From Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan

In a bid to improve the security architecture of Oyo State against the rising cases of motorcycle riders’ involvement in criminal activities, the state police command has introduced stop-and-search operation to check the menace across the 33 local government areas of the state.

The Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr. Adebowale Williams, who made the disclosure at an interactive session with the media yesterday, said the stop-and-search operation became imperative to check the manner gunmen have been using motorcycles to rob and shoot people indiscriminately.

He said he had reached out to the security task force set up by the state government, Operation Burst, and the Amotekun Corps, as well as vigilance groups for collaborative actions to deal with the sad development.

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Williams made this known as the state government has begun registration for motorcycle riders, which includes biometric data capturing for all operators, and their owners in the state in a bid to check the massive influx of commercial motorcycle riders.

The Executive Assistant to Governor Seyi Makinde on Administration and General Services, Rev’d Idowu Ogedengbe, said recently that thousands of the motorcycle riders and their owners have been captured into the database of the state, and the registration is still ongoing.

The registration, according to him, followed the ban of many okada riders in Lagos State and the influx of the displaced commercial motorcyclists to the state, coupled with the fact that the state police command has paraded on different occasions, some okada riders, using the means of transportation to commit crime.

Ogedengbe warned that any commercial motorcycle rider that failed to register, would face the wrath of the law as the Oyo State Road Transport Management Authority (OYRTMA) has been directed to apprehend those that have refused to register. He added that the first thing every commercial motorcyclist must do before starting operation in the state is to get registered. The registration, according to him, would assist the government to track down those that may be using the means of transportation to commit criminal offences.