JAF accuses Lagos police of kidnapping
Okada Riders' protest
The Joint Action Front has
condemned the arrest and detention of five of its members of by policemen from
the Lagos State Police Command, during a protest against okada restriction in
the state.
The group in a statement on Sunday
by its Chairman, Dr. Dipo Fashina, and Secretary, Mr. Abiodun Aremu, described
the arrest as “a kidnap”.
Those arrested are Fashina, Aremu,
Hassan Soweto, Oloyede Usman and Segun Oladunni.
The activists were later released
after being detained for about six hours.
The group said, “The arrest was
tantamount to kidnap as the activists were arrested in their car on
Yaba-Ojuelegba Road after they had left the Lagos Secretariat of the Nigeria
Labour Congress where the peaceful mass protest march organised by JAF in
solidarity with okada riders had been formally rounded-off.
“The action was to protest the
brutality and extortion of okada riders by the police and other government
agencies under the guise of the enforcement of the law.
“This anti-poor provision bans the
operation of okada riders in 475 roads and restricts their operation to
between 6am and 8pm.”
The group urged the government to
devote a lane for the okada operators, noting that that was the only way to stop
brutality by the law enforcement agencies.
December 24, 2012 by Sodiq Oyeleke
Written by NEWSTRAWL ONLINE UPDATE
Sodiq Oyeleke is a Media, Human Resources, Project Management and Public Relations Practitioner
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