Mr Babaji Sunday, the Commissioner of Police (CP) for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), met with representatives of commercial motorcyclists in the FCT, also known as “okada riders.”
Recall that a member of a vigilante group in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, was lynched for alleged anti-Islam blasphemy.
Some Muslim youths raped and burned the victim alive.
In a statement on Monday, ASP Oduniyi Omotayo, Deputy Police Public Relations Officer in the FCT, said the meeting was to address the recent spate of violence in Abuja, which was largely traceable to commercial motorcycle operators.
The operators’ activities had become a source of concern, according to Omotayo, because they were increasingly resorting to self-help at the slightest provocation.
He said self-help had resulted in jungle justice, vandalism of government and private property, as well as other sundry anti-social behaviours.
Omotayo said more than 150 executives of various motorcycle units and associations across the FCT and a representative of the Department of State Service (DSS) were at the meeting with the Commissioner of Police.
The CP told the operators to turn a new leaf and work in synergy with the police to fish out the bad eggs amongst them.
He, therefore, urged them to always obey traffic rules and eschew the habit of resorting to violence at the slightest provocation.