Imo State Government has said it is not affected by the recent Federal High Court, Abuja ruling barring the Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIOs) from stopping, imposing and collecting fines and fees from motorists and traffic violators on the road. This is coming after the Lagos State government last week also opposed the position of the Abuja court.
 
 The position of the state government was contained in a statement made available to The Guardian yesterday by the Commissioner for Transport, Dr. Chika Benson Abazu, who urged motorists to acquaint themselves with the Imo State traffic laws.
   
The state government noted that the order was meant for Abuja, and therefore lacked what it called “jurisdictional effect.”To further explain, Abazu said whereas Abuja does not have such embedded traffic laws, Imo State Government operated traffic laws empowering such road stoppages and fines and fees collections, “it is therefore imperative to state as follows: The judgment in question was delivered in Abuja and therefore lacks jurisdictional effect in Imo.”
   
“The motive of the judgment of FHC/ABJ/CS/1695/2023 was the lack of an operational law on which basis the VIO operated in the Federal Capital Territory. The Vehicle Inspection Unit in Imo State operates under the statutory mandate of the Ministry of Transport and the Imo State Transport Administration Law No.14 2011 as a Unit in the Ministry of Transport Imo State. Given the above, the judgment of the Federal High Court Abuja on VIO operations is not applicable in Imo State and of no effect.”