THE Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has announced a total ban on the operations of commercial motorcycles, widely known as okada, in some local government areas in the state with effect from June 1, 2022.
Sanwo-Olu made the pronouncement today at a meeting with all Divisional Police Officers (DPOs) and Area Commanders in the state at the Lagos House, Ikeja.
The local governments and local council development areas affected by the ban are Ikeja, Surulere, Eti-Osa, Mainland, Lagos Island and Apapa.
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“This is the phased banning we are going to be embarking on so that others in the short while begin to look for something else to do. We are giving the notice now, so you can begin your strategy. From the 1st of June, we want the okadas to be off these major roads,” the governor said.
Photo credit: Nigerian Tribune
The ban is coming in the wake of the gruesome murder last weekend of a sound engineer, David Imoh, allegedly by commercial motorcyclists in the Lekki axis of the state.
According to reports, Imoh and a friend, a saxophonist, were said to be involved in a disagreement over N100 with a commercial motorcyclist and were attacked by the rider’s colleagues, during which Imoh was killed and then burnt.
Narrating her ordeal, Grace, the widow of the 37-year-old sound engineer said her husband was wrongly labelled as a ritualist and yahoo boy and was consequently lynched to death.
“They didn’t just beat him, they stabbed and burnt him to death,” the mother of two broke down in tears.
“He was burnt as if he was a robber. They have taken my world away from me because of N100. This is not good,” she added.
The Lagos police command announced on Monday the arrest of four suspects in connection with the killing.
In what appeared to be the beginning of a clampdown on ‘okada’ riders following the Imoh killing, the chairman of the Lagos State Taskforce, Chief Superintendent Shola Jejeloye, on Monday, May 16, 2022 directed his team to conduct a raid on the riders operating in the Lekki area.
The taskforce arrested 10 okada riders and impounded 123 motorcycles during the raid.
Sanwo-Olu said at today’s meeting with the police chiefs that other security agencies would be joining the police in effectively enforcing the order.
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