Dismantle Roadblocks in S/East Immediately – HURIWA Tells IGP

The Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, has been encouraged to eliminate all police roadblocks in the southeast as soon as possible.

In a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, and made available to Newsmen on Saturday, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, made the call, noting that the threat of illegal police checkpoints and their constant extortion of South-Easterners must be addressed.

HURIWA complained that the existence of allegedly corrupt police officers on an extortion spree is to blame for the extrajudicial murders of drivers in several regions of Nigeria, most of which occur when the drivers refuse to pay a bribe of as little as N100.

Report: Nigeria Security Forces Extort N100 Billion In South-East

It was reported that lives were lost and several more were injured in a horrible auto accident near Azia Junction on the Ihiala–Onitsha Expressway, after a truck drove into six vehicles at a police checkpoint before crashing into a bus supposedly carrying people.

Friday’s disaster, according to the human rights advocacy organization, was only one of many, and that the whole southeast is renowned for police checks and extortions.

Remember that in January 2022, Justice Ike Ogu of the Anambra State High Court ordered the state administration and police to dismantle all roadblocks in Anambra, yet the police continue to operate roadblocks without constraint.

HURIWA urged the IGP to follow the court order forthwith and disband the illegal checkpoints which serve no purpose but to hasten the death of innocent citizens.

Motorists Groan Over Traffic Gridlock In Owerri, Call Out State Govt

HURIWA lamented that security agents who ought to maintain and enforce the law are flagrantly disobeying the judgement of a law court declaring the illegality of checkpoints and roadblocks in the southeast.

“It is even more lamentable that extortions go on at these roadblocks by police officers and the IGP has turned a blind eye to the menace,” the statement said.

HURIWA said that it was very clear that the EndSARS national protest did not teach the police any lessons.

“The Nigeria Police Force and the Police Service Commission must begin instant reforms to reposition the Force for better policing,” it added.

Soldiers Patrolling Nnewi, Dismantling Roadblocks

HURIWA said that the IGP must punish severely corrupt officers who lead drivers and, in most cases, passengers to their early graves while forcefully demanding money from them.

Follow us on Facebook