FRSC awards Dr Joe Okei-Odumakin with honourary title

Human  rights activist, Dr Joe Okei-Odumakin has been awarded with an honourary special marshal by the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) on Wednesday, for defending FRSC officers reportedly attacked by security operatives attached to the Speaker of Abia Assembly, Mr Chikwendu Kalu.

The Corps Marshal, Mr Boboye Oyeyemi, made the conferment on Okei-Odumakin, President of Women Arise for Change Initiative (WA),  at WA Office on Omole Estate, Lagos.

Two FRSC personnel were on July 15 reportedly shot by policemen attached to Kalu.

The officers were said to have stopped a vehicle conveying the speaker’s wife, on the Umuikaa-Aba-Port Harcourt Expressway. The officers reportedly stopped the vehicle over a traffic offence.

“Legal action is a process, and we can all see what the inspector-general of police has already done; the policemen involved have been tried and dismissed.

“For the speaker, we have engaged our solicitors. We have filed all the papers now; legal process is not what you wake up today and conclude; you must follow the process.

“The wife will be charged with traffic offence. The husband too will be charged. Let us meet in the court.

“Denying it is wrong; he should have accepted what has happened publicly and closed the matter, but now that he has denied it, we will meet in court,” Oyeyemi said.

He said that the corps would continue to partner with civil societies which, he said, had a crucial role to play in road management through advocacy, public education and enlightenment.

In her address, Okei-Odumakin commended FRSC leadership for the honour.She called for synergy between civil societies and security agencies for effective road management, giving the assurance that WA would not let Nigeria down.

“There is need for consensus building between FRSC, civil societies and the general public. As a civil society, we have done many things with law enforcement agencies.

“We will continue in our advocacy, education and enlightenment to ensure that road users obey road rules and orders,” she said.