About
3,000 motorcycles have been seized in Lagos State in the last one week in the
ongoing enforcement of the traffic law in the state.
Our correspondent noted that the
office of the Lagos State Task Force on Environmental and Special Offences
(Enforcement) was filled with the impounded commercial motorcycles, popularly
called Okada.
The motorcycles were seized by the
police and later dumped at the task force yard at Alausa.
It was learnt that the seizure of the
motorcycles may not be unconnected with the matching order given by the
Inspector. General of Police, Muhammed Abubakar, to begin the enforcement of
the law on Okada riders on the 475 prohibited routes in the Lagos metropolis.
It was observed that trailers,
trucks, pick-up vans, and carrying seized motorcycles lined up for their turns
to offload the impounded motorcycles at the dumping grounds.
A policeman, who did not want his
name mentioned, told our correspondent that yesterday alone, over 1,000 seized
motorcycles were brought to the task force office, saying that more were still
coming.
Meanwhile, the state Attorney-General
and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ade Ipaye, said the masterminds of the
attacks on BRT buses would be prosecuted under the criminal law.
“There are criminal laws in the
country, they can’t just vandalise vehicles. It is a criminal offence. Once we
ascertain that the culprits have been arrested; those arrested will be charged
to court,” he told our correspondent.
However, the enforcement of the
traffic law yesterday recorded a casualty as a commercial motorcyclist was
allegedly shot and killed by policemen.
Another motorcycle rider was injured
as the enforcement of the ban on the operations of the motorcyclists on some
routes in the state continued to meet resistance and protests.
The motorcyclist was said to have
been killed at Kollington Bus Stop on the Lagos – Abeokuta Expressway.
He was allegedly shot by policemen
enforcing the ban on the operations of Okada when he refused to stop after
being flagged down.
After the shooting, commercial
motorcyclists were said to have taken to the streets, destroying properties,
especially government- owned.
They also threatened to set the
Alakuko Police Station ablaze.
At Pen Cinema, it was
It was learnt that the rider was
killed by policemen attached to the Alakuko Police Station on the outskirts of
the Lagos metropolis, while the second one was injured at Pen Cinema, when a
patrol van knocked him down.
gathered that policemen attached to
the Rapid Response Squad, RRS, in an attempt to apprehend the motorcyclist and
confiscate his motorcycle, knocked him down with their vehicle.
The motorcyclist was taken to the Pen
Cinema Police Station by his colleagues, who demanded that the police paid for
his medical bill.
But a source said the policemen hit
the man with their baton. “He was stopped by the police around LASU Museum.
He was hit with a baton by the police
while on speed. He fainted immediately and lost consciousness. I doubt if he
will survive, because he was motionless and was conveyed in a cart,” the source
said.
However, the state Police Public
Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide, refuted the claim that policemen shot and
killed a commercial motorcyclist.
According to her, the policemen were
on routine patrol when the said Okada rider suddenly sighted them and in a
desperate move to escape, fell into a ditch but still managed to escape arrest.