected her self as a mother and responsible personality,She will actually be free of this satanic setup.I will like Nigerians to let us be patriotic because most of women driving nowadays always like to disobey traffic rules and be rude always on the road.I can remember many events where women hit motor cycle riders with persenger and sped off without saying sorry or think that those people belongs to a family as well.Although, LASTMA also has some members that usses agression means to arrest their offenders which will be checked soonest.We should develop good manners of behaviour especially when we know that we are honourable person.No smoke without fire.The family of the deceased Lastma will not be happy with the occurence weather Danfo hitted him of the woman ,she,s responsible for that incident.Let her pay damage and get herself freed. Thank you.

  11. If Lastma was able to chase the Jeep Driver and arrested her

    They could also have arrested the Danfo Driver

    Because no matter how danfo driver had ran

    Traffic must delay or stop on the way on any Laogs route

    A combination of both arrests and interview Of at least one of the occupants of the Danfo,Jeep driver

    Danfo driver and would bring the truth to live.if the danfo driver abandoned his bus

    The vehicle number should identify the owner.

    The occupants of the bus too has a duty by law to

    Testify and walk away away free.

    Any of the vehicle that hit the lastma official will

    Have blood smear no matter how dificult.

    There shuld be eye witness and forensic investigation.

    Clues lies every where if the police could use it.

    The woman is qualified for bail while the investigation

    Goes on.

    Lastma is doing good job but they are not courteous

    Towards the public,road users please learn to be patien,the

    Yinka who was not patient to wait on the traffic is now patient waiting in detention.

    The truth is not far even from us non eye witnesses and police investigators only if they are looking for it.

  12. Even on this site, I have read like 3 different versions of the same story. Irrespective of what we think or feel, my concern is the lack of investigative journalism. If the police are so daft as we know they naturally are, should our not exhibit wisdom? Haba!

  13. God please help this innocesent soul º°˚˚°ºoo

  14. Prince….. They are trying to pin manslaughter on a woman. Who violated a traffic offence? And all they have is I saw you did not see.

    Fashola and LCC are the only reason why anybody needs to 'face one way' on that road. It is still the responsibility of government to provide infrastructure sufficient for the TAX PAYING population.

  15. God will take control. Found a pix on face book with the dead lasma guy and the bus dat hit him. I will ad da pix so u all can get it on face book.

  16. The question we should be asking is, 'where did The LASTMA general manager, Mr. Babatunde

    Edu get his incredulous story from about Yinka being guilty'? Was he there?? Do they have photos to reiterate their story? The way he narrated d 'james bond' story spells dat she's a murderer! This is a sad sad story that gives me chills when I think about it! So does this mean that anyone driving in Lagos can be harassed and lied upon by local authorities when they feel it's convenient? How can a car that hit and killed a man not have a single scratch?? How??? For all those who are pointing accusing fingers, just remember that this could happen to you, your spouse, or someone u know… Yinka may be guilty of a traffic violation (he who drives dat hasn't had a traffic violation should cast the first stone), but she is INNOCENT of murder, period.

  17. Lastma official deserved somemeasure of Emotional intelligence Training to execute the new Traffic Law in Lagos. Some of them are learned but not Cultured, even an average Road Safety officer is concerned first about her safety while attempting to arrest road traffic offenders. How many time do you hear News as Road saafety Offical crushed to death by moving vehicle? Instead of the GM of Lastma and his cohorts to punish innocent soul, they should call their men to classroom and retrain them for course they are recruited to serve. They have displayed their madness to me before so I know what am saying. Nobody is happy that their man died at the incident. But let the truth be told. I was not at the venue of the incident so I won't justify any of the story. But if the account of the eye witness is to be held, I have never seen a place where a vehicle will hit a human being to the point of death and the car will not be dented. Not even in the nollywood! Gov. Fashola meant well for Lagosians but he should call his men to order. Lastma is peculiar with various mess and only few of them are sensibly reasonable. The coins they will collecct from Traffic violators might blind their eyes to the death that will crush them. May the gentle soul of the man that died rest in Peace, but do not punish an innocent soul .God bless lagosians and God bless federal republic of Nigeria.

  18. Thank God for d eye witnesses. God will surely intervene! Lagos govt. pls take those area boys on uniform off d roads!!!

  19. Please you will be doing a very good job if you step forward and testify cos this will be saving a life…an innocent life for that matter even though she was wrong by driving against traffic…I am sure if gets out of this she will learn a very big lesson and not break traffic laws again

  20. I believe Yinka diD not murdEr or run oVer the lastma official. TherE iS no visible impaCt on her vehicle and an eyewitness account exonerate hEr. I think lastma iS hiding the real killeR for one reason oR another. Yinka must not be madE to go to jail foR a murdeR she did not commit. Although she is still completely noT off the hook as she iS guilty of driving against traffic which is violation of the new traffic law. To me I think the Police should be charging traffiC violaTion and not murder. Why are they not investigating the danfo bus with damaged windscreen.

    1. I was within the hospital building when the lastma guy was brought in with broken head. It was alleged that the lastma guy was stepping out of yinka's car when an oncoming paragon bus smashed him. Now that means he wasn't standing in front of the poor lady's vehicle as we are being made to believe. If truly he was stepping out of the lady's vehicle then something must have exchanged hands as we all know is the practise. I think LASG should look beyond prosecution and bring some sanity in the operation of lastma.

    2. Humphrey, abeg step out to testify o. Lastma is very wicked and very corrupt institution. Now that their chicken is coming home to roost they seek for victims to transfer aggression to rather than carry their cross

  21. were u an eye witness to these events or someone told u ?

