Residents of Oke-Ogun area of Oyo State have expressed strong indignation over what they referred to as “brutalisation, invasion and massive extortions on the roads by men of the Nigeria Police Force”.
The people lamented that they have lost confidence in the police because of corruption, brutality and abuse of power.
Highways in Oke-Ogun areas of Oyo State remain goldmine for officers and men of the Force who daily mount road blocks to extort money from motorists and commercial motorcycle operators.
Road users face harassment, intimidation and coercion paying “illegal toll fees” everyday on Oyo/Iseyin, Iseyin/ Okeho, Okeho/ Iganna, Iseyin/ Okaka, and Okaka/ Ago-Are/Saki roads.
These barriers on the roads had in most cases led to fatal accidents, while cases abound where policemen have intentionally or accidentally killed innocent drivers or okada operators with their bullets because the victims failed to pay unlawful mandatory fee at check points.
The police personnel involved in the operations include Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Federal Highway Patrol, regular police and the anti-riot policemen.
The ‘roadblock extortion culture’ is well patterned as it starts from a Police road blocker or a team of Police road blockers usually three to five in number, who directly extort commercial vehicles and motorcycle operators, as well as other road users traveling with their wares and personal belongings by crookedly enquiring into their vehicular papers and proprieties of their wares and personal effects.
These extortionists usually station some people in mufti who
“offload” money collected usually in N50 and N100 notes for safe keeping till end of the graft exercise when it is shared accordingly.
Illegal toll fees being paid by road users vary because payment depends on the type of commercial vehicles and motorcycles, as well as police squad on the road.
For instance, for each commercial motorcycle carrying goods to motor parks, it is N100/N200 per roadblock.
The general duty police officers or those in black uniforms collect N100/N150 toll and N1,000 and above from vehicle users accused of “incomplete papers”.
Two commercial bus drivers that ply Iseyin/ Igannna and Iseyin/Okaka roads, Alhaji Idris Alamu and Mr. Wuyi Ayedara, respectively told our correspondent that transportation fares from the areas were increased mainly because of increasing extortion at the Police road blocks.
They hinted that one third of what they made per trip was spent on extortions alone, adding that when money spent on fuel and Police extortion were deducted, in addition to “agboro fee”, what is left at the end of the day is a peanut.
Commenting on the development, some residents interviewed in Ago-Are, Okeho, Saki and Iseyin towns opined that if there must be security checkpoints on Nigerian roads, they must be fewer in number and strictly meant for “check and go”.
They pointed out that to avoid being abused again, the Inspector-General of Police should be directed to compile the list of special security checkpoints nationwide and present it to the Federal Executive Council for approval.
According to them, “if approved, the list should be made public by the Minister of Information, which must also be advertised in print, audio, audio-visual and online media. The list should also be posted on NPF and the Ministry of Police Affairs’ websites, if any.”
Also speaking, a legal practitioner, Wale Adeoye, noted that
operational patrols, effective surveillance and intelligence gathering should be intensified nationwide and more patrol vans provided with their maintenance costs borne by relevant Federal and State governing authorities.
He said special security checkpoints should be headed by
Superintendents of Police (SPs) who must be present at all times at their duty posts, stressing that “effective police patrol will deter criminal activities on our highways”.
Said he: “Every Police officer at such special security checkpoints nationwide must be made to wear his or her service uniforms and numbers for easy identification by concerned Nigerians in the event of any homicidal and graft practices. The use of and over-reliance on anti-riot Police personnel as major crime fighters in Nigeria should be drastically reduced. They should be withdrawn from roadblocks or extortion points and put to good use by being re-trained in effective crime detection, prevention and control. More attention should be given to the criminal intelligence department of the Force by way of overhauling and peopling it with more intelligent hands and adorning
it with modern security or policing intelligence technology”.
