Commercial motorcycle riders in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, on Monday protested over alleged police harassment and hike in levies by the State Government.

The protesters barricaded parts of the popular Muritala Muhammed Way in Lokoja to register their grievances.

Addressing journalists, Chairman, Motorcycles Owners Operators of Nigeria, Lokoja Branch, Abdulrahaman Abubakar, lamented that the police and other security agencies who are supposed to protect them have been allegedly extorting their members who are doing their legitimate businesses.

He frowned at the consistent increase in the levies imposed on their members by the state government, noting that its impact is not being felt by motorcyclists in the state.

“We are tired of this harassment from the police in Lokoja. If our members are going through Felele, Zango axis or anywhere in Lokoja, the police will stop them just to collect money even though they had no case to answer.

“This is totally unfair and unacceptable. For how long are we going to continue like this? The state government must do something to put an end to this day light robbery.

“The state government on the other hand are making things worse for us. They kept increasing taxes of our members on daily basis. How much are we making that they just want to rip us off? They keep collecting much money from us without considering the implications on our families. Some of our members are riding their bikes because they collected it through hire purchase.

“Many of them can no longer meet their daily target due to over taxation. If this continues we might be forced to withdraw our services from the roads in Kogi State,” he said.

Abubakar appealed to the state government to reverse it policy so that the union can be responsible for the collection of dues from it members.