Police Turn Checkpoints To ‘Toll Gates’ In Anambra

Allegations of extortion at police checkpoints are usually not new in Nigeria. For years, business drivers and travellers on main highways have identified the routine too effectively, however what’s shocking is the ridiculous quantity now being collected by the police, and the way brazenly it has develop into the principle enterprise of the checkpoint.

THE WHISTLER observed this exercise on the Owerri-Onitsha Road, Anambra State, as police turned checkpoints into assortment factors, the place a N100 is demanded from these drivers at each cease.

On Saturday, THE WHISTLER reporter who travelled from Idemili Junction straight to Ihiala noticed the follow in the course of the journey.

The reporter counted 4 checkpoints on the route, and at each one of many 4 checkpoints, N100 was collected.

The journey runs via a busy business hall that hyperlinks Onitsha to Owerri, passing via cities like Oba, Oraifite and Okija earlier than attending to Ihiala.

It is a route used each day by merchants, college students, staff and travellers transferring between Anambra and Imo states, and it is among the busiest roads within the South East.

At the checkpoints, THE WHISTLER noticed that autos weren’t searched and papers weren’t checked.

The stops seemed to be centred on the N100 fee, after which autos have been waved on to proceed their journey.

The drivers with excessive denomination of cash don’t worry in any respect because the police have ample change to present them. It was a transaction, pay and go.

A driver, Nonso, who plies the route usually advised THE WHISTLER that drivers have resigned to the follow so as to keep away from delay and hassle on the street.

“We just give them the money and move. What can we do?” he mentioned.

Nonso mentioned the fee has develop into an unwritten rule on the street. He said that drivers know what is predicted at every cease and so they pay with out being requested, as a result of refusing or arguing solely wastes time and will result in additional delay.

“If you start arguing or anything… is it not your time you are wasting? We just give and continue with our journey,” he mentioned.

For drivers like Nonso, the N100 is small by itself, however it’s the repetition that hurts.

“I have given them N100 at four checkpoints now. There are still others… and then the return journey, and then the next trip, and the next. By the end of the day, what looked like a small amount has eaten a big hole in our pocket. That’s the issue. People will say, ‘Is it not N100?’ But it is N100 at various stops. It is not easy for us,” the motive force mentioned.

THE WHISTLERadditionally noticed that at each cease, the motive force asks his conductor for N100 to supply to the police. When the conductor doesn’t have that quantity however a better denomination, the police on the checkpoint deeps fingers in one in all his fight pockets, to fish out change and handed on to the motive force with a wave to cross on.

Passengers who spoke with THE WHISTLER expressed fear that the transient checks have been targeted on the fee slightly than on making certain the security of street customers.

One of the passengers, Mary Iheanacho, mentioned that with the scenario, a variety of prison parts will get away with no matter they’re doing, as a result of they know the police don’t examine the autos any longer.

“They can carry anything contraband they want to carry because they know that nobody will check the vehicle,” she mentioned.

Iheanacho mentioned the checkpoints have subsequently misplaced their safety objective, as a result of the eye of the officers is on the fee and never on what’s contained in the autos passing via.

However, one other passenger, Ikechukwu Ozo, a dealer who plies the route, holds a special opinion.

He mentioned the gathering of N100 by the police has made their journey simpler as a result of they don’t waste time once more ready for the police to examine the automobile or to ask too many questions.

“The N100 stops the whole question, it stops the whole checking and makes the journey faster. Imagine if we are being checked in each of the points, before I get to Owerri and get my goods, we must have spent one hour extra. This is good, they should continue,” he mentioned.

Ozo, who offers on garments, mentioned for normal travellers like him, the velocity of the journey issues, and the fee removes the lengthy interrogation that used to delay autos at checkpoints.

Other commuters nonetheless questioned the rationale of getting many checkpoints on the street, lamenting that although the N100 per level appears small, the drivers ultimately handed on the price to passengers via larger fares.