By Bose Adelaja

The face-off between Policemen and commercial motorcyclists in Mushin area of Lagos is adversely affecting commuters and traders  who have appealed to the government to tactically settle the rift.

Those who spoke with Vanguard Metro last Tuesday, said, they now find it difficult to move around  as many of the riders have abandoned the route to avoid being arrested as Policemen  are said to be practically hunting for cyclists.

According to reports, six policemen went on patrol in Fatai Atere area of Mushin, on Sunday September 7 and in the process impounded some motorcycles. However, the exercise  turned sour as one of the policemen allegedly lost his AK47 rifle to one of the riders and efforts to recover it proved abortive as the rider was said to have disappeared into thin air.

In search for the rifle, a team of Policemen was said to have carried out a raid in Mushin and  environs the following day, arresting a couple of  riders.

However, street urchins popularlly called area boys, took advantage of the situation, to harass innocent commuters and residents, many of whom were robbed and rough handled during the raid.  Subsequently, cyclists  stopped plying the routes to avoid being arrested, a development that is causing untold hardship to commuters and traders who  find it difficult to get to their respective destinations.

A commuter who gave her name as Orelope Aduke, said the few riders who brave plying the routes, only work for few hours while they charge exorbitantly.
Also, a trader who sells spare parts,  Chijioke Gladys, said her hand bag containing  N250,000 and two cell phones was snatched during the raid while her N15,000 spectacles were also damaged.

Some of the riders wondered why Policemen should raid cyclists on Fatai Atere way, as the route was not one of the 475 roads on which they were banned as claimed by the Police.

Also, sources said the six policemen  who carried out the raid were well known faces who used to visit the zone regularly but went tough last Sunday choosing to impound  any unfamiliar motorcycle.

Some of the riders not affected were said to have joined their colleagues to plead for a release of their bikes but the appeal  turned sour as a policeman’s rifle was snatched allegedly by a rider .

An Okada rider at Mushin under-bridge, who pleaded anonymity lamented the extortion by some policemen saying; ‘’On various occasions, policemen will come and arrest our members on unrestricted routes only to take us to a junction and collect at least N10,000 from us and this had been ongoing for the pat two years. When they came last Sunday, we thought it was one of such visits and we offered them a token and pleaded that there was no sales on that day but they refused our pleas on the account that this would not take care of their weekend expenses,’’

When VM visited the area last Tuesday, only few motorcyclists were seen with many stranded commuters in various routes.
When the Zonal chairman of the riders Chief Razaq Bello, was contacted by VM, he denied involvement in the matter saying his members don’t work on Sundays. Zone C according to the riders, comprises Isolo, Ejigbo, Oshodi, Mushin, Ojuwoye, Maryland, Yaba and Bariga.