*I lost my father at 3, lost my 3-yrs-old daughter while serving jail term for traffic offence
By Kehinde Jacobs
It was an emotional scene on Thursday at the Lagos State Taskforce auction ground as a 49-year-old widow, Dorothy Dike, and her son, Osinachi Ndukwe, wept openly and begged for a reduction in price after their only means of livelihood was put up for auction.
The vehicle, a commercial bus which the family said was purchased at the rate of N1.8 million on hire purchase in 2021, was auctioned for N450,000, a price the family said is far beyond their reach.
According to the son, Osinachi Ndukwe, who spoke amidst tears, the bus was barely three months old when it was impounded by officials of the Lagos State Government for driving against traffic, an offence commonly known as one-way, along the Cele Expressway axis.
Narrating their ordeal, Ndukwe said:
“I bought the bus at N1.8 million on hired purchase in 2021 and was plying Ijegun enroute Cele Expressway.”
He explained that he had only just started the business and had remitted N300,000 to the owner of the bus when the incident happened.
“The bus was three months old and I had remitted N300,000 when I drove against traffic in Cele area and the bus was impounded.”
He disclosed that beyond the impoundment of the bus, he was prosecuted and sentenced to three years imprisonment for the traffic offence, a jail term he said he recently completed.
“Not only that, I was sentenced to three years imprisonment which I completed recently but before the completion, information reached me that my three years old daughter was ill due to lack of fund and before I completed the jail term, I got information that she had died.”
The young man said the family came to the auction ground with the hope that they would be allowed to buy back the bus at a minimal price, having lost so much already.
“I am here with my mother with the expectation that we will buy the bus at the rate of N50,000. Surprisingly, the price was closed at N450,000 and we have 48 hours to complete the payment.”
He said the family has been thrown into deeper hardship since the seizure of the bus and his incarceration, noting that they have been forced to sell most of their belongings just to survive.
“We have sold most of our belongings to feed and are left with nothing. This is a great problem before us. My father died while I was three years old and my mother has been there for me but there is no way she can raise N450,000.”
Overwhelmed by the situation, Ndukwe broke down and asked who would come to their aid at a time when many Nigerians are struggling to feed.
“Who will I turn to at a time many Nigerians are finding it difficult to feed? I don’t know what to do again.”
His mother, Mrs. Dorothy Dike, who stood beside him weeping, could not hold back her tears as officials of the auction called out prices for other impounded vehicles.
Eyewitnesses at the auction said the scene attracted attention, with many people expressing sympathy for the widow and her son and calling on the Lagos State Government to consider humane options in the enforcement of traffic laws.
The Lagos State Government had resumed the public auction of vehicles impounded for various traffic offences, including driving against traffic, after obtaining court orders for forfeiture. The government maintains that the auction is part of measures to deter traffic offenders and restore sanity on Lagos roads.
However, cases like that of the Dike family have continued to spark public debate about proportionality of punishment, economic hardship, and the need for alternative penalties that do not completely destroy the livelihood of offenders.
As of the time of filing this report, the family said they had less than 48 hours to pay the N450,000 auction price or lose the bus permanently, a situation they described as hopeless.
