Lagos Okada Ban: Kwara Police Boss To Meet DPOs

The Kwara State Commissioner of Police, Tuesday Assayomo, will on Thursday hold an emergency meeting with all Divisional Police Officers in the state over likely influx of banned commercial Okada riders from Lagos State to the North Central state.

The meeting which will hold at the command Headquarters in Ilorin will enable them map out strategies to checkmate the likely consequences of the influx of the displaced Okada riders.

The spokesman of the State police command, Ajayi Okasanmi, made this known while stating that the meeting will brace up the command for the likely spillover effects.

Okasanmi said due to the contiguous nature of Kwara to Lagos, there might likely be an influx of people into the State as a result of the ban on Okada operation in some areas of Lagos State.

AN24 reported that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Wednesday, announced the ban on the operation of commercial motorcycle riders in six Local Government Councils and nine Local Government Development Areas in the State, effective from June 1, 2022.

The affected councils include Eti-Osa, Ikeja, Surulere, Lagos Island, Lagos Mainland , Apapa, among others.

READ ALSO: June 1 Deadline Won’t Stop Enforcement – LASG

Okasanmi disclosed that while the displaced Okada riders would be allowed access into the State, in accordance with their constitutional rights, the police command would not condone nuisance and criminality from any of them.

“We are aware, and incidentally this is not the first time that the Lagos State government will be banning the operation of Okada in Lagos.

“We know that anything that happens in Lagos, Kwara State is almost the next port of call for all those people driven from there because we have almost the same developmental agenda in Lagos and Kwara.

“The Kwara State Police Command has actually put in place the strategy to curtail whatever excesses they may want to come and portend in the State. But the fact remains that there is freedom of movement as far as the nation’s constitution is concerned. You are free to go anywhere and ply your trade so far you are law abiding,” he stated.