Ogunyemi said that it is illegal to block roads in the name of organizing social gatherings or parties.

The TRACE boss, in a statement on Thursday, explained that it is wrong for residents caught blocking the road when organizing parties or social events to say that they have the local and state governments’ permits.

He stressed that it was imperative to curb such lawless behaviour through continuous public enlightenment, pointing out that TRACE officers do more sensitization than enforcement.

Ogunyemi said, “It is illegal to block roads for social parties under sections six and seven of the law which established TRACE. The problem is lawlessness on the part of the people.

They always say that they got permits from local governments but they do not know that it is only to organise social parties and not block public roads. TRACE must be involved too, to have a free flow of traffic at such social gatherings”.

He explained that the agency was not established purposely to generate revenue but those caught for one offence or another might be referred to other agencies such as the Ministry of Health for psychiatric evaluation.

Ogunyemi also informed that TRACE was empowered to serve on all roads such as Trunks B and C roads which fall under the state governments, as well as Trunk A which are federal roads that link other states.

He said checking vehicle documents falls within the agency’s purview, while ‘stop and search’ is outside their jurisdiction, pointing out that his officers and men were professionals, highly trained to work day and night.

The commander advised motorists in the state “to always plan their journey, manage their time well and not be in haste, use seat belt, avoid making calls while driving, as well as obey traffic laws of the state.”

the incident happened around 10 pm while the vehicle was conveying some goods inward the Berger area of Lagos State.

The driver was able to salvage some of the goods before the whole bus went up in flames.

The head of the Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Agency, MFM Unit Command, Ojo Oloye, said that the incident happened due to a faulty fuel tank that got detached while the bus was in motion.

He said, “The fire was caused by a faulty fuel tank. It was removed while the vehicle was in motion and caught fire in the process. The bus was already burnt beyond recognition by the time we arrived at the scene.

“We are arranging to remove the carcass from the road to avoid another accident.”

The IVECO truck with Registration number -Kano XG172 KNG, was meant to be carrying only goods and was covered with a tarpaulin.

The content of the truck was discovered when operatives forced the driver to park and untie the tarpaulin. When he did, they found Almajiri’s loaded in the truck with pepper.

The truck was said to have been turned back and led to tollgate, the border area between ogun state and Lagos state from where they said they came into the state.