BEVERLY HILLS, January 20, (THEWILL) –Â The Lagos State Task Force on Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences, on Wednesday, auctioned 88 vehicles seized over traffic violations.
The Chairman of the agency, Shola Jejeloye, who announced the public auction, had said it secured an order of the Lagos State Mobile Court to auction the vehicles seized for various traffic violations across the state.
At the car park , venue of the Agency in Alausa, Ikeja, where the auction was carried out, over 300 Lagosians gathered to bid for the vehicles.
However, entire activities during sale of the vehicles were in total disregard to the much-publicized COVID-19 protocols as many in the crowded venue did not wear their face masks; while a sparse minority who used theirs hang the protective clothing around their chins, leaving their mouths and nostrils uncovered.
This is particularly worrisome amid the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic with Lagos being the epicenter of the infection in Nigeria.
“Use your face masks, social distancing please”, said an official who spoke with the aid of a public address system but the bidders paid no attention as they clustered around other officials of the task force.
At the public auction, the officials stood on elevated platforms and rang hand bells intermittently as they announced the prices of the vehicles while the bidders bellowed their interest to have the vehicles.
The officials called a starting price of N100,000 and raised it till the last man standing.
A relatively new red-colored Toyota RAV 4 was auctioned for N400,000 while some yellow-coloured commercial buses also known as danfos were disposed for as low as N150,000. Both private and commercial vehicles were disposed.
The names of the highest bidders were written by officials of the task force side by side with the number plates of the vehicles auctioned.
Unnamed officials of the task force were heard telling the bidders that the money must be paid immediately while some bidders engaged in verbal scuffle over certain brands of cars.
Many Nigerians have since criticised the whole auction process.
Popular disc jockey, Obianuju Catherine Udeh, fondly referred to as DJ Switch had appeared in a video of late, censuring the Lagos State Government for being insensitive and too hard on the traffic offenders.
DJ Switch, said fines could have been imposed on the offenders or they could have been sentenced on community services.
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