Some angry riders of Okada and Keke have attacked a Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) bus on Lagos-Abeokuta expressway.
The incident happened on Monday morning, February 3, after Lagos state government banned operation of Okada and Keke in some major roads in the state.
The Okada riders who have continued plying the Lagos-Abeokuta expressway in spite of the ban were seen picking stones and pelting the BRT bus around Ile-Zik end of the expressway.
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The Herald gathered that the BRT bus was behind a car which hit an Okada rider, causing a slight delay and roadblock around 8.07am on Monday.
It was learnt that the attack caused panic among the passengers who pleaded with the driver of the BRT bus to find a way to move or open the door for them to alight.
The incident soon degenerated into full rioting as the angry Okada riders extended their attack to random passers-by.
An officer of the Nigerian Air Force alighted from one of the vehicles coming from the Agege axis to Ile Zik and tried arresting one of the Okada riders but he was quickly outnumbered and the riders joined hands to attack him.
It took the intervention of another soldier on mufti and camouflage cap to stop the looming outrage.
Earlier, The Herald reported that Lagos state Police Command arrested violators of the restriction ban placed on Motorcycle (Okada) and Tricycle riders, impounding 266 okadas and 78 tricycles.
Bala Elkana, spokesperson to the Police made this known in a statement.
The statement read: “The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, Hakeem Odumosu, had on February 1, 2020, deployed Area Commanders, Divisional Police Officers, State Traffic Officers, Area Traffic Officers, Divisional Traffic Officers, Lagos State Task Force on Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences and other police officers across the state to fully enforce the provisions of the Road Traffic Laws, especially the ban on the use of motorcycles, popularly known as okada, and icycles, also known as keke, in some local government areas and routes across the state.”
“The total ban as announced by the Lagos State Government took effect from 00.00 hours on February 1, 2020. Forty violators were arrested in different parts of the state and 188 motorcycles and 78 tricycles were impounded. The Commissioner of Police went around the state to monitor compliance and expressed his satisfaction with the level of compliance. He thanked the good people of Lagos State for their cooperation.”
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