• Robbers target bike operators, kill victims, abscond with bikes
By Abubakar Yakubu, Abuja
In the past, dangers faced by commercial motorcyclists popularly called Okada riders in Abuja were only limited to road accidents. But these days, they have become easy prey for criminals who at times kill them to collect their bikes and daily earnings.
•Okada riders and family members bemoaning the death of Salisu Haliru at Cele Bus stop in Jikwoyi
Some of those who venture into such line of work are graduates of tertiary institutions who can’t find jobs, security guards or other workers who earn meagre allowances and prefer to use the evening hours after close of work to run the business, as well as other set of unemployed persons.
Thirty-five-year-old Salisu Haliru belonged to the set of unemployed youths who came to Abuja from Zamfara State to engage in the okada business. He got the bike on a weekly remittal agreement and appeared happy with his new work, according to some of his friends spoken to.
They said on Friday March 22, as usual, Haliru visited Jikwoyi Phase 3 Small Market to see his friends after the break of the Ramadan fast. He spent time with them before riding off on his bike.
His brother, Ibrahim Anwali, said around 3am on Saturday, Haliru carried two passengers going to Kurudu. While riding with them, they used a knife to slit his throat. They then disappeared with the bike.
“His body is at Asokoro District Hospital, while some of our relatives are at Kurudu Police Station to report the matter,” he said.
Family members as well as fellow riders were seen gathered in front of a mosque at Cele Bus Stop, Jikwoyi, as they waited for the corpse to be brought down for the Janazah prayers.
At the Kurudu Police Station, a police officer who pleaded anonymity said the case was reported in the station and investigation has commenced.
Haliru’s case appears almost similar to the cases of four commercial cyclists who were killed between last year and January this year.
According to a cyclist, Bello Adamu, at Jikowoyi Phase 4 last year, a cyclist was brutally murdered and his bike stolen. He said at Dabana, also in Jikwoyi, a cyclist was macheted to pieces and his remains had to be buried by the Gbaygi people in the area.
“Close to the MTN Mast near City College in Mararaba, some okada riders, around 5:30am, saw two persons lying on the road and thought they were drunks. “It was later we learnt they were our members and by then the two men had died,” he added.
Saturday Sun learnt that some of the cyclists prefer to ride bikes at night due to the cool temperature that makes the bike’s engine last long and also because they can charge more money per trip. Other advantages are fewer frictions with law enforcement officials as well as union members over levies.
Mother luck seemed to have smiled on 32 year-old Adamu Ayuba, who collected a bike from a friend on Saturday February 10 with a promise to remit something to him. Before then, he normally shared a bike with some of his brothers and they have assigned days they use the bike to work. That particular day was not his turn.
Ayuba, a graduate of the College of Education in Akwanga, said about 7 pm of that day, he stopped to pray at a mosque in Nyanya. Then while going home to Dabana in Jikwoyi, someone stopped him a short distance after CBN junction, and asked him to carry him to God of Elijah Street.
“We negotiated for N200 and he sat on the bike. Then we proceeded to God of Elijah Street where he asked me to stop at a lonely area. The passenger then asked me to collect my money and before I could turn round, I lost consciousness.
“It seemed like if I was dreaming as I felt people pointing their torches on my face. And when I opened my eyes, a man was asking me questions as to who I was and where I was going,” he said.
He said two policemen who were in the crowd that gathered around him put him on a bike and the rider took him to his residence at Dabana. “As I dropped in front of my home, I became dizzy and slumped. My brother had to rush me to Anur Hospital at Kurudu, where a nurse gave me two injections and placed me on admission.”
According to him, as soon as he became conscious, his brother told him that the passenger he carried used a hammer to hit him at the back of his head, which affected his brain and made blood gush out of his mouth, ears and mouth.
He said there were three other commercial cyclists on admission at the hospital, who suffered the same fate with him and also lost their bikes, adding that a rider who came to sympathise with him, asked him to always thank God for saving his life as they are about 15 commercial cyclists who were killed between last year and this year in the area.
Ayuba, who just returned from the village where he had been undergoing treatment, lamented that he was at a dilemma, as he does not have money to replace the motorcycle for the owner.
“While I was in the village undergoing treatment, my relatives taxed themselves N1000 and gathered N15,000 which was given to the motorcycle owner.
He said the bike owner called his relatives and told them he wanted to see him on Sunday.
“We have an Okada riders’ union, but it seems the officials do not care for us. All the days I spent in the hospital, none of them came to see me, yet they collect N100 daily and N2000 yearly as levies,” he said
Our reporter learnt that a new motorcycle costs N920,000 and above, depending on the make and model. But the majority of okada riders spoken to said they collect the bikes from their owners under an agreement to remit N12,000 weekly to them.
Ayuba case is similar to the one cracked by detectives from the FCT Police Command in 2021 that involved two members of a three-man syndicate who snatched motorcycles from riders in the night at the Galadinmawa- Durumi axis of Abuja.
The suspects – Bello Waziri, 24, and Yusuf Ali, 21, were accused of hitting their victims with hammers before stealing their motorcycles when they become unconscious.
Then police spokesperson of the command, Mariam Yusuf, said they were arrested by operatives around Galadinmawa after an intelligence report.
She said the suspects were caught in the act and confessed to being members of a three-man syndicate responsible for snatching motorcycles from unsuspecting riders at night.
According to her, the suspects further said that they use a hammer to hit their victims, leaving them unconscious before taking their motorcycles.
At the FCT Police Command, a police officer who did not want his name in print said most of such cases are not reported to the police by the victims or their relatives. He said the police have in the past arrested and prosecuted people involved in the crime.
Another suspect who tried to steal a bike on April 24 2023 was not lucky, as he was burnt to death by commercial motorcyclists at Dei-Dei area of Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
A witness said the suspect had boarded a motorcycle from Karmo town and asked the rider to stop on getting close to the bridge. He said the man pretended that he wanted to vomit, only to stab the Okada man in his neck. But unluckily for him, he was traced by other motorcyclists while attempting to run with the bike and was immediately rounded up, killed and set ablaze.