BY Eben Enasco Kingsley, Benin City
A mobile court sitting in Benin City yesterday sentenced nine drivers to 30 days imprisonment over traffic offences in the state capital.
The drivers were however given an option of N20, 000.00 fine.
The Edo State Police Command and the state Ministry of Transport
arraigned 10 drivers before the mobile court presided over by
Magistrate Aizegbemhi Williams at the Museum ground, Ring Road, Benin City, yesterday.
They were arraigned for contravening traffic rules at Ring Road in Benin City an offence punishable under Section 37 of Edo State Traffic Management Laws 2010.
The mobile court discharged one of the drivers because the police failed to obtain his statement before his arraignment, yesterday.
The nine drivers whose charges were separately read to them, pleaded liable but failed to convince the court why they should not be punished accordingly.
Some of the drivers’ relatives were making efforts to pay the fine at
a designated bank while other complained that they do not have money.
Other members of the mobile court included the police persecutor Sunday Iredia Esq. and that of the state Ministry of Transport, Benin City.
The Public Relations Officer for Edo State Police Command DSP Osifo Abiodun stated that the action is to serve as deterrent to drivers who contravene traffic rules and regulations.
He said that the exercise is a continuous one, aimed at sanitising the
roads.
DSP Osifo further disclosed that no fewer than 46 vehicles have been impounded and their drivers arrested since last week when police intensified clampdown on traffic violators in Benin City.
