Great Okikiola, a Lagos State resident, has told EQ that policemen attached to the Isheri Police Station in the Berger area of Lagos impounded his private scooter while they were enforcing a statewide ban on commercial motorcycles.

When EQ called the divisional police officer in charge of the area for comments, he said Okikiola should “go and buy another one”.

Okikiola said he was riding out of his residence on October 18 when the policemen stopped him and said his bike had an engine cylinder capacity (CC) below the approved 200cc.

He said he presented his credentials the following day and proved it was private property for personal and not commercial use, but the police claimed they sent the scooter to the state-controlled Task Force in Oshodi, and it was destroyed.

“Three weeks ago, I rode out of my estate in Magodo Phase 1, near Berger,” Okikiola narrated to EQ.

“I was passing through the Isheri Police Station when some policemen parked in front of me and collected my bike.

“They said the government banned bikes below 200cc. I did not know of this instruction. Two days before this incident, the state government had texted me to renew my licence. The next day, I took my international passport and papers to the police station.

READ ALSO: FACT-CHECK: Lagos Police’s Claim That Officers Were Attacked for Enforcing Okada Ban False

Okikiola’s number plate in blue colour as all private vehicles and motorcycles are

“A woman there directed me to the supervising officer there. I told the man about the incident and that the scooter was 125CC. He said he could not help me as the state government had banned it.”

He said he later got through to a policeman who worked at the station. This policeman told him the scooter was with the task force, and it was already destroyed.

WHAT THE LAW AND LAWYERS SAY

On February 1, 2020, the state government began implementing the Lagos State Transport Sector Reform Law 2018.

This law, an upgrade from the 2012 law, restricts motorcycles, tricycles and other machines from operating on select roads in the state.

READ ALSO: ‘Bottled-Up Anger’: Why Okada Riders Attacked Lagos Police Station

According to this law, machines below 200cc would be impounded if found operating on highways.

Upon its passing, Abdul Mahmud, an Abuja-based lawyer, told Premium Times newspaper that if the law as enacted by the Lagos State House of Assembly prevents the state government from implementing restrictions around certain motorcycles with 200cc capacity, then there is a problem with the regulation.

“What we have is a state that enacts laws and goes ahead to break its own laws and this act does not show responsibility,” Mahmud said.

Olukoya Ogungbeje, another lawyer, said the restriction was illegal and an infringement on the constitution and rights of the people concerned.

Ogungbeje said since the law provided conditions for exemption, enforcing the law against those who have met the conditions is illegal.

“That restriction is a clear violation of the rights of Nigerians,” he said.

“You cannot restrict people’s freedom of movement. If any law is in conflict with the constitution, that law will be declared null and void according to Section 1, sub-section 3.”

Arguing for the state at the time, Gboyega Akosile, the then Chief Press Secretary of the state governor, said, “We are not addressing non-commercials, those that use their motorcycles for dispatch are exempted. But commercial motorcycles are not exempt.”

Despite this, Okikiola’s private scooter became the latest victim of the government’s indiscriminate crackdown on motorcycles.

REACTIONS

On Thursday, EQ called Amuda Rasheed, the Isheri Divisional Police Officer. Rasheed said, “Okada issue is a foregone issue in Lagos. Tell him to go and buy another one and be riding it all about. Okada is not an issue you should be calling me on the phone for.”

Abdulraheem Gbadeyan, the spokesman for the Lagos Task Force in Oshodi, told EQ he could not comment on it as the bike was taken to a mobile court within the task force’s compound.

“We were not the ones that impounded the bike,” Gbadeyan told EQ on Thursday. “The court is the adjudicator, and they have presided over the matter. Only the commissioner of police, through Benjamin Hundeyin, the police spokesman, can comment on the matter.”

EQ called Hundeyin with several numbers, but his line was unreachable. He had not responded to EQ’s text message at press time.
The post Lagos Police Seize Resident’s Private Motorcycle, Tell Him to ‘Go Buy Another One’ appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.