Okada Riders Drag Lagos Govt To Court Over Ban

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The Motorcycle Transport Union of Nigeria (MTUN) has filed a lawsuit against the Lagos State Government before a Federal High Court following the ban on motorcycle operators popularly known as Okada riders in six LGAs of the state.

The union and others in the suit are praying for a declaration that the ban on Okada “is illegal, unlawful and unconstitutional.”

The applicants also sought a declaration that the ban of the business of commercial motorcyclists in Lagos by the government “is a violation of the rights of the applicants guaranteed by Section 33 of the 1999 Constitution as amended who cannot be alive without food and other means of sustenance and whose income is the business of commercial motorcycle transportation.”

Alternatively, they prayed the court to grant an order compelling the government to provide jobs for the teeming commercial motorcycle riders in the state.

In the affidavit in support of the application, sworn to by Pastor Emmanuel Donatus, the deponent stated that he and other operators had no means of sustenance apart from the business of motorcycling.

They prayed the court to order the government to restrict Okada operations on major highways rather than banning their operations.

The court is yet to assign a date for hearing.

This is coming amid plans by the police to crush scores of motorcycles seized in the past few days.