Hundreds of commercial motorcyclists, popularly called okada, trooped to the streets of Akure, the Ondo capital, on Thursday to protest against alleged extortion by the officials of the Ondo State Ministry of Transport.
The okada riders, who marched on major streets and roads in Akure, called on the state Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, to reverse a new order, directing them to obtain new number plate on each of their their motorcycles at the rate of N10,000.
They described the new number plates and other charges by the state government as “barbaric and exploitative”.
Armed with placards with various inscriptions such as, ‘Mimiko must go, we are tired of this government'; and ‘Tofowomo is a thief’, among others, the commercial motocycle operators started the demonstration at the entrance of the Ministry of Works on Oyemekun Road.
For several hours, business activities were totally paralysed as the popular Oba Adesida, Oluwatuyi, hospital roads, among others, were blocked by the protesters, causing traffic a gridlock in the city centre.
Efforts made by the state Chairman of the Amalgamated Commercial Motorcycle Riders Association of Nigeria , Mr Jimoh Obabi, to calm the protesters, were turned down as he was alleged to have been compromised.
However, the chairman of the association was not available for comment during the protest and his telephone lines were not going through at the press time.
One of the protesters, Akiola Olumide, who spoke with our correspondent, explained that the government had come up with a policy banning all number plates used by commercial motor bikes not from Ondo State.
“They say we can no longer use number plates from other states, but the one designed in the state with a red line. That means those who are arrested with such number plates are made to pay N5,000 and a compulsory N2,000 for ‘Card Igbeayo’ and another N700 before the bike will be released.
“Our leaders have been trying to get the government to change the policy, but they(officials) have refused,” he said.
In his reactions, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Union Matters, Mr Dayo Fadahunsi, said government took the decision for security reasons following the spate of kidnappings and robberies in the state capital.
He explained that the decision was agreed upon during a meeting with the leaders of the association, adding that government had ordered the release of all seized Okadas and had given the operator till next week Friday to get the new commercial number plates.
He however described as blackmail the allegation that they were made to pay N17,000 to get a new plate number, saying a new commercial number plate was N6,000.
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