By Wole Adedeji, Ilorin
The Kwara State Police Command has said it is ready not to allow commercial motorcycle (okada) riders fleeing Lagos State settle in Kwara.
There had been reports that Lagos State government recently placed a ban on commercial motorcycling in the state because of alleged various rising acts of criminalities traced to them, particularly, those from the Northern parts of the country.
Speaking in an interview with some journalists, the State Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, DSP Ajayi Okasanmi, said the police command was in readiness for the reported migration of these ‘okada’ riders from Lagos to the country’s hinterland, especially, Kwara State.
He alluded to the fact that Kwara, being a central state between the North and Southern divides of the country can easily be a stop over for these motorcyclists, who would be relocating from Lagos.
The Police spokesman was also of the view that there was a strong probability that these commercial motorcyclists might finally decide to settle in Kwara State.
Okasanmi said the large migration of the riders might ordinarily not be that worrisome, but for the reported stories of crimes, ranging from kidnapping, robberies, killings to all other forms of criminalities, which would have compelled Lagos State government to ask them to leave.
He added that in Kwara State, police was more than ready to decisively deal with the fleeing cyclists and may have no other option than to disallow them stay in the state, especially when elements and instrumentalities of crimes are traced to them.
Recall that there had been growing fears with the sudden increase of ‘okada’ riders in Ilorin, the state capital of late.
A check by this reporter showed that these categories of commercial cyclists had increased in number and have often operate in the night, without the official jackets the state government directed that they should be wearing to differentiate them from private motorcycle owners.
Besides, these category of commercial motorcyclists are of Northern extraction, who easily gets angry and become wild at every disagreement, mostly over high fares that they charge late in the evenings.
In the Southern parts of the state, Kwara South, this reporter was told that the presence of motorcyclists of Northern extraction had increased of late.
It was said that these people surprisingly surfaced from the blues with brand new motorcycles and settle at locations around established communities, without the permission or knowledge of the host natives.
They were said to also engage in ‘okada’ business, even when they appeared not to be quite familiar with the terrain, a development said to pose serious dangers to the locals patronising them.