  22. Its all too sad. This case needs to be thoroughly investigated. I have seen some of these lastma officials @ work & I must say that a lot of them needs to be retrained properly. As someone said, sometimes, the only difference between them and the area boys are the govt uniforms they r wearing. That's why its almost so easy to believe that they r tryin to pin it on the woman. But then, u never know what a human being would do under fear & adrenaline rush. Let's not rush to castigate lastma either as much as everyone wants them to be guilty of falsification of accusation.

    Lagos state has great intentions, but, I dnt think the intentions/plans should have been implemented so rapidly without putting some checks in place. One of those checks should have been cctv or traffic cams as is done in civilized countries.

    We all know that Naija is already a corrupt country and the only way u can be 75% sure of the truth is what us see with ur korokoro eyes or hear via audio provided no-one has tampared with them.

    And why is the womans's baby in jail with her? I believe that's a law-suit in waiting for sure.

    If there are eye-witnesses, they need to come forward.

    I certainly hope Lagos state is paying attention. This is the 2nd lastma official killed on duty.

    May the real truth come out & on time.

  23. Jesus lamb of God please save Yinka. Intervene

  24. Thank God 4 d eye witness who saw d@ it was a danfo and not Johnson d@ hit the Lastma official. She will be fined for violating traffic law and not manslaughter. I wonder why d Lastma officials cannot tell d truth…

  25. These LASTMA officials have become a menace to the public. I wonder if they were given any training with regards to the assignment thrusted into their hands. They are so uncultured in the discharge of their duties that you begin to wonder if there's any difference between them and the raw area boys. Indeed they are worse, considering that they wear 'government uniform' to back up their barbaric activities. Those who have had encounters with them will know what I'm talking about. They are a bunch of opportunistic lunatics who have destroyed an otherwise good intention of the government to inject sanity into our traffic system. Indeed they portend danger to road users. The other day, one of them furiously hit my windscreen with his fist with the intention of breaking it. When he couldn't, he broke my side mirror by yanking it off, casing and all! Animal!!! It's either they are purged or outright scrapped. Chikena!

  26. The banker may not have hit the man directly, but she shares some level of culpability in his death.

  27. The issue of lastma in lagos is worrisome

    Because they supposed to used their discretion that when they died noting else

    I can only appealling to relevant authorities to

    Engaged themselves so as to find a lasting solution to get rid of this

    God bless naija

  28. God will surely reveal the truth.Yinka made a mistake for violating the traffic rule but this will be a lesson to all.Please let Yinka not be punished as for the offence not commited,those in authourity should look out for the danfo driver.Furthermore security officials should please stop struggling with traffic offenders and even try to always respect the uniform they wear.

  29. Hun! I will plead with any other eye witness to come and safe innocent soul, particularly those that cud be in d Danfo vehicle when this urgly inccident happened. I believe more people witnessed the acciddent and some people might have even covered it in their mobile phones, let them come out and say how it occured, just justice would have been done and the innocent one would be free. I think it is time for Lagos State Gov to install Monitoring Cameras @ strategic corners and places around the metrpolis. It is well. May God inspire those in custody of the true story to confess, Amen.

  30. I agreed wit d Tv producer, must Lastma official arrest traffic offender by force? Also I believe d officer can be crushed by danfo while trying to run after d banker car to arrest her and its not that people Α̲̅я̩̥̊ε̲̣̣̣̥ daft. This must be a great lesson for Lastma. Wat about a bus driver lastma official pull to death in ojota some months ago? This is just to serve as reminder that we Α̲̅я̩̥̊ε̲̣̣̣̥ not ripe for state policing cos same group of people like in lastma will be recruited. Lastma Α̲̅я̩̥̊ε̲̣̣̣̥ more active in VI lekki axis cos of d class of people living there. I works there everyday and see d way they operate its not in accordance to lagos govt idea of creating them. Let them note cars plate nos rather than running after vehicle everytime. Or don't they get details of d car owner after d lastma official death?

  31. my people we are forgetting a fact…Area Boys were also involved. When they saw the banker been harrased by the LASTMA officials they intervened and a fight started and one of the area boys pushed the now deceased official onto the road and that was how the on-coming danfo killed him. I am not claiming anybody was right or wrong but the truth should just be said…that banker lady is in a confused state and in a comatised shock, please let's not forget that she has a 3mth old baby and both mother and baby are in detention.

  32. I was @ lastma offz zone 8 in Ikorodu yesterday fri 10th of Aug, d story was dat d deceased accosted a danfo & d conductor pushed him on to an incoming vehicle which hit him to anoda oncoming vehicle dat crushed him. D lastma officials said d conductor is well knwn to them, d police shud plz investigate well so as to avoid punishing an innocent cetizen. God bless Nig!

  33. So,why did she run into hiding if her car was stationary when it all happened? This is not nollywood.Are you saying while her car was parked,the lastma official,in a moment of madness just ran into the road and was crushed by another danfo bus? Let's try and use our brains here,people. If someone says you are daft,must you act daft to prove your point?

  34. Indeed, Yinka did not murder anyone. Eyewitnesses confirm that the Lastma official was ran over by a danfo bus. I understand that Yinka went to the station with her lawyer, to claim her vehicle when she was told that the Commissioner wanted to see her. She saw the Commissioner and she was told she was being arrested for the murder to the Lastma Official. This injustice is maddening! For God's sake, please the officials peddling these lie should confess now before the wrath of God comes on them! We need to do something about the state of injustice in this country – people should please say the truth!!!

  35. Dis lasma people r just disgushing set of people. Let the banker go she is innocent

  36. Dis lasma people r just disgushing set of people. Let the banker go she is innocent

  37. Dis lasma people r just disgushing set of people. Let the banker go she is innocent

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