By Laleye Dipo in Minna
There was pandemonium in Minna, the Niger State capital Monday, as commercial motorcyclists also known as Okada riders, protested against what they called the high handedness of officials of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC).
The protest culminated in the police shooting sporadically into the air, which prompted motorists and pedestrians to scamper for safety.
During the demonstration, the okada riders waved fresh leaves and broke the trees planted in the middle of the road and obstructed free flow of traffic for several hours.
They also blocked the entrance to the state office of the FRSC along Bosso road for several hours, a development that forced the police to shoot into the air to disperse the demonstrators.
“They are daily disturbing us from doing our legal business; they arrest us indiscriminately and seize our motorcycles,” one of the Okada riders told reporters.
THISDAY gathered that the police have arrested nine of the Okada riders and would charge them to court for causing public nuisance.
All efforts to get official reaction from the FRSC were abortive as its Public Relations Officer Raji Ejigogo said he was not in the office and could not address the issue.
“I am outside the command attending to an official matter,” Ejigogo said on phone.
