Commercial motorcyclists, popularly known as Okada riders, on Friday, burnt down the office of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Bida, Niger State, over the alleged death of one of their colleagues.
The group fingered the FRSC as the cause of the death.
It was gathered that the deceased Okada rider followed a wrong way at the GRA and in a bid to arrest him, the Road Safety Officials, who were on patrol, open their vehicle’s door to block the rider which made him crash and hit his head on the pavement that led to serious head injury.
The injured okada man was rushed to the hospital but could not survive it.
Other eyewitnesses at the scene of the accident further claimed that the accident resulted in the death of two people, the commercial motorcyclist, and his passenger.
Some of the officers and men on duty at the office were said to have taken to their heels when the motorcyclists came, while the ones who defiantly stayed were beaten as they set the office ablaze.
Nothing, according to eyewitnesses, could be rescued from the burnt building as all official documents, personal valuables of officers and unit ambulance were affected by the fire while the office of the National orientation agency closed to it was also not spared.
However, the Public Education Officer of the Unit, Deputy Route Commander, Olugbemiga Bello, who described the incident as unfortunate, denied the accusation, claiming the FRSC men on patrol did not cause the accident.
He also explained that the motorcyclist did not die but was injured, adding that the accident was caused by the injured motorcyclist due to his recklessness.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Amalgamated Commercial Motorcycle Owners and Riders Association of Nigeria (ACOMORAN) in the area, Comrade Umar Amah, denied the involvement of his member in the burning down of the office.
The Niger State FRSC Sector Commander, Joel Dagwa and the Public Relations Officer, Habibu were currently not picking their calls at the time of filing this report.
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