Shock and consternation gripped the inhabitants of Obili in Yaounde after a certain William Ashu, Inspector of Police, was found dead in his room on Saturday, June 3.

Wouri SDO, Bernard Atebede, has, June 4, in a communiqué, called on commercial motorcyclists (benskin) riders to respect forces of law and order and constituted authority or be charged with rebellion.

The SDO cautioned that any bendskin rider who disobeys orders from uniformed officers as well as tax control teams and other constituted authorities, will be charged accordingly and dragged to court for appropriate sanction(s).

The Wouri SDO deplored the persistent recalcitrant attitude exhibited by bendskin riders in Douala, who, among other things, do not want to summit themselves to official control teams.

He stressed that all motorists are equal before the law, and warned those who violate the law with impunity.Atebede said there are certain documents officially required for vehicles and motorcycles involved in commercial activities. The documents, he insisted, have to be presented to control teams upon request.

The SDO also noted that it is a serious breach of the law for anyone to be involved in public transport without obtaining all the required official documents.Atebede, thus, urged bendskin riders in Douala to show a sense of civic responsibility.

It is worth noting that this is the third communiqué the Wouri SDO has issued in less than six months, aimed at bringing the Douala bendskin riders to order. But, as usual, the bendskins have generally ignored the administrative calls.

The first communiqué the SDO issued this year was a call on bendskins to among other things respect traffic rules, especially traffic lights at major road junctions in the city. But inhabitants of Douala are unanimous that the bendskins excel in ignoring traffic lights.

Early this year, the Wouri SDO attributed the many accidents caused by bendskins in Douala to ignorance of the Highway Code. He gave them a four-month deadline to attend driving schools and obtain their category of license.

The association of driving schools in Douala, on their part, signed a convention to support the administration's initiative, by dropping the cost of training for motorcycle riders from over FCFA 75,000 to barely FCFA 11,000.

But with barely a few weeks to the deadline, sources in driving schools in Douala say most of the bendskins have not bothered to go for the training.

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