Moshood Adebayo
Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences Agency (Task Force) has arrested 123 suspected hoodlums said to be from Jigawa State, as well as impounded 323 commercial motorcycles.
This is even as the suspects have disclosed that they left Jigawa to seek greener pastures in the centre of excellence. Their leader, Shuaibu Haruna, who said they were lured into the state because of the opportunities that abound, lamented that lack of financial support to cater for their families forced them to leave Jigawa for Lagos.
“There is no tangible business one can do in Jigawa and I have a family that depends on me for survival. So I decided to leave for Lagos where I was told by my friends that opportunities are available”. Haruna also told the task force that his major target to raise funds in Lagos was to become Okada rider.
He disclosed that they were brought into Lagos by a truck with registration no: Jigawa HJA-680XA, which conveyed 48 motorcycles after paying the sum of N7, 000 Officers of the agency impounded the truck at Agege after trailing it from the Toll Gate end of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
Taskforce Chairman, Yinka Egbeyemi, during a press conference yesterday, disclosed that the agency, since intensifying its clampdown on Okada had impounded no fewer than 323 in the past five days. Egbeyemi, who also confirmed that all the affected people were from Jigawa, added that 48 of them came into the state with their motorcycles in search of greener pastures. He added that all the affected people were thoroughly searched, with no incriminating item found on them.
He noted that the Commissioner of Police, Zubair Muazu, has been informed of the development, adding that it has set up a panel to profile the arrested people. Meanwhile, the agency has disclosed that the agency has 4,068 impounded motorcycles in its stores and is waiting for directive to crush them.