No fewer than 4,477 motorcycles have been seized from traffic violators across the state as disclosed by the Lagos State Task Force on Tuesday, October 22nd.
Speaking to reporters, the chairman of the task force, CSP Olayinka Egbeyemi stated that the motorcycles were seized from the beginning of June to date.
Egbeyemi further said that “some of the motorcycles were retrieved by their owners after receiving penalties while the rest were still within the premises of the Task Force’s office located in Oshodi, Lagos.
He revealed that after six months, a court order would be sought and the unclaimed motorcycles destroyed by the Lagos State Government to serve as a deterrent to others.
“The Governor of Lagos came on board in May, and 4,477 motorcycles have been seized from traffic offenders. All those unclaimed motorcycles seen in our premises were seized from June to date (October).
“What we do is that we crush them, there is a company that helps the LASG to crush them, after which they are sold as scrap. The governor, however, no longer wants them sold as scrap, but he wants them to be crushed or destroyed totally. We have ordered crushing machines from abroad because the one in Epe is faulty. The new crushing machines will soon arrive and soon they will all be crushed,” Egbeyemi said.
He said that the corporate commercial motorcycles such as Opay and Gokada, which were also seized, would have the same fate as no individual or organisation was above the law.
Egbeyemi said: “what is good for the goose is also good for the gander. Nobody is above the law. The Gokada, Opay and those other corporate motorcycles rode against traffic (one way) that is why the riders were arrested and the motorcycles confiscated. The penalty for such offences is total forfeiture. The owners of those motorcycles (Gokada and Opay) were to be charged to court but some of them ran away.”
He noted that motorcyclists were usually hesitant to attempt retrieving their motorcycles because of the possibility of serving a jail term. “Some of the motorcyclists came and the court issued them fine, while the others are usually afraid to come because one of the penalties for driving against traffic (one way) is an option of one-year imprisonment and they are scared of going to jail,” he said.
