BY OLASUNKANMI AKONI AND BOSE ADELAJA
Lagos—Lagos State House of Assembly has called on the Commissioner of Police, to caution some of his over-zealous officers to desist from indiscriminate arrest and brutalizing apprehended commercial motorcyclists, popularly called “Okada riders” on the pretext of enforcing the state’s Traffic Law.
A member of the House, Mudashiru Obasa, expressed this under Matters of Urgent Public Importance during a Plenary Session.
Citing a case of an Okada rider who was arrested in Agege for disobeying a section of the law, the lawmaker frowned at the way and manner Okada riders were being accosted by some over-zealous policemen who went beyond reasonable measures in carrying out their duty, even on authorised routes.
Oluyinka Ogundimu, contributing to the issue cited a situation that happened on Monday morning, where an arrested Okada rider stripped himself to attract public sympathy and ultimately portrayed the state government in bad light over the Traffic Law.
The Speaker, however, advised the Commissioner of Police to call his men to order, saying, “Okada is not banned in this state, but on some roads which we consider dangerous for Okada operations.”
Meantime, a commercial motorcyclis was allegedly shot by men of the Nigerian Police for flouting the law at Ilupeju area of Odi-Olowo Local Council Development Area of the state.
An okada rider arrested by Fashola’s security aide for riding against traffic on Herbert Macaulay Way,Yaba, Lagos Tuesday.
…Okada riders react
Reacting to the development, Motorcycle Operators Association of Lagos State, MOALS, chairman Comrade Tijani Pekis, said policemen are taking the enforcement to the extreme.
