On Tuesday, 601 motorcycles that had been seized were crushed by the Federal Capital Territory Administration, the 8s.  

Following the exercise, Dr. Elechi Chinedum, Mandate Secretary, Transportation Secretariat, FCTA, informed reporters that the motorcycles had been seized for breaking traffic laws.  

According to Chinedum, the crushing was supported by an FCT Administration rule that forbade commercial motorcycles from riding in specific FCT regions.  

He went on to say that the law gave the FCTA and its directorate the authority to seize and destroy any commercial motorbike that was shown to be violating the rules.

“There is nothing we can do apart from enforcing the law. What we do is to try as much as possible to enforce the regulation and not to punish anybody”, he stated.

He advised residents against operating commercial motorcycles in prohibited areas, saying, “if we catch you, we will impound it and crush it.”

Dr. Abdulateef Bello, the director of DRTS, had earlier stated that the exercise's main goal was to reduce traffic violations in the area.

Bello explained, “This exercise has been our usual routine exercise to enforce the existing ban on the use of commercial motorcycles in the federal capital city. You will recall that the ban was initiated in 2006 to control and curtail their abuses by motorcyclists in the city.

“However, the current concern is to curb criminality and other security threats. As you may be aware, commercial motorcycles have been used to facilitate crime and criminality in the city.”

The DRTS will continue to crush impounded motorcycles in accordance with the law, he said, advising locals who were still investing in such businesses to reconsider.

Source