By Precious Amadi
Port Harcourt – Drivers plying the Rumuokoro–Obiri Ikwerre–Choba axis in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State have protested alleged extortion, harassment and intimidation by task force officials operating along the route.
The protest followed the alleged manhandling of a commercial driver by members of the Obio/Akpor task force on Thursday, an incident which reportedly left the driver hospitalized.
Speaking with ExceedFM at the Tam David Boulevard, popularly known as Obiri Ikwerre, some of the protesting drivers said the action was their second protest aimed at drawing the attention of the state and local government authorities to what they described as incessant extortion and harassment by task force officials.
“These people are doing what we don’t like. I’m a Keke (mini) bus driver. Obio/Akpor Council Area is sponsoring “agbero” (street urchins) to collect revenue from us. I take this route from Choba to Eleme Junction. You will buy a ticket, sticker and bucket … still you cannot pass here without harassment. We cannot drop passengers here and many of them refuse to pay us because of not stopping at the places they want,” one of them lamented.
Wrong Parking
The driver continued: “ they accuse us of wrong parking. If they hold you you use up to 50 thousand naira to bail yourself out. You also incur additional expenses if your vehicle is towed to their office. The kind of money we pay on this road, even the state ministry has not demanded, yet they harass us all the time. They destroyed all our vehicles, side mirrors and we don’t want agberos on this East/West Road again”.
Another driver, who identified himself as Ugochukwu, urged the council authority to remove the agberos from Obiri Ikwerre. “ We want the Obio/Akpor council to remove the agberos. Which task force? Who appointed them? Who is their chairman? Who organises them? If you stop to drop passengers, they’ll crowd us and ask us to give them 10 to 15 thousand naira….. We’re blocking this flyover even till next week so that the government will intervene”, he said
Another driver said even if you mistakenly drive beyond the point earmarked, the boys would swoop on you and begin to smash your vehicle and even remove your car battery.
They called on the Rivers State Government and the Obio/Akpor Local Government authorities to urgently intervene and regulate the activities of task force officials operating along the route. He added: “If they tow your vehicle to their park you will have to use 100 thousand or two hundred thousand to recover your vehicle. We pay tax everyday. We play the police daily too. We’re tired. Enough is enough for them.
Commuters Express Frustration
Meanwhile, some commuters expressed frustration over the protest, saying the demonstration caused traffic disruption and resulted in the loss of valuable man-hours.
The commuters urged the government and relevant authorities to resolve the disagreement between the drivers and task force officials to prevent a recurrence of the protest.
In a related development, the Rivers State Police Command, through the Choba Police Division, dispersed the protesting drivers to allow the free flow of traffic along the busy route.
The police, however, assured the drivers that their complaints would be looked into and promised to intervene in the issues raised.
The intervention by the police helped to restore movement along the affected road, as authorities continue efforts to address the concerns of the transport operators.
ObioAkpor Council Reacts
Meanwhile ,the authority of Obio-Akpor local government says it has launched investigations to ascertain the identity of the road traffic decongestion task force official who allegedly manhandled a minibus driver along the Obiri Ikwerre boulevard.
The Obio-Akpor council boss Dr. GIFT WORLU, speaking through his Press Secretary GOODLUCK NSIRIM, described the incident as embarrassing and regrettable.
He said the full weight of the law would take its course should any of the taskforce members are found wanting” Dr.GIFT WORLU.
” As a council, we regret any inconvenience this has caused members of the public. We were surprised to learn that they went physical and the tricycle rider sustained injury. Going forward, we will overhaul the entire taskforce system under our administration to ensure it serves the purpose it was established and not bring disrepute to the name of the council”. Stated Dr. WORLU.
Dr. GIFT WORLU further appealed to members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers to discontinue their protest that has entered day two.
He, however, said contrary to the rumors that the tricycle rider had died,he is still alive and responding to medical care.
