tete7000:
Sorry to say this: Fire extinguisher is a very important and urgent safety equipment. Imagine there has been fire, your mum would have needed to produce it in a jiffy, so it is an offence for her not to know its whereabout. It is not enough to have a fire extinguisher, it must be strategically placed for easy and immediate access in case of fire.


Secondly the FRSC in question didn't extort but gave an official fine. The money paid goes straight into government coffer.

It is an unfortunate incident but let your mum be conversant with where those items are placed before driving her car out. In case of emergency such knowledge might save her and her car.

tete7000:
Sorry to say this: Fire extinguisher is a very important and urgent safety equipment. Imagine there has been fire, your mum would have needed to produce it in a jiffy, so it is an offence for her not to know its whereabout. It is not enough to have a fire extinguisher, it must be strategically placed for easy and immediate access in case of fire.


Secondly the FRSC in question didn't extort but gave an official fine. The money paid goes straight into government coffer.

It is an unfortunate incident but let your mum be conversant with where those items are placed before driving her car out. In case of emergency such knowledge might save her and her car.

Somatic:
Lalasticlala come and see snake that looks like Tonto Dike O!


Today, I was at my shed minding my business and trying to prevent the devil from rumpling my destiny when at exactly 3:13pm, I received a call. The frenzied voice at the other end, my mother's. She claimed the FRSC then stationed a few meters to her home were holding her on her inability to produce for them, her warning triangle and her triangle extinguisher. I tried my best to guide her towards where the items were kept, however she succeeded in getting out the triangle sans extinguisher.

Drove to the scene with a colleague to discover that they have let her go. Only after booking her irreversibly and seizing her license accordingly. My much calmer colleague pleaded that they reverse the charge bearing in mind that it was done in error. They admitted the error but turned to blame their error on my mum's inability to know the whereabouts of her particulars. I asked if any of them if they helped her search, seeing she couldn't get it. Instead, one Emmanuel Baka said my mother annoyed him by sitting in the car and making calls instead of getting out to beg.

Called mum to come back to scene to confirm their claims. She asked them to their face to deny that she begged them, each and every one. She begged that she leave the car with them and walk home to seek out the 'truant extinguisher'. She begged they allow me come before taking action. She used every old lady sentiment on them. And yet they didn't budge. The Emmanuel guy said the charge is irreversible and she has to pay. His "consolation", rather than pay within the two week ultimatum, my mum has "an extended grace period" of 1 month to pay the fine or get charged to court. Meanwhile her driver's license had been seized already. I ranted and raved. Mum and colleague begged and pleaded. FRSC Maraban Jos Kaduna unit did not budge. Apparently TGIF returns does cloud proper sense of reasoning and judgement. The amount(3,000) is not much. How ever, the unfairness and injustice of it all..... I can't explain. He even threatened to add obstruction of duty to the already existing charges if we do not leave his presence. And yours truly dared him to.

Meanwhile right before them, a bad driver was reported and an accident occurred. Unofficial PRO Emmanuel Baka maintained that first they are mandated not to act on citizen information, and the accident was "not within his jurisdiction". So extortion is within his jurisdiction, I queried. I do not know if the uniform by Nigerian law enforcement provides cover for all sorts of impunity. However, if it is so, through this platform, Emmanuel Baka and FRSC Birnin Yero Unit, Maraban Jos and their likes may learn the proper use of the uniform on their backs and the office that they hold.

0rex:
The officers seem to have done the right thing. The OP's mum apparently could not produce what was requested of her before she was booked.
Once you are booked, nothing can be done anymore except you pay the stipulated fine.

What we should clamor for now is the introduction of warnings for any 1st time offense, reduced fine for 2nd and ultimate fine thereafter.

agabaI23:
Not true, if you book unjustly, the officer is made to pay for the booking himself.

0rex:

Yes. But is there injustice in the OP's case? She apparently could not provide the items before she was booked which one can argue is a reasonable amount of time.

Dexter247:


I wonder if you have this thing called sense

0rex:

Yes. But is there injustice in the OP's case? She apparently could not provide the items before she was booked which one can argue is a reasonable amount of time.

decency123:
This one you snapped evrything, are u planning on taking him to court or reporting him.... buh to who?mehn just Pay the 3k and forget the issue

korel9:
So wey the snake nah? So wey the snake nah?

tete7000:
Sorry to say this: Fire extinguisher is a very important and urgent safety equipment. Imagine there has been fire, your mum would have needed to produce it in a jiffy, so it is an offence for her not to know its whereabout. It is not enough to have a fire extinguisher, it must be strategically placed for easy and immediate access in case of fire.


