THE TRUTH
The Ogun State Parking Management Scheme has refuted a story
published by an online media alleging that its officers beat a man to
stupor saying, the writer deliberately trying to misinform the
unsuspecting members of the public.
Refuting the story in a statement issued by the Chief
Operating Officer of the agency, Engr. Wale Yusuff, it was said,
the story was manufactured by the writer to suit himself and whoever
sent him.
Below is the statement:
Re: OGUN PARKING MANAGEMENT OFFICERS REPORTEDLY BEAT MAN TO STUPOR IN ABEOKUTA – THE REAL TRUTH
We have read with concerns the above story written by
Ishola Oludare of Daily Post. Our concerns were borne out of the fact
that Ishola Oludare was deliberately trying to misinform the
unsuspecting members of the public. His story was manufactured to suit
himself and whoever sent him.
On Monday, 12th October 2020, precisely by 16:26, Ishola
Oludare called our Chief Operating Officer, Engr Wale Yusuff, to
enquire about an incident between some of our operatives and a man at
Isale Igbehin which led to the man being beaten to stupor. Our COO told
him that he was out of town and that he has just been informed too of an
incident. He however told him that since he was not at the scene, it is
better for Ishola Oludare to get direct information from the parties
involved and eye witnesses who were all at Ibara police station. He
agreed to do that and showed appreciation.
Our COO also swung into action to investigate what
happened from eye witnesses since it is against our policy to insult
people, talk less of an assault.
Three independent and credible personalities testified
that our operatives did not beat the man. The first is a former
president of the NBA who was at the scene.
The second is a serving policeman who coincidentally was
also at the scene. The third is a member of the Nigerian Legion who was
also present. The above people have all spoken to the police.
Interestingly, the supposedly beaten man also confirmed that he was not
beaten.
The claim that the man was dragged down from his car is a
complete lie. The man himself confirmed to the police that he came down
himself to plead with our operatives, on behalf of his driver, not
clamp his vehicle for wrong parking. He was seated at the back (‘owner’s
corner ‘). Ishola Oludare wrote that the man drove himself to the spot.
Another lie.
About his dress, the man confirmed to the police that he
removed his white attire because he soiled himself with faeces. Why
then would anyone who claimed to be at the scene lay the blame of cloth
removal on us?
For the records, we invited the police when members of
the public called our office to inform us that our operatives were under
attack. One sustained a broken leg while the other had blood coming out
of his nose. Who mobilised the attackers?
It is also important to verify the claim of beating the man to coma. Who the revived him? Another blatant lie!
It is very obvious that the writer, Ishola Oludare, was
not at the scene of the incident. He was only relying on the pictures
with a cooked up story to whip up emotional sentiments.
A good journalist would have seized the golden
opportunity presented to him by our COO to meet with all the parties
involved at Ibara police station for verification before going to press.
He chose instead to satisfy his friend who was boasting aloud at the
police station that “the whole thing is already on the social media ”
even before the police could listen to the parties.
OGSGPMS was established to curb indiscriminate parking,
thereby improving safety and and free flow of traffic on our roads. We
have a very strong policy on courtesy, discipline and public conducts
for our operatives. We also have a conspicuously displayed grievance
procedure in our office for conflict management. In our over eight years
of successful operations, we have never had any case of assault
brought against our operatives.
Special considerations are always given to old people,
women in advance stage of pregnancy, disabled people as well as
clergymen. We have records, including the phone numbers of such
beneficiaries.
The human rights community can attest to our protection of the rights of the people in our operations. Same goes for the Media.
We don’t condone any form of intimidation, harassment
and corruption from our operatives. That is why we have undercover
monitoring unit made up of stakeholders like lawyers, lecturers,
journalists, human rights activists, security personnel, market leaders
and civil servants.
We believe strongly in robust and genuine feedback
mechanism to aid our continuous improvement. All matters reported to us
have been and will be handled without prejudice.
We hereby implore members of the public to please
disregard the false report written by Ishola Oludare of Daily Post and
support us to ensure sanity and orderliness on our roads. We assure the
motoring public of our civility and professionalism in the discharge of
our duties. Thank you.
e-signed: Wale Yusuff (Engr)
Chief Operating Officer
Ogun State Government Parking Management Scheme
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