The Federal High Court Lagos has fixed Tuesday December 15 this year to hear the reversal of the ban on commercial motorcycles and tricycles by the Lagos State Government across some parts of the state.
According to the lawyer, Julius Ajibulu, who filed the suit before Justice Chuka Obiozor, the ban on motorcycles and tricycles, without a replacement or an alternative means of transportation, had subjected Lagosians to untold hardship and taken away the source of livelihood of the operators.
Further buttressing his point, Ajibulu said the ban had led to “massive unemployment” and an escalation in the rate of crime and insecurity in the state.
Citing the law, the lawyer said the ban violated his fundamental rights and those of other Lagosians under sections 33, 34, 36, 38, 41, and 42 of the 1999 Constitution.
Ajibulu is praying the court to order “the immediate resumption of commercial operations and activities of tricycles (Keke NAPEP/ Marwa) and motorcycles (okada) of 50cc-200cc capacity engine on the above-stated highways and expressways through the aforesaid bridges in the above 15 local government and local development council areas of Lagos State”.
He is also seeking damages in the sum of N1bn as well as a public apology in newspapers.
Ajibulu’s lawsuit is the second against the Lagos State Government over the ban on motorcycles and tricycles.
Another lawyer, Olukoya Ogungbeje, seconded Ajibulu’s prayers on reversal before Justice Mohammed Liman of the Federal High Court.
He further noted that the forceful impounding, seizure or confiscation of motorcycles and tricycles by agents of the Lagos State Government amounted to an infringement on the rights of residents to own property under sections 43 and 44 of the Constitution.
