A group of angry commercial motorcyclists, popularly known as Okada, on Friday, burnt down the office of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Bida, Niger state.
The Okada riders were steaming over the death of one of their colleagues, in an incident that occured at the GRA, where Road Safety officials in an attempt to block the victim from passing through a wrong way ,opened the door of their patrol vehicle to block him.
Eyewitnesses said he crashed and hit his head on the pavement, which lead to serious head injury.
He was rushed to the hospital however he gave up the ghost on arrival.
Other eyewitnesses at the scene of the accident further claimed that the accident caused the death of the commercial motorcyclist and his passenger.
Some of the officers and men on duty were said to have taken to their heels when the motorcyclists came.
Those who defiantly stayed were beaten while the motorcyclists set the office ablaze.
Nothing could be rescued from the burnt building as all official documents, personal valuables of officers and unit ambulance were affected by the fire.
The office of the National orientation agency closed to it was also not spared.
However, on his part, the Public Education Officer of the Unit, Deputy Route Commander Olugbemiga Bello, who described the incident as unfortunate, stated that the FRSC men on patrol did not cause the accident.
He also explained that the motorcyclist did not die but only sustained injuries
He blamed the accident on the recklessness of the injured motorcyclist.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Amalgamated Commercial Motorcycle Owners and Riders Association of Nigeria (ACOMORAN) in the area, Comrade Umar Amah denied the involvement of his members in the burning down of the office.
According to him, none of his members were around when the building was touched.
He stated that he personally led his members who besieged the office away before the incident occurred.
The Niger state FRSC Sector Commander, Joel Dagwa and the Public Relations Officer, Habibu did not picking their calls at the time of filing this report
