The Government of Abia State has suspended the restriction of the operations of keke (commercal tricycles) to the hours of 6am and 7pm. The restriction had been announced yesterday, with the Okezie Ikpeazu administration explaining that it was necessitated by the resurgence of criminal activities in the two cities of Aba and Umuahia. It said that “security reports had confirmed that these hoodlums operate with keke and okada.”

But in a statement issued in the wee hours of today, Godwin Adindu, Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, said: “Government has discovered that due to the road rehabilitation work currently going on in Aba, access has been restricted in many roads, causing heavy traffic gridlock and making people to arrive their homes late.

“The restriction order is complicating the situation and creating more hardship for the people.

“As a government that feels the pulse of the masses and sympathises with their suffering, the government is therefore responding to the situation by suspending the ongoing ban on keke operation forthwith.

“Government will take urgent steps to fast-track the road rehabilitation work and complete the exercise within seven days so that life will return to normalcy, while security agencies have been mandated to beef up security in the cities to checkmate the excesses of these hoodlums.”

•Photo shows a fleet of keke.