Court Throws Out Suit Challenging Lagos’ Okada, Keke Ban
The Federal High Court in Lagos has rejected a resident’s lawsuit challenging the Lagos State Government’s ban on commercial motorcycles (Okada) and tricycles (Keke NAPEP) on some of its roads.
According to Justice Akintayo Aluko, Julius Ajibulu’s attempt to overturn the ban that has been in effect since 2018 “failed woefully.”
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The judge ruled that Ajibulu failed to prove, among other things, that the Lagos State government lacks the authority to prohibit the use of tricycles and motorcycles on the state’s designated roads.
The decision came after the plaintiff filed a lawsuit with the case number FHC/L/CS/1389/2020 against the Lagos State Attorney General, Commissioner for Transportation, Governor of Lagos State, and Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly as the first through fourth defendants, respectively.
Against commercial motorcycles (Okada) and tricycles (Keke NAPEP), Lagos State took action on January 27, 2020, prohibiting their use in six Local Government Areas (LGAs), nine Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs), and ten major highways throughout the state as of February 1, 2020.
The government instructed security personnel to immediately address the chaos and disorder brought on by Okada and tricycle riders operating illegally in prohibited areas by enforcing the State’s Transport Sector Reform Law of 2018 to the fullest extent possible.
Additionally, the government outlawed the use of Okadas and tricycles on 40 bridges and flyovers throughout the State.
But Ajibulu argued that the Lagos State Transport Sector Reform Law 2018’s Sections 15, 16, 19, 46, and 68 violated Sections 1, 4, Items 11, and 63 of the Exclusive Legislative List in Part 1 of the Second Schedule to the Constitution.
In addition, he claimed, it violated sections 10(3)(t) of the Federal Road Safety Commission (Establishment) Act, 92 of the same act, and section 1 of the Federal Highways Act/Subsidiary Legislation Cap F13, LFN, 2004.
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The judge agreed with the defendants that Ajibulu’s case did not have merit in his judgment given on January 12, 2023, a copy of which The Nation was able to obtain yesterday.
As Ajibulu argued, Justice Aluko agreed that Section 4(3) of the Constitution gives the National Assembly the authority to enact laws pertaining to any matter on the exclusive legislative list without consulting the Houses of Assembly of States.
According to him, the plaintiff has referred the court to items 11 and 63 of part 1 of the exclusive legislative list, which deal with the building, altering, and upkeep of any roads that may be designated as federal trunk roads by the National Assembly as well as traffic on those roads.
However, the plaintiff has failed to convince the court that all of the more than 40 roads and bridges listed in his requests for relief are Federal trunk roads, as defined by items 11 and 63 in the Exclusive Legislative list under part 1 of the 2nd schedule to the Constitution.
The Lagos State Transport Sector Reform Law of 2018 states that “The Plaintiff failed to establish before the court that the provisions of sections 15, 16, 19, 46 and 68 were made to apply to the operations of tricycles and motorcycles in respect of the more than 40 roads mentioned in his reliefs.”
Ajibulu “failed woefully to prove his entitlement to the reliefs stated in the originating summons,” the judge stated in his ruling.
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