A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has fixed June 20 for hearing a motion filed by human rights lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, against Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State for imposing toll collection on the newly completed Lekki-Ikoyi Suspension Bridge in the State.
The date was fixed on Tuesday by Justice Saliu Saidu after the application was filed by the activist who is seeking for an injunction to stop the Lagos State Government from collecting tolls from motorists on the bridge that was reportedly built with public fund.
At an earlier sitting in the case, Adegboruwa, citing Section 4(5) of the 1999 constitution, argued that since the federal act covered navigable waterways in Nigeria, including the Lekki and Lagos Lagoons, the House of Assembly of Lagos State cannot purport to make laws on the same subject. He therefore asked the court to declare the Lagos State law as null and void, and tolling on the bridge as illegal.
In a counter-argument, the State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Ade Ipaye, had asked the court to quash the case as the government had not even started collecting any toll.
However, in the application on Tuesday, the plaintiff stated that the respondent had gone ahead to start collecting tolls on the bridge in spite of a pending suit he filed seeking to stop the collection. He further said he was aware that the court had reserved judgment on the substantive suit for July 9.
He recalled that the government inaugurated the bridge on May 29 and started collecting tolls on June 1 even when the case is in court. In an affidavit he tendered before the court, Adegboruwa attached a toll ticket he received on the bridge.
According to him, Governor Fashola “openly declared the bridge a toll bridge, whereby saloon cars will pay N250 per trip and Sports Utility Vehicles N350.00 per trip,” claiming that this was abuse of court processes.
The bridge had been a subject of controversy since the State Government announced plans to impose toll collection on the bridge. The contract for the tolling was awarded to the Lagos Tolling Company (LTC) which was specifically registered for the purpose and which is said to be a front for a company in South Africa. It is expected to collect the tolls for 10 years and this could be renewed for another five years.
Many residents of the State have wondered why the bridge should be tolled when it was constructed with tax-payers’ fund.
The State House of Assembly had also slammed the executive arm of government for going ahead to toll the bridge even though it was not a public private partnership deal. They also questioned the decision to award the contract to the tolling company when it did not contribute to the construction of the bridge.
In one of its sittings, the House summoned the State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Ade Ipaye, his counterpart in the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure, Femi Hamzat, and the Special Adviser to Governor Babatunde Fashola on Public Private Partnership, Ayo Gbeleyi, for clarification on why the State Government would announce tolling on the bridge.
They drilled the trio arguing further that the contract was awarded to the LTC without due process. The Leader of the House, Dr. Ajibayo Adeyeye, had told them that he was not comfortable with the clause that the tolling company would further share from an excess profit made from the tolling after getting 27 percent of the net toll revenue on use of the bridge and another 20 percent of revenue from activities around the bridge like advertisements.
It was further discovered that the percentage of the net revenue accruing to the company was for nothing other than to recoup the amount it spent on the tolling equipment and profit.
The House members learnt from the drilling of the cabinet members that the award of the contract did not follow due process as one of the Governor’s aides said a selective bidding of only three companies was done without advertising it.
The House had stopped the tolling pending the conclusion of its debate on the issue, an action the executive arm rebuffed with the announcement and commencement of the tolling.
