Some tricycle passengers along the Onitsha-Owerri Road in Anambra State have cried out over the incessant harassment and extortion from security operatives mounting roadblocks in the area.
One of the victims, who identified himself as Kingsley Ebuka, who spoke to our correspondent on Monday, made a passionate appeal to the Anambra State Commissioner of Police, Nnaghe Obono Itam, to caution his men against incessant harassment, humiliation and extortion of passengers on major roads in the state.
He alleged that the level of extortion by policemen who mounted roadblocks on the roads, particularly in the commercial city of Onitsha, had become inexplicable and life had become unbearable for the road users.
Briefing journalists at the Human Rights office in Onitsha, on Monday, Ebuka alleged that he boarded a tricycle at Oba in Idemili South Local Government Area of the state on Thursday and was heading to a destination in Onitsha.
He said on getting to a checkpoint opposite the School of Metallurgical Training Institute, on the Onitsha-Owerri Road, some policemen in uniform flagged the tricycle down and after extorting N200 from the operator, ordered some of the passengers to come down.
He said, “On alighting from the tricycle, in obedience to the order, the policemen ordered us to surrender our GSM phones to them for searching. On surrendering the handsets to them, the policemen ordered each of the passengers to transfer as much as N350,000 to a certain POS account or be arrested and handed over to either the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS or Special Anti Cults Squad, SPACS, for prosecution as common criminals.
“Out of fear of being whisked off and probably shot dead along the road and tagged a criminal or an IPOB member, I transferred the sum of N150,000 remaining in my bank account into the designated POS account given to us by the policemen before they handed my phone back to me and went after other passengers.”
Ebuka alleged that these policemen wearing black uniforms stationed themselves with a white Hiace commuter bus immediately after another police roadblock in front of the metallurgical institute.
“The policemen had already detained some other passengers inside the white Hiace bus they were operating with and were threatening to move them to SARS or SPACS for allegedly failing to transfer a reasonable amount of money into the designated POS account.
“Their modus operandi is that when they order the passengers out of a commercial tricycle or bus, they would force the passengers to open their phones and show them their account balance before they seize the phone and order you to transfer the balance of the amount to the designated POS.
“The N150,000 they forced me to transfer to them on Thursday was what was remaining in my account. I am in distress and stranded at the moment. I call on the CP to intervene into this situation and help to fish out these perpetrators giving the police a bad name.
“I have also gone to the human rights office to lodge complaints and possible transmission to the appropriate police authorities for prompt action. I can identify the officers involved if called upon any time to do so.”
Another victim, Uche Chidalu, said, “I was in a Keke going home from Upper Iweka. At the same spot, the police officers flagged down the Keke, and after collecting N200 from the Keke man, ordered the passengers to alight.
“When we alighted, they forced us to open our mobile phones and they went straight to our bank details, but luckily for me, there was no reasonable amount of money in my account, while others were forced to make payment into a designated POS. They detained me and some people inside their vehicle.
“That night, I had to call my brother to transfer money to me which I used in bailing myself. This is an ugly development and we call on the authorities to investigate this properly and allow sanity to prevail on the roads.”
Commenting on the ugly development, the Chairman of Campaign for Democracy, in the South-East Zone, Dede Uzor, who was also at the human rights office, told journalists that he was once a victim of such extortion, but said he used his influence to resist the policemen until a crowd started gathering and wanted to attack them before they fled.
Uzor said, “The policemen started mentioning one police formation to the other where they would take me if I did not transfer a certain huge amount of money to their designated POS account but I told them that I was ready to follow them to wherever they wanted to take me to.
“As we were arguing on that, a mammoth crowd gathered and captured one of them, while others fled but I pleaded with the crowd to let the captured one go and they obeyed me and let him go with a minor beating but without inflicting any bodily harm or injury on him.”
The Director at the Human Rights Office, Onitsha, Chief Gilbert Ikem, said the complaints would be transmitted to the appropriate authorities for investigation while advising residents to devise a means of hiding their bank details on their telephones to beat the new tactics of the extortions.
The state police spokesman, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, when contacted on the development, called on the victims to come forward with their complaints and evidence to enable the police to begin investigation.
“Let the victims come forward with their complaints and evidence so that the police can begin an investigation on the matter,” he said.