An Ondo State-based rights group, Sunshine Liberation Movement (SLM) has threatened to drag the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) to court, over its policy of impounding vehicles whose owners have no driver’s licence.
The group in a statement by its coordinator, Mr. Dipo Ajidahun, described as sheer debauchery, the frequent arrest of vehicles by the FRSC on account of their owner’s non-possession of driver’s license, saying “it is an illegal way to stop illegality”.
“The laws establishing the FRSC have in no way empowered it to impound any vehicle on account of its owner not having a driver’s licence.
“The FRSC was statutorily established to ensure the safety of road users through speed regulation and other measures, but can only hand over anyone without driver’s licence to the police for prosecution.
“It’s officials are not permitted to impound anyone’s vehicle as the offence of non-possession of driver’s licence was not committed by the vehicle.
“But the FRSC officials nationwide have stood the law on its head in the manner they keep impounding vehicles and extorting money from their owners,” the group lamented.
It, therefore, called on the authorities of the FRSC to rein in their “egregious officials who have turned impounding the vehicles of hapless Nigerians to their pot of stew”.