Lagos State Special Offences

LAGOS STATE SPECIAL OFFENCES (MOBILE COURT)

Adekunle Olufemi Aderemi is a seasoned legal practitioner with over two decades of progressive experience in legal advisory, public administration, and judicial coordination within Lagos State. Called to the Nigerian Bar in 1999, he holds degrees in both Law and History from Lagos State University and Ogun State University, respectively.

He currently serves as the Head Legal/Coordinator of the Lagos State Special Offenses Mobile Court, where he leads the legal direction of a pioneering initiative aimed at enforcing environmental and traffic regulations. Prior to this, he served in several strategic legal roles across various departments, including the Directorate of Civil Litigation, Office of the Chief of Staff, and the Office of Transformation, consistently rising through the ranks from Assistant State Counsel to Deputy Director.

Adekunle began his legal career in private practice with firms such as R.O. Dawodu & Co. and Osunde Tanko-Yusuf Fashanu & Co., building strong foundations in litigation and advocacy. His early public service also includes roles with the National Population Commission and during his NYSC with DAV-VEC Aluminum Industry Ltd. as a Public Relations Executive.

Notably, his academic interests led him to research topics such as the legal framework of Liquefied Natural Gas transportation and the economic history of Suya trade in Shagamu. He is a recipient of multiple awards, including recognition for outstanding judicial leadership and community service during his university years.

An articulate communicator with a passion for lecturing, reading, and social engagement, Adekunle Aderemi remains committed to legal excellence, justice reform, and impactful public service.

MOBILE COURT

A mobile court is a special offences court with powers to adjudicate matters summarily. They dispense justice both summarily and also full-fledged trial within the time at their disposal, and have the powers to sit at any location chosen by the court.

1.0 THE OPERATIONAL FRAMEWORK AT LAGOS STATE SPECIAL OFFENCES (MOBILE) COURT BOLADE OSHODI

Several offenders are brought to the court with various offences like traffic offences, environmental offences and criminal offences. We work with agencies like Lagos State Taskforce, Lagos state Traffic Management Authority ( LASMA), Central Business District (CBD), Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Lagos State Waste Management Agency (LAWMA), Rapid Response Squad(RRS), Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority(LAMATA), Vehicle Inspection Service (VIS), Kick Against Indiscipline(KAI) and all the Lagos State Agencies.

OFFENCES AND HOW THEY ARE ATTENDED TO

PLYING ON THE BRT CORRIDOR

The offence is a two count offence. That is, the offender is charged with plying the BRT corridor and causing obstruction on BRT. When a person is arrested for plying on the BRT lite corridor, it is implied that, such person as obstructed traffic on the BRT lite corridor. However, the process goes thus;

The vehicle is arrested and driven to the Lamata office where the driver is issued a referral on which his name, date of arrest, place of arrest, make of the vehicle, the registration number of the vehicle and date of issue is stated.
Such person is then directed to our office to come to mobile court.
The referral is handed over to the prosecution to prepare the charge. The charge is prepared based on the information stated on the referral slip.
The Charge is signed and assigned to a court for arraignment and hearing.
The defendant is called upon and the charge is read to him to take plea.
If the defendant pleads guilty, he will be heard and sentenced according to the sentencing guideline of Lagos State.
If the defendant pleads not guilty, the matter will be adjourned for trial.

OBSTRUCTION OF TRAFFIC ON THE HIGHWAY

The traffic offender vehicle is arrested by agencies like, LASTMA and Lagos State Taskforce.
If the vehicle is arrested by taskforce, the necessary information for prosecution is referred to our office through the liaison office.
Charges are drafted and assigned to respective courts.
The offenders is called upon for arraignment and the charge is read to him/her.
The defendants takes his/her plea, if he plead guilty the matter is summarily dispersed with, if not guilty it is adjourned for trial.
A fine is given and vehicle is released upon payment of fine.

The same, procedure applies to civil matters brought to the Lagos State Special Offence (Mobile) Court Bolade Oshodi.

1.2 CRIMINAL OFFENCES

The criminal matters within the jurisdiction of the Court varies from obstructing police officer, as in Section 117 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State to Section 166,168 and offences under Section 170.

Some of these offences are incidental from the major traffic offence committed by the offender, while others are not.

Criminal Offences are brought to our office through officers of the Rapid Respond Squad (RRS), Taskforce, CBD, and Diminished Police Stations.

On receiving the information, the prosecutor will ask further questions to get more information, conduct necessary legal research, so as to know the proper offences the offender will be charged with. The prosecutor makes sure that there are necessary evidence and witness support whatever charge being brought before the court.

The charge is drafted daily signed and assigned.

The case is called and the defendant makes his plea and the prosecutor produces exhibits and witnesses. The court asks for confirmation of facts from the offenders to be sure of their plea and details on the charge sheet. Where confirmation is in the affirmative, they are found guilty of the offence.

The offenders are given opportunity and time to explain the events that led to their arrest whilst pleading for the leniency and lighter sentence of the court.

The court gives fine, community service or imprisonment.

Bail are also given to the offenders where a plea of not guilty is made as suspect of a criminal offence.