By Gracia Obi
The officers of the Nigerian Police Force recently endangered the lives of three motorcyclists and other road users in a ridiculous bid to arrest the motorcyclists.
The three motorcyclists made no attempt to resist arrest but that they did not stop these “brave” officers from being unnecessarily savage and damaging the motorcycles before commandeering them and riding off in a very, very reckless fashion.
These intrepid Officers did not even allow the “suspects” identify themselves as they much preferred to cock their guns and use the threat of death to shove their suspects into vehicle, resulting in the loss of the suspect’s identity cards and mobile phones.
At the Asokoro Police station, the Divisional Police Officer of Asokoro Command, Chief Superintendent Nna Amah said the arrest was made according to directives given to him that motorcycles with four strokes engines are among those banned in addition to two strokes engines in FCT. The DPO added t that the Commissioner of Police, Olufemi Ogunbayode gave the directives to impound motorcycles with four stroke engines which could be used by Boko Haram to commit crime and as such they are to be investigated.Amah said he arrested the motorcycles based on two things which are proactive and reactionary.
“Reasonable suspicions, no matter how long, it cannot take the place of legal evidence that the case is premature to tell what they have done”, the DPO said.
A Navy Officer, who does not want his name in the print said “I will say that I find it a tad ridiculous to think that the Police would elect to arrest anyone seen riding a motorcycle based on the premise that Boko Haram or any other terrorist group could use similar means of transportation.
“Next we will have them arresting people for having two hands because terrorists use hands to make bombs”,he said.
Many questions come to mind. If memory serves, the motorcycle ban was to affect Commercial Motorbikes. When did it extend to privately owned motorcycles and who was this communicated to?
If these motorcycles are indeed illegal how then are they registered with the VIO and FRSC?
How are these motorcycle clubs able to be legally register with the CAC?
When will they ban the use of cars because of the possibility of cars being used for terrorist activities?
After the arrest was affected, the Motorcyclists gave the police their statements and handed over the registration documents for the motorcycles to the police.
The motorcycles were then impounded so they can be investigated. ..
Another source said that the fact we are Nigerians and live in a third world country does not mean we should be treated as a subhuman species.
“The Constitution grants us certain rights and it is beyond unjust to have those rights snatched from you simply because the man in front of you has an AK-47 and a black uniform”, the source said.