Secondly the FRSC in question didn't extort but gave an official fine. The money paid goes straight into government coffer.

It is an unfortunate incident but let your mum be conversant with where those items are placed before driving her car out. In case of emergency such knowledge might save her and her car.

agabaI23:


I just concluded a similar case.
Write a petition against him.
Address it to the sector commander of your state.
Submit it by hand and get a them to sign on a duplicate that they collected it.
You will get justice trust me.

I had a crack on my wind shield that had nothing to do with my vision or the vision of anyone on passengers seat.
The crack was caused by an overzealous Police officer. I was begged to let him go by other officers.

For cosmetic reasons, I wanted to remove it. I already called the dealer and i was given a quotation and I showed the guy.
I showed him the bill I just paid for other things that were part of a make over triggered by the incidence.
He refused.
He booked me. I was furious not because of 2k. I was furious because I did not understand what he was meant to achieve with the booking. I told him I was going to court.

I drove into a nearby RSafety school and the officer there was like, did he ask you for money and you refused. He said I should go to court that it was malicious booking.
All the officers from other units that saw the crack were all like he should not have esp as I explained to him.
[b]One said I should go and pay and avoid the stress after all over 200 thousand people are booked unjustly everyday and they pa[/b]y.

I contacted the laywer who advised that the stress is much as busy person that I should write a complaint letter and see how it goes.

The summary is that the guy was brought to face me and he started lying and fidgeting.

The woman scolded him severely.

So just write a complaint and make your case clear.

It may take some time out of you but you will achieve one thing, he will never do that again.
Some of the guys out there are intoxicated by the uniform and the public has to stand up to them.

9icetoo:

the issue of enforcing fire extinguishers in cars is really silly to me. I will ask you a few questions;
1. is she trained to fight fires?
2. is it her duty to fight fires?
3. if she misjudges the intensity of a fire and gets injured or worse trying to fight a fire she wasn't trained to fight, will FRSC provide adequate compensation?
4. if a fire starts in the boot of your car (where your extinguisher is), do you open the boot to get out your extinguisher?

in an emergency(fire), you are advised to move away (from the fire) to safety.

fire extinguishers, first aid kits, torch light, towing rope, spare tire and reflective jackets are essential but not mandatory items in a car. FRSC is so wrong penalising people for not having some of these things.

some cars come with run flats and do not space for spare tires. some cars do not have trunks and little or no space for fire extinguishers and will burn so fast your tiny extinguisher will be useless.

I carry all I listed above for my own peace of mind but not because FRSC said so.

I hate those guys.

Somatic:
Thank you all for analysing this incident as dispassionately as you should. For those who think my mother "deliberately" failed to produce the items prior to her booking, I wish to raise a few pointers.

When she called me about the items, I told her where to go get the triangle and the extinguisher. The triangle was located at a recess on the right hand side, the extinguisher besides the spare tire. The boot floor covers that. That's how the car came.

Seeing that she couldn't get around it, I told her to get any of their personnel help get out the items. They refused to take her phone. Saying they had booked her already. By then, she had found the triangle, but couldn't get to lift the floor board.

Upon getting there, I queried them as to why the rush to book seeing that she told them I was coming to get out the items as well as try going to the house to seek it. I asked them with their experience in vehicle matters, they wouldn't have pointed out to Mum where these things are supposed to be. Oga Emmanuel asserted that they were not obligated to do that. But they are obligated to fine her unjustly. She was wearing her seatbelt, her parking lights were on cause of the rain, she wasn't going fast. Her offense; stopping to be interrogated by the FRSC.

We are all service personnel one way or the other. If I "convincingly" commit an offense, sanction me appropriately. Not speculatively. Again, on realizing the error, they would have had two choices. Either cancel the booking or bear the cost of payment. And for option 2, I honestly was open to negotiation, after all who doesn't make mistakes? But to pay in full for someone else's error when I'm not Jesus? Haba!

I have decided on some action to take even as I appreciate the options given to me here. I am willing to explore all legal avenues on this matter to ensure that I be the last person in Kaduna and hopefully Nigeria this sort of injustice by the FRSC happens to.

ztexology:
This is false accusation.