Okada riders fault Lagos on state federal roads

Commercial motorcyclists (Okada riders) in Lagos State have accused the government and the House of Assembly of seeking “Pyrrhic victory” by denying the existence of federal highways in the state.

The okada riders stated this in their address filed through their counsel, Mr. Bamidele Aturu, in reply to the opposition of the government and the Assembly to their suit at a Lagos High Court in Ikeja.

The government and the Assembly had in their separate written addresses, in opposition to the suit, denied the existence of federal highways and as such claiming to have the power to make and execute laws on all the roads in the state.

The okada riders, under the aegis of All Nigerians Autobike Commercial Owners and Workers Association, had sued the state government and the legislative arm, urging the court to restrain the government from prohibiting their operations on the federal highways.

Aturu, in urging the court to dismiss the defendants’ argument, stated in his written address filed at the court on November 15, that the defendants ought not to have canvassed such argument because of its detrimental effect.

He said the argument “may make the Federal Government to shirk its responsibility of constructing and maintaining roads”.

The state government, as the first defendant in the suit and the Assembly as the second, had both argued that there was no law passed by the National Assembly declaring any road to be federal.

A former Attorney-General of the State, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, in defending the Assembly, argued that the Constitution only empowered the National Assembly to designate roads as “federal trunk roads”.

He said, “As required by part III paragraph 1 to the second schedule, the National Assembly can only designate or declare a road as federal trunk road either by an Act or a resolution passed by both houses of the National Assembly.

“Accordingly, the 2nd defendant urges this court to hold that the House of Assembly validly exercised its powers to make law in respect of these highways.”

Toeing the same line of argument, Ipaye, representing his office and the state government, had argued in his 55-paragraph written address that “it is our humble submission that to the extent that the National Assembly has not designated any road as federal highway, any purported declaration is unconstitutional and I will respectfully urge the honourable court to so find and hold”.

Culled from the Punch Newspaper