The state Attorney-General, Mr. Ade Ipaye, who disclosed this in court, said although the state was contemplating the idea of banning them, it cannot do so without a formal law stopping their operations.
The attorney-general who personally argued the brief of the state, told the presiding judge, Justice Steven Adah, that the applicants, (the Okada riders) who took the government to court were acting merely on speculations from what they read in the newspapers.
According to him, the exhibits attached to the motion by the applicants demonstrated that they only relied on newspaper cuttings without an extract or law specifically banning them now from operations.
“The ban or restriction alleged by the applicants has not taken place. All pieces of evidence supplied by the applicants to the court are press cuttings. There is no direct evidence regarding the true state of affairs and we all know what press reports represent.
“It has not been alleged anywhere that commercial motorcyclists would no longer operate on the roads. What are imminent are regulations, which are facts of life in any business. It would therefore not be appropriate in any civilised society for there not to be regulations,” he said.
Arguing on whether the applicants can operate for commercial purposes, he submitted that since they carry people in return for payment of services rendered, “and if government is to be alive to its responsibilities, it is a business which must be regulated.”
He further argued that the constitution empowers the Executive with powers, which the court cannot intervene in its exercise.
Ipaye, therefore, urged the court to strike out the action of the Okada riders.
“Anyone complaining of the action or inaction of an administrative body must show clearly that that administrative body has exceeded the power conferred on it by the constitution,” Ipaye added.
In his response, counsel to the riders, Mr. Bamidele Aturu, said the state government could not ban the operations of the Okada riders since the state House of Assembly is yet to enact any law restraining or banning their operations.
He accused the government of embarking on selective reduction of the applicants’ claim to just the provisions of Chapter 2 of the constitution.
According to him, the state government raised certain fundamental issues in its written address before the court which he said are not justifiable under the provisions of Chapter 2 of the Constitution and the provisions of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights. “When two sections of the constitution are in conflict, the latter section prevails,” he averred.
Justice Adah subsequently adjourned the matter till May 4, 2012 for ruling.
The Okada riders, under the umbrella of four associations, had filed the suit dated February 8, 2012 at a Federal High Court in Ikeja through Aturu, alleging plans by the state government to ban their operations.
The plaintiffs are the Trustees of National Commercial Motorcycle and Tricycle Owners and Riders Association; Motorcycle Transport Union of Nigeria; Trustees of All Nigerians Autobike Commercial Owners and Workers Association; and Okada Welfare Association.
