2nd June, 2022
The Lagos State Taskforce on Thursday said it would crush 2,228 seized motorcycles, popularly known as okadas on Friday to serve as a deterrent to others.
Taskforce Chairman, CSP Shola Jejeloye disclosed this on Friday, saying the move was to give a bite to the ban on okada riders in six local governments.
Jejeloye, who spoke in Oshodi, said the agency though had been carrying out the crushing of bikes in time past, the last of which was on the 25th of May, 2022, would further intensify its effort in ensuring that all impounded okadas were crushed after following the due process.
The chairman stated that the laws were very clear for the Okada operators to see that their actions were in complete violation of the transport reform laws of the State that “no 2 persons shall ride, drive or propel a motorcycle or the tricycle on a major Highway within the State, and any person in contravention of this provision commits an offence and will be prosecuted.”
CSP Jejeloye added that the agency’s efforts had been doubled since the June 1 ban, saying, although the compliance rate was very high and encouraging, but said okada operators were not to be trusted.
“Their style of operation is synonymous with gorilla warfare- when we retreat, they advance, and when we advance, they retreat, but enforcement on the ban has come to stay. We will ensure that not a single offender operating his okada on the highways will be spared. We will keep watch and continue patrolling the affected parts of the state to ensure they do not get back on our roads,” he said.
Jejeloye stated that in the past, he had made series of appeals verbally and through the mass media on the dangers of okada operations in the State, but that the perpetrators remained hell-bent on carrying on with their dare-devil style of riding against traffic, speeding recklessly, damaging the vehicles of other road users, and endangering their lives, passengers, pedestrians and other road users.