Kunle Adelabu
Sanity which have long deserted Ikorodu garage roundabout for the past years was restored on Friday (today) when men of the Lagos State Taskforce and police officers in Ikorodu stormed the chaotic area and other places to dislodged commercial motorcycle operators and traders that were displaying their wares along the road.
The security team stormed the Ikorodu garage roundabout around 4.00pm after an advance team was seen warning okada riders (commercial motorcycles riders) who have been creating nuisance at the garage roundabout and BRT terminal by plying major roads against the state government directives.
The incalcitrant okada riders were seen speeding dangerously when security men that included men of the Lagos State Taskforce and officers from the Ikorodu and Shagamu road Division of the Nigerian police, stormed the area.
Two okada riders were seen being arrested by the taskforce during the operations.
Our reporters, who witnessed the guerrilla-like operations, also saw many of the riders that were dislodged from the garage roundabout, stopping over around Benson bus-stop and urging others to stop and face the security personnel but the determined police officers who were carrying guns, sticks and bats surged at them.
The security operatives had stormed the garage roundabout in several police vans, Black Maria and private vehicles.
Sanity and orderliness had , for some years, evaded the Ikorodu garage roundabout, Ayangbure road and Benson/Lagos road while flagrant lawlessness and chaos reigned supreme as commercial motorcycle riders as well as tricycles and commercial bus drivers were parking indiscriminately, thereby constituting hindrance to free flow of traffic, while most traders were also seen taking over the walkways and a larger part of the express, particularly in the evening and night, road to display their wares unhindered.
The lawlessness at the Ikorodu garage roundabout became worsen with the criminal activities of hoodlums and cultists who kill themselves at will and also dispossess unsuspecting residents and passers-by of their money and valuable belongings.
While many residents commended the long awaited operations of security men which were aimed at bringing back sanity to the chaotic areas, they were also skeptical about the sustenance of such actions.
Meanwhile, after the operations, the ever busy and chaotic Ikorodu garage roundabout, Ayangbure road, Ojubode and Benson/Lagos road axis almost became ghost areas as the once recalcitrant okada riders, marwa operators and traders operating in defiance of the state government’s traffic and trading regulations, suddenly disappeared from the vicinity.
