Musician and rights advocate, Mr Charles Oputa, also known as Charlie Boy, has thrown his weight behind the ban by the Lagos State Government on the operations of commercial motorcycles and tricycles in some parts of the state.
Speaking on a programme on Lagos Traffic Radio on Monday, Oputa, also called ‘Area Father’, said the Okada business had been taken over by strange faces, who he described as great threat to the security of the country.
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“I am in support of the Okada ban in six local government areas and nine local council development areas in the state. Though I am an advocate of people riding bikes, the people I now see riding bikes are not the people I used to see. They are strangers and foreigners and that is putting our security in danger.
“The people are all over the country. In Yoruba land, in Igbo land and are mostly not Nigerians. You know I am in the streets, those people are not my people, the people I used to know. The government must restructure the operation of Okada riders and we must know who and who are into it. We must also improve our transport system too,” he said.
Oputa also called for the creation of job opportunities for youths especially to dissuade them from crimes.
The LGs where the ban is imposed include Apapa, Apapa Iganmu, Lagos Mainland, Yaba, Surulere, Itire Ikate, Coker Aguda, Eti-Osa, Lagos Island, Ikeja, Onigbongo, Ojodu, Ikoyi-Obalende, Iru Ikoyi-Obalande and Lagos Island East.
