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By Christopher Oji
Operatives of the Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences Enforcement Unit (Task force) have arrested eight commercial motorcycle operators, popularly known as Okada riders, for allegedly attacking security personnel and constituting a nuisance on the highways.
The suspects were arrested at Apongbon, Marina, during a fracas in which they allegedly attacked Task force personnel with broken bottles, machetes, cutlasses and other dangerous weapons while attempting to free some impounded motorcycles.
The agency said the incident occurred during an enforcement operation aimed at curbing Okada operations on restricted highways and apprehending suspected criminal elements in the area.
The suspects were identified as Buba Umar, 40; Musa Usman, 30; Gambo Dauda, 32; Shagari Bulba, 42; Auwalu Mohammed, 30; Idris Hassan, 25; Wale Yusuf, 43; Ohnosi Osaseti; and Sagiru Asiru.
It was gathered that one of the suspects allegedly confessed during interrogation that the group had been sponsored to mount massive resistance against enforcement operations in an attempt to frustrate the government’s efforts to rid the state of Okada operations on restricted routes.
Other accomplices involved in the alleged attack are said to be at large and are being tracked by the agency.
Speaking on the arrests, the Chairman of the Lagos State Taskforce, CSP Adetayo Akerele, said the suspects had been placed under surveillance following repeated complaints about attacks on uniformed personnel operating in the area after enforcement operations against Okada riders.
Akerele said residents and senior citizens had raised concerns over the activities of some Okada operators, warning that unchecked activities could pose serious security threats to residents, pedestrians and schoolchildren.
According to him, “I received complaints from residents and senior citizens alleging that Okada operators forming an expre-de-corps, if allowed unchecked, could pose a serious threat to residents, pedestrians, and schoolchildren. I immediately put strategies in place to track them down.”
During interrogation, one of the suspects, Wale Yusuf, popularly known as Babaalawo, allegedly admitted that the group had agreed that future enforcement operations against Okada riders on the highways would no longer be a “tea party” and would be met with stiff resistance.
Other suspects reportedly claimed that their motorcycles had previously been impounded while operating on restricted highways but said they continued the business because of its lucrative nature.
Akerele assured that the suspects would be prosecuted in accordance with the law, stressing that their arrest and prosecution would serve as a warning to individuals who take the law into their own hands.
He warned that the Taskforce would not relent in its efforts to protect Lagos roads and highways from criminal elements bent on turning the state into a jungle.
“I urge members of the public to continue reporting suspicious activities through our official feedback channels for prompt action. We will not retreat or surrender in our drive to make the state’s roads free of recalcitrant Okada operators, who are generally seen as a threat to our collective security,” he said.
