The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Alabi, has disclosed the plan of the state government to establish mobile court to try any okada rider or passenger apprehended from June 1.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu had on Wednesday declared a total ban on commercial motorcycles popularly known as okada on all highways across six Local Government Areas (LGAs) and nine Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) of the State as a measure to curtail the unruly activities of the riders.
The affected Local Government Areas are Ikeja, Surulere, Eti-Osa, Lagos Mainland, Lagos Island and Apapa.
Alabi while speaking on Sunrise Daily, a morning show on Channels Television, stated that as from June 1, his men will ensure that nobody flouts the law and get away with it.
“We have been able to put a strategy in place and that was why the governor gave them 12 days notice so that starting from the June 1, we are going to ensure that nobody flouts that law and get away with it. There is a plan towards establishing a mobile court that will try both the passenger and the rider on time. They would be tried instantly.
“We have been enforcing the ban on Okada since February 1, 2020 when the ban was announced but you see overtime there was a slack on the part of officers to enforce the law, but I think okada ban is not a new issue to police officers in Lagos. All we need to do is to enforce the law. What is going to be different now is that the officers would work efficiently to enforce the law, and ensure that the okadas are not allowed to ply the roads that are prohibited from plying,” he said.
He disclosed that not less than 250 motorcycles have been impounded and 35 defaulters arrested in the past three days. “We have been impounding motorcycles for the past three days and we have been operating along Lekki-Epe, Lekki-Ajah axis. So far, we have been able to impound not less than 250 motorcycles and arrested about 35 defaulters.
“We are going to change our tactics; strategies and we are going to do the work and ensure that this law is enforced by not allowing them ply the roads. Whoever plies the road would be arrested and dealt with the law. We are going to face the problem in a holistic manner, there is going to be an inter-agency collaboration and cooperation with other security agencies to ensure that this law is enforced properly.”
The Commissioner revealed that the police had discovered that majority of the okada riders are not licensed but are criminals posing as riders.
“We have arrested many of them with locally made pistols during our operation. We know that they are using these okada riding as a disguise to perpetrate evil in so many communities. That is why we have been having dialogues and meetings with their union and in the course of doing that I believe that the best way out is to get them off our roads,” he stressed.
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