The commercial motorbike riders, known as okada in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, went on strike on Thursday over the alleged theft of a passenger’s manhood.
Mallam Umar Muhammed, the state chairman of the Okada Riders Association, revealed this while addressing with reporters, saying they have decided to strike in response to the charges.
Many members, he claims, have been attacked innocently by passengers unable to pay fares, only to be accused of taking manhoods.
He claimed that passengers chosen by their riders raised the alarm of missing manhoods when they arrived at their destination, resulting in okada riders being beaten.
”Some of the passengers when they don’t have money to pay, they raise alarm that their manhood is missing so that they will not pay. Instead of them to take the issue to the police, they will take laws into their hands and beat up the commercial rider. Later, the people say that their manhood has returned back to his body,” he said.
As a result, he urged security services and the state administration to investigate the matter in order to avoid civil disturbance in the state.
Platinum Times reported last week that some suspected ritualists were arrested in Kogi State, particularly in Lokoja, for allegedly snatching male organs from their victims.
To defuse the tense situation, the Kogi State Police Command released a statement on Wednesday night through its Public Relations Officer, SP William Ovye Aya, urging the general public to remain quiet, adding that anyone caught disturbing the public peace would be prosecuted.