Authorities of the Kwara State police command are bracing up to mitigate the effects of the likely influx of banned commercial Okada riders from Lagos State to Kwara State.
To this end, the State Police Command has summoned all Divisional Police Officers (DPOs) in the State to an emergency meeting to map out strategies to checkmate the likely consequences of the influx of the displaced Okada riders into the State.
The meeting is at the instance of the State Commissioner of Police, Tuesday Assayomo, and slated for next week Thursday, at the command Headquarters in Ilorin.
Spokesman of the State police command, Ajayi Okasanmi, informed reporters that the scheduled meeting would provide the police authorities an opportunity to map out strategies with DPOs in the event of likely spillover effects of the ban on commercial Okada riders in Lagos.
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.
Recall 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.
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.
