Lagos Task Force impounds over 2,500 Okadas in 3 months

CHAIRMAN, Lagos State Task Force, CSP Olayinka Egbeyemi, said at the weekend that the agency impounded a total of 2500 illegal commercial motorcycles popularly called Okada in the last 3 months between January and March 2019, noting that the state government will soon crush them all.

He, however, did not say exactly when the exercise will be carried out.

Egbeyemi made this known in a release issued by the agency spokesperson, Mr Adebayo Taofiq, while disclosing that the Task Force operatives impounded another set of commercial motorcycles numbering109 for operating on restricted routes at the 2nd Rainbow end of Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, in the State.

According to Egbeyemi, who led the team over the weekend, the enforcement operations were carried out after several warnings to the affected riders to desist from operating on restricted routes, particularly highways and bridges across the State.

He described as a seriously alarming series of complaints received from the public on illegal and criminal activities perpetuated by these Okada operators, saying there was a need to arrest the situation.

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He said some of the Okada riders harassed innocent members of the public at various bus-stops, while others engaged in all sorts of criminal acts by dispossessing their passengers of valuables such as phones, jewelleries and bags, adding: “Also, motorists held in traffic both morning and night around these areas were not spared.”

Egbeyemi vowed that total clampdown on illegal activities of these operators on restricted routes would now be vigorously sustained on daily basis with the full support of other Divisional Police Officers (DPOs) and the Area Commanders (AC) across the State.

He warned dispatched riders using power bikes of 200cc and above to desist from engaging in illegal commercial activities as anyone caught violating Lagos State Traffic Laws would be prosecuted.

The Task Force chairman, therefore, urged various motorcycle riders associations across the state to always on regular basis educate their members on all 475 restricted routes and the life-threatening danger surrounding plying high-ways and bridges.