• Tricycle passengers going through hell in Kaduna
From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
Passengers who patronise commercial tricycles in Kaduna metropolis are going through the path of hell as a result of the nefarious activities of operators of tricycles. They can hardly differentiate between genuine ones and the fraudsters among them.
This is owing to the prevalence of cases of phone snatching by these drivers and their “arrangee” passengers.
At every point, whether at work or back from work, in the market or after the market day, the image of a piercing knife pointed at you and a frigid face asking for your life or your phone is ever so real in the city these days.
Daily Sun investigation revealed that snatching passengers’ phones on transit has become a big business in the metropolis. It was also gathered that some of the victims have been unable to get over the attendant psychological trauma easily.
A resident of Kakur, Kaduna, Job Adamu, witnessed a recent incident while on transit on a Keke NAPEP: “The whole thing happened like magic. The victim was inside a tricycle when his phone was snatched from him in broad daylight by a group of boys and ran away. The victim was never the same again after the attack.”
A trader, Victoria Nuhu, said after purchasing goods from the Monday Market, she decided to pick a Keke NAPEP home in Narayi: “After a few meters away from the market, on our way home, the rider took another turn from our regular road home.
“I was not comfortable with that. When I asked him, he pleaded that I should bear with him to quickly drop the passenger he was carrying at a nearby bus stop.
“But as soon as he cornered from the busy road, he halted the tricycle and the so-called passenger brought out a sharp knife pointing it to me. They asked for my phone and money or my life.
“I gave them the phone but no more money on me since I had used it all to buy the goods. They then pushed me out of the tricycle, saying, ‘we just pity you, if not, we for shook you knife and kill you.’ They then sped away.”
However, the state Amalgamated Commercial Motorcycle Owners and Riders Association of Nigeria (ACOMORAN), cleared its members of such criminal activities. Its secretary, Idris Mohammed, said: “We don’t have any faction of the association, and we are still bearing our original name.
“We have only one united association. It is a criminal offence for any Keke rider to use the tricycle to commit offence. One day the hands of the law will catch up with such criminals. If such person is caught, he should face the wrath of the law of the land.
“We can easily identify our members. Every member has our sticker on his tricycle. The ACOMORAN sticker is in the front of the tricycles. So, they can easily be identified.
“We have a mechanism through which we punish our erring members. And we have a cordial working relationship with the Kaduna State Traffic Law Enforcement Authority (KASTLEA). All our members are up to date with their license and vehicle particulars. We are all law abiding commercial tricycles riders.”
Chairman, KADPOLY gate unit of the association in Tudun Wada, Umar Abubakar, testified differently: “We have many cases of some riders of Keke NAPEP robbing passengers inside tricycles. Some of them operate in Rigasa, Kawo, Sabo Tasha, Tudun Wada and other parts of Kaduna city.
“I was recently interviewed on a radio station about these dubious activities of some of riders. I said if any of them is arrested, they should check the stickers on the tricycle. We have and know our stickers.
“In many of these cases, none of our members is involved and arrested. For instance, at KADPOLY unit where I am overseeing, we have the stickers that identify our members.
“So also we have stickers that identify our members in Sabo Tasha, Rafin Guza, Tudun Wada, so on and so forth. Any of our members plying Kagoro by express, you will see the stickers showing such destination.
“You can easily identify our members at every bus stop because of the stickers. We have been operating under various governments in Kaduna State.
“Under former governor Mohammed Ahmed Makarfi, we were given head helmets. Under Namadi Sambo, we were given motorcycles. Under Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, we were also given motorcycles.
“Under Ramalan Yaro, motorcycles were banned and Keke NAPEP was introduced. Many of our members bought and changed over to tricycles from motorcycles.
“We are advising that any time somebody is caught using Keke NAPEP to rob passengers, he should be well investigated to ascertain if he is our member or not. All manners of associations using tricycles to do illicit activities are infiltrating our association to give us bad name.
“Government is fully aware of the existence of our association. We operate open door policy. Anybody is free to come to our office and ask questions. We register our members with full family backgrounds and residential addresses. We don’t register under age persons. You cannot see them as our members.
“Each time a passenger forgets his or her belongings no matter how little, we make sure we trace such passenger and handover the item to him or her. We don’t have thieves as members of our association.
“Our members have identity cards. They can easily be identified anywhere you find them. We have license and vehicle particulars. We don’t want trouble or problem with constituted authority. We are always for peace and we encourage peaceful coexistence.”
Joseph John, a Keke NAPEP operator in Sabo Tasha, said: “Some of these fraudsters-riders are not registered and they don’t have vehicle particulars. This set of riders is under pressure to meet the financial target given to them by the owners of the tricycles that lease to them. They resort to stealing and robbing passengers to meet up the target.”
For Aminu Sanusi: “There are under age persons riding tricycles in Kaduna. Government should ban them because criminals can easily manipulate them to commit crimes.”
A radio personality and presenter, “Oga Driver”, Philip Arome Omachi, called on government and other relevant agencies to ensure unity and smooth operation of the commercial tricycles drivers association.