Traffic Offence: Lagos Taskforce Arrests 10 For Assault, Seizes 96 Bikes, Four Cars

Ten persons have been arrested over an attack on officials of the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Enforcement Agency (Taskforce) during enforcement of the state’s traffic laws.

The suspects were picked up in the commotion that broke out on Tuesday in the Ojodu and Obanikoro areas of the state during enforcement carried out by the taskforce in several parts of Lagos.

No fewer than 96 commercial motorcycles operating on highways and in other restricted routes in the metropolis were impounded in the operation.

The Anti-One-Way team of the taskforce also arrested four motorists for driving against the traffic.

According to the state government, some hoodlums teamed up with motorcycle riders around the Ojodu Grammar School area to resist the move by the taskforce to take away bikes seized during the enforcement.

As the hoodlums, armed with iron rods and broken bottles approached the operatives, policemen led by the Taskforce Chairman, Shola Jejeloye, repelled the attack and dispersed them, arresting five suspects in the process.

This caused tension in the area for several minutes before normalcy returned.

At Obanikoro, commercial motorcycle riders reportedly pelted taskforce officers with stones on sighting the enforcement team.

The policemen arrested four persons said to have taken part in the attack while one other person was arrested in Ojota.

In his reaction, Jejeloye said the taskforce would not relent in its activities to restore sanity on the roads.

He warned commercial motorcycles illegally operating on restricted routes to stop defying the government’s restriction order and limit their activities to roads they were permitted to operate.

“We are not surprised about the attack on us by some hoodlums in Obanikoro and Ojodu for carrying out the mandate given to this team by the Lagos State Government,” the taskforce chairman said.

He added, “But, this will never deter us from extending the enforcement to other areas of the states where notorious road users and okada riders have constituted a nuisance.

“We are not after the commercial motorcycles operating in areas where their activities are permitted, we are after those breaking the restriction order and motorists who flout the state’s traffic laws.”