The Adamawa State Command of the Nigeria Police has banned the use of motorcycles in all the 21 local government areas of the state.
The command said in a press statement Tuesday morning that the ban was informed by rising crime rate across the state.
The statement which was signed by the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the state, SP Othman Abubakar, said, “This has become necessary because of the incessant use of such motorcycles in the commission of heinous crimes such as kidnapping, armed banditry, communal clashes and other criminal activities in the state.”
The statement added that the police would by the announcement of the ban go all out on aggressive patrol and arrest of defaulters.
The ban on motorcycles, it could be recalled, had long been in place but was adhered to mostly in the state capital, Yola, especially in the city centre, while it was largely ignored in the rest of the state.
A pointer to how motorcycles are used by some people to commit crime in the state was a recent attack on Madagali LGA, in the northern fringe of the state, by Boko Haram insurgents who, witnesses said, rode in on motorcycles, killed some people, and made away with valuable belongings of residents.
The fresh ban on motorcycles leaves the state with commercial tricycles, otherwise called Keke NAPEP, which are frequently used, especially in the state capital, Yola, by young criminal elements called Shilla Boys to rob, rape and even abduct unsuspecting passengers.
While the outgoing government under Sen Mohammed Jibrilla Bindow recently expressed a plan to register operators of Keke NAPEP for close monitoring, the incoming government, to be headed by governor-elect Umaru Fintiri, was in the weekend reported to be considering an amnesty programme for members of the gang who would be expected to renounce their membership.
