I am innocent of LASTMA official’s death, says banker,culled from vanguad.

LAGOS — The female  banker, accused of  crushing an official of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA, to death last  Friday, on Lekki/Ajah Expressway, has said she is innocent of the said offence.

The woman, Mrs. Yinka Johnson, a staff of a new generation bank, said it was an on-coming commercial  vehicle that  ran over the man, Hammed Balogun.

Mrs. Johnson,  currently being detained at the State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID, Yaba, with her three-month-old baby, expressed shock over what she termed a dramatic twist in the case.

Although she admitted to have driven against traffic, she posited that residents  of Ikota Estate usually took the route because of the on-going construction on the road.

Mrs. Johnson, who spoke with Vanguard, said the LASTMA official who apprehended her was different from the one that was crushed to death.

She said: “I was discussing with one of the officials who stopped me for driving against traffic when an on-coming vehicle crushed his colleague, a few metres from where I stood, thereby causing commotion.

“I did not kill the LASTMA official. It is only God that will vindicate me,” she said, pointing out that immediately she was accosted, a towing van was parked in front of her vehicle. “Tell me, how is it possible for me to hit somebody with a towing van right in front of me. I am innocent and should not be made to pay for a crime I did not commit. We should all remember that God will judge us accordingly.”

Police operatives kept mute when approached by Vanguard as they referred our correspondent to the command’s spokesman, Ngozi Braide,  who was not forthcoming on the matter.

But an eye-witnesses, who reportedly  took shots of the accident scene, claimed there was no dent on Mrs Johnson’s  green Landrover  Sport Utility Van  with number-plate CY 276 LSD, neither was there blood stain on it.

LASTMA General Manager, Mr. Babatunde Edu, had last Friday, in a statement by his spokesman, Bola Ajao,  said : “Balogun was this morning, Friday, killed by a banker on the Lekki-Ajah Expressway while carrying out his official assignment at his duty post at Mega City, Ajah.

“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 number-plate 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 to escape and in the process ran over the officer.

”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.”

Mrs Johnson, as gathered, would be charged to court today.

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