Okada Riders Abduct And Mercilessly Beat Up A Security Man In Lagos

A Man O’War officer attached to a security post in Ikate Roundabout in the Lekki area of Lagos State, Ibrahim Busari, has been beaten up by some commercial motorcyclists (popularly called okada riders), who reportedly abducted him. It was learnt that Busari and his colleagues were controlling traffic caused by an accident in the area when they seized a motorcycle from one Mohammed Mukaila, for allegedly riding against the traffic (popularly called one-way). It was gathered that the motorcycle belonged to one Ahmed Saleh. The operatives were said to have taken the impounded motorcycle to their office.

Punch gathered that a few minutes later, Saleh went to the operatives’ security post in the area to demand the release of the motorcycle. He was reportedly joined by Mukaila and some okada riders in the area, who allegedly resorted to violence when the security men refused to release the motorcycle. In the ensuing scuffle, one Gbemi Oyebowole was stabbed in the eye region while Busari was reportedly abducted by the motorcyclists to their park, where he was beaten up. He was said to have been rescued by some policemen on a patrol, while two of his suspected attackers were later arrested by men attached to the Maroko Police Division.

Busari, 25, said, the mob dispossessed him of N8,000 during the assault. He said, “I was on duty along with three others that day. There was an accident and we were trying to clear the gridlock caused by the accident when we saw an okada rider riding against the traffic. The okada was impounded. “Some minutes after the motorcycle was seized, okada riders from the Lekki area came to our office and attacked us. They later took me to their park, collected the N8,000 on me and beat me seriously. They said they would not allow me to go unless my colleagues released the motorcycle. Some policemen attached to the Rapid Response Squad later came to rescue me from them.”

A police prosecutor, Inspector Ignatius Okeke, brought the suspects before a magistrate’s court on the Lagos Island on six counts of stealing and assault. The charges read in part, “That you, Mohammed Mukaila, Ahmed Saleh and others now at large on July 25, 2015, at about 13.45 hours at Ikate Roundabout, Lekki, in the Eti-Osa Local Government Area, within Lagos Magisterial District, did conspire to commit felony to wit; stealing. 

“That you and others now at large on the same day, time and place, in the aforesaid magisterial district, did beat up one Oyebowole Gbemi, a member of Man O’War Nigeria, while performing his official duty, with fist blows, irons and sticks and used a small axe to inflict an injury on his face. “That you and others now at large did steal the sum of N8,000 property of one Ibrahim Busari.”

The defendants pleaded not guilty to the offences, which according to the police, were punishable under sections 51, 133 (b), 171, 285 (a) and 409 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, Nigeria, 2011. The presiding magistrate, Mr. L.A. Owolabi, admitted the defendants to bail in the sum of N50,000 each with two sureties each in like sum.

Owolabi subsequently adjourned the case till August 13, 2015.