By Seyi Odewale
Last week, some parts of the Lagos-Badagry expressway were thrown into turmoil resulting in clashes with security men, owing to the ban on commercial motorcyclists, otherwise known as Okada riders in six local government areas.
The lingering issue of Okada riders flouting and resisting the government’s order, and clashing with police operatives, has remained intractable in Lagos State.
The theatre of the resistance last week was the Iyana-Iba-Ojo axis, which gave policemen and officers from the Onireke Police Station, who carried out the operation, a hell of a job.
Gunshots were heard from the distance and tear gas was shot in an apparent move to disperse the protesting cyclists.
The enveloping tension and the resulting traffic gridlock were tell-tale signs that the resistance was fierce. Motorists and commuters were left stranded in the melee that greeted the operation.
The ban resulted from an unfortunate incident of the lynching and killing of an innocent sound engineer, David Imoh at Lekki by the irate mob of Okada riders.
The state government did not hesitate to announce an ‘indefinite and total’ ban on Okada operations in six local government areas of the state, including Ikeja, Surulere, Eti Osa, Lagos Mainland, Lagos Island, and Apapa.
This, however, did not sit well with the Okada riders, who spat fire and brimstone to make some parts of the state unlivable last week.
Nonetheless, the state reiterated a day after their botched resistance that the June 1 deadline for the ban in six local government areas of the state remained sacrosanct.
In a release by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Gbenga Omotoso, commercial motorcycles seizure by the Lagos State Task Force will continue, despite the June 1 deadline issued by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for them to leave six local government areas.
According to Omotoso, the deadline, however, has not invalidated the provisions of the Lagos State Transport Sector Reform Law of 2018, which states that “no persons shall ride, drive or propel a motorcycle or tricycle on a major highway within the state, and any person in contravention of this provision commits an offence” and will be made to face the wrath of the law, adding that the state Task Force, led by Shola Jejeloye, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) will continue to enforce the law.
It would be recalled that the state Transport Sector Reform Law of 2018 was not the first to be enacted to restrict the operations of these riders. In 2012 former Governor Babatunde Fashola, placed a total ban on activities of these riders in Ikeja, the seat of government in the state.
It was fiercely resisted, hence the operators through their union sued the state, claiming that it lacked the power to ban them. One of the two Okada unions in Ikeja, the All Auto-bike Commercial Owners and Workers Association (ANACOWA) took the Lagos State government to court, praying the court to restrain the government from harassing them while carrying out their businesses.
The late Bamidele Aturu was the counsel to the Okada riders. According to him, the Okada riders were suing the state government for infringing on their fundamental human rights. He claimed that the government had no law governing the operation of Okada riders, thus, it had no power to restrict them from carrying out their businesses.
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But the government insisted, claiming that they constituted a menace to the security of the state as they aid criminals terrorising the law-abiding public.
However, some six years after, precisely in 2018, there was an amendment to the extant law that banned Okada in2012.
The Lagos State Transport Sector reform laws of 2018 came into existence. It came up with certain modifications to the existing law on the ban on Okada by exempting certain categories of motorcycles. Some bikes with 200cc capacity and above were exempted from the Okada highway ban.
The state Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Alabi, while reacting to last week’s protest by the okada riders, said many Okada operators in the state are criminals in disguise as they perpetrate so many
Alabi, who spoke on a television programme last week, disclosed that many of the riders were unlicensed, and the government had to ban their activities after wide consultation.
He lamented the level of crime perpetrated with the aid of motorcycles in communities across the nation’s commercial capital.
He was, however, quick to admit that the ban had some drawbacks. “We know that banning the Okada riders can increase the crime rate. And we are not unmindful of that, and we are already putting in place a lot of strategies to contend with it,” he said, adding: “We know that it will send a lot of them to unemployment. We are aware of that and are preparing for it.”
Aside from their allegedly aiding criminal activities in the state, the riders have brought sorrows, agonies, and tears to so many families through their reckless driving, which had resulted in both fatal and severe accidents. Stories abound of how many homes have been deprived of their breadwinners, women made widows, and children fatherless.
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Between 2015 and February 2020, available records showed that out of 10,000 accidents connected with commercial motorcycles (Okada) nationwide, the state recorded 600 deaths, and the figure it was gathered had not abated.
Last year alone, there were stories of atrocities committed by the Okada riders which many said justified the ban on their activities. Last week’s operation saw over 200 motorcycles being seized by the Task Force, which has vowed to continue with their operation regardless of the seeming blackmail from the Hausa/Fulani community that said should the governor reverse the ban, it would massively vote for him in the forthcoming gubernatorial election to secure his second term bid.
The Hausas are prominent in the business and the union leaders overseeing the operators have accused them of being uncontrollable, refusing to identify with the union.
