Wike
Judgment Banning FCT DRTS Was Misinterpreted- Says Court
Edited by Blue Economy Magazine
The Accident Prevention and Rescue Initiative (APRI), a registered road safety-focused Non-Governmental Organization and member of the United Nations Road Safety Collaboration and Coalition of Road Safety NGOs in Nigeria, has petitioned the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Barr. Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, over the continued ban and restriction of the Directorate of Road Traffic Services (DRTS) operations in the FCT, demanding the immediate signing of the DRTS FCT 2018 Bill into law.
In the petition signed by its Executive Director and Chairman, Network of African Road Safety NGOs, Amb. Fidelis Nnadi, and titled ‘A Clear and Present Danger to Lives and Public Order in Abuja’, APRI chronicled the ordeal of the FCT DRTS since 2023.
The petition reads in part:
“We, the Accident Prevention and Rescue Initiative (APRI), write this petition with utmost respect to your office, but with deep pain and alarm over the continued deactivation of statutory road operations of the DRTS (VIO) in the FCT in the name of compliance with a court judgment.
Amadi
“On 2nd October 2023, Justice Evelyn Maha of the Federal High Court, Abuja, in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1695/2023, as affirmed by the Court of Appeal on 4th December 2025, restrained the DRTS from stopping, impounding, and fining motorists on the ground that the DRTS had no enabling law in the FCT.
“Your Transportation Secretariat responded by introducing e-ticketing and withdrawing officers from physical enforcement.
“Since then, Abuja roads have become lawless. Reports of one-way driving, unregistered vehicles, fake number plates, underage driving, and commercial motorcyclists (okada) returning to major expressways have tripled.
“The Life Camp clash of 17th September 2026 between VIO officers and okada riders is a direct symptom of a weakened enforcement architecture.”
The group therefore demanded the immediate lifting of the ban, stating:
“Sir, the judgment was misinterpreted and weaponized. As we stated in an interview with New National Star, the judgment applies only to FCT procedure, not to the existence of VIOs in Nigeria.
“The Court did NOT abolish Vehicle Inspection; it held that the FCTA should properly gazette its regulation empowering the DRTS — which Section 6 of the Road Traffic Act and Section 299 of the 1999 Constitution empowers you to do as Minister of the FCT.”
APRI warned that by continuously banning DRTS operations, the FCTA is:
Violating its own mandate under the FCT Act to ensure safety and order; Creating 80% non-compliance. As seen in Plateau State where the Commissioner admitted 80% of vehicles have no valid papers, the same is now true in Abuja. Without the VIO, who checks roadworthiness?
Promoting impunity on FCT roads. Motorists now believe that VIOs are illegal nationwide, which is FALSE. This falsehood is killing people. Exposing the FCT to liability. Every crash death in Abuja caused by rickety, unlicensed vehicles during this ban is legally attributable to administrative failure.
Demands:
APRI demands and propose as follows:
a. Immediate signing into law of the DRTS FCT 2018 Bill.
b. A directive for the DRTS to return to full road traffic management duties under a new nomenclature as FCT Road Traffic Officers (FCT-RTO), as previously proposed, with a properly gazetted FCT Road Traffic Regulation 2026, signed by the Minister.
c. Exercise of ministerial powers under the FCT Road Traffic Law to make a regulation that explicitly empowers Road Traffic Officers to stop, inspect, book, and impound where necessary, subject to fair hearing at the Mobile Court — to cure the defect cited by the Court of Appeal.
d. Constitution of the FCT Road Traffic Offences Mobile Court to meet the constitutional requirement that only a court imposes a fine; DRTS books, while the Mobile Court convicts.
e. An end to the harassment of DRTS by the Taskforce. The Joint Taskforce should complement, not humiliate, uniformed DRTS officers. They are trained technical officers, not touts.
In conclusion, APRI stated: “Abuja cannot be a city without traffic discipline. Lagos has LASTMA and VIO, Kaduna has KASTLEA, Kano has KAROTA — why should the FCT be the only capital in the world without a road traffic enforcement corps?
“We hereby give seven days’ notice to your office to act, failing which we shall approach the National Assembly Committee on FCT, the Presidency, and commence public interest litigation to compel the FCTA to protect the lives of road users under Chapter 2 of the Constitution.”
