Lagos police: Okada riders, passengers defying ban’ll be arrested

Lagos police, June 1 deadline, Okada, Motorcycles

The Lagos State Police Command has said that motorcyclists and passengers who defy the ban on motorcycle operations, otherwise known as Okada, in the state will be arrested and prosecuted.

The Lagos State Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, made this known via his Twitter handle on Saturday.

Hundeyin stated: “Under the new total ban of motorcycles in six local government areas of Lagos State, passengers and riders alike will be arrested and prosecuted.

“The passenger is an accomplice. Ignorance will not be an excuse!”

Earlier, the Lagos State Government said the seizure of commercial motorcycles by the Lagos State Task Force will continue in the state, despite the June 1 deadline issued by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for the riders to leave six Local Government Areas.

Sanwo-Olu had on Wednesday issued a total ban on the activities of the Okada riders in six local government areas of the state over the killing of a sound engineer, David Imoh, at Lekki.

The six local governments are Eti-Osa, Ikeja, Lagos Island, Lagos Mainland, Apapa and Surulere.

The state government, in a statement issued by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, on Thursday, said: “The deadline does not invalidate the provisions of the Lagos State Transport Sector Reform Law of 2018, which states that “no persons shall ride, drive or propel a motorcycle or tricycle on a major highway within the State, and any person in contravention of this provision commits an offence” and will be made to face the wrath of the law.”

The Star