A FEW days after a 37-year-old sound engineer was lynched and burnt by irate commercial motorcycle operators at Admiralty Way, Lekki, Lagos, Lekki Phase 1 Residents Association LERA, has cried out over the activities of commercial motorcyclists in the area saying this is causing more harm than good to residents.
The residents who spoke through Yomi Idowu, the chairman of the residents association on Wednesday, called on Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu to save the community from the menace by sustaining the ongoing clamping down of commercial motorcycle operators in the area.
The Chairman said this after he visited Maroko Police Station following the death of Sunday- David Umoh, a member of Legacy 360 Band, the sound engineer, who met his untimely death on Thursday, 12th May 2022.
In a chat with Vanguard, he alleged that the activities of the riders have been causing sleepless nights in the area just as he appealed to people to avoid spreading fake news in connection with the matter.
‘’After my visitation to Maroko Police Station, I got a clearer picture of what transpired on that fateful Thursday. We are appealing to the Lagos State Government to rescue us from the menace of Okada riders in the Lekki axis in general because they have taken over the axis to the extent that they ride against traffic and avoid the use of number plates.
‘’it is unfortunate that Okada riders are banned from Kano and Kaduna States while they ride with impunity in Lagos despite the ban by the government.
The true picture of the incident
The Chairman said his investigation of the incident revealed this, ‘’information at my disposal revealed that two people boarded a bike from Ikoyi roundabout with the agreement to pay N400 for the fares but on getting to their destination, they offered N300 and the bike man demanded his N100 balance but this led to an argument after which a scuffle ensued.
“Both passengers put a call across their friends who rushed to the scene and in the process, one of them (the late engineer) allegedly touched the bike man on his head and he (the bike man) fell on the floor probably pretending to be unconscious.
‘’The scene later attracted some Area Boys who on noticing that the bike rider was lying ‘unconscious’, descended on David beating and accusing him of ritual.
‘’Sensing danger, David was said to have fled the scene and hid somewhere but was fished out by a woman and the Area Boys descended on him again, beating him to a pulp and finally carried out a mob action on him before the arrival of Police.
‘’So far, the Okada rider, the woman and some other suspects were arrested by the Police while the passengers were hospitalized due to the aftermath of the incident,’’ said the Chairman.
Yomi said before the incident, the residents have forwarded some letters to the state governor and the state commissioner of Transportation to eradicate the activities of commercial motorcyclists in the area, ‘’we even appealed to them to allow us to have our transportation system. What we have now is not good enough for the youths and that is why they patronize Okada.
“The government should ban ‘Okada’ outrightly in Lekki.” He added.
–Vanguard
