Some commercial motorcycle riders in Surulere area of Lagos State on Tuesday clashed with the operatives of Lagos State Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences (Enforcement) Unit.
First News gathered that the crisis began when the taskforce operatives stormed the community to enforce the ban on the okada riders.
The riders, who were not pleased with the development, tried to resist the ban thereby engaged in a confrontation with the police operatives.
A resident of the area Lukman while narrating the incident said most of the okada riders were Hausa men who survive on the okada riding job.
“The Hausa men could not bear the situation. These led to the clash and police officers also sprayed the tear gas to chase them away. The unrest affected the whole community as commercial activities were distrupted”, Lukman narrated.
Another resident, said , “What I don’t understand is why the police went to arrest okada riders in Idi-Araba because that part of Idi-Araba is under Mushin LGA and the ban does not affect there. This was an illegal operation by the police and as I saw their vans and trucks, I knew this would happen.”
Another resident, Adeshola Oluyemi, said, “I heard gunshots being fired by the police, but I could not see those shooting at the police. I saw the police shooting tear gas, and firing gunshots into the air to scare them.”
The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, said that there were no casualties in the incident.
He said, “No life was lost at Mushin during the fracas today (Tuesday) and no building was burnt down. They can’t fight because the task force went well prepared. They were just causing a scene after the task force left with some of their impounded motorcycles and men from the area command have since been drafted there.”
The Director, Press and Public Affairs, Lagos State Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences (Enforcement) Unit, Gbadeyan Abulraheem, said 180 motorcycles were impounded during the raid.
He said, “We started the enforcement around 10 am while the resistance started around 11am. We were there to enforce the governor’s ban on okada, which affects six LGAs. Idi Araba falls under Surulere LGA, which was why we went there.
“The resistance from the okada riders is not something new. Enforcement anywhere in the world is not a tea party and it is not people-friendly especially with the people involved, in this case, the okada riders. Normalcy has been restored to the area.
“We were able to do our job without any problem. Over 180 motorcycles from that axis were impounded.”