Drivers, Police clash over extortions

Angered by excessive extortions by police and other security agencies, drivers in Eket, Thursday abandoned their passengers and protested with solidarity songs, armed with palm fronts with to drive home their rejection of illegal check point on Eket - Ibeno road

The drivers and their support staff numbering about a hundred armed with dangerous weapons marched on Eket Ibeno road with a determination to confront them at all the illegal check point by different police and security agencies and ensure it is dismantled forthwith.

The decision to take to the street according to spokesman for the taxi cab operators Mr. Francis Edinam Udo is to bring their plight in the hands of the police, F.R.S.C and other security agencies to the knowledge of the government.

“Eket Ibeno road is a distance of about 15km, presently under construction with only a single lane use by all vehicles and the fare is 200 per passenger with maximum of 6 in a vehicle. At the last count, we had 6 illegal check or extortion point where you part with ¦ 100, buy petrol, meet other overheads and finally end up with little or nothing.

Today, another unnamed group arrived to bring the number of check points to seven.” Udo said.

On enquiry about the mission of the police and others, Udo listed, the police from Area Command Oron, the FRSC, highway patrol team, Oduma and the officers from Eket Command with various inscriptions on their vehicle have erected toll gates to collect ¦ 100 per vehicle every time you pass there.

“Though they all claimed to be on official duty , but what security threat is there on the road cannot be answered, even as the construction firm has a security outfit that patrols the road at intervals, quipped” Mr. Bassey Akpan a member of the protesting group.

Mr. Francis Udo further averred, we have reported severally to the Area Command Oron, the DPO Eket, the Commander Oduma and others, but regrettably the business continues unabated. This necessitates our actions today to alert the commissioner of police, the Commissioner for Transport, the Local Government Chairman etc. on what we experienced daily during this difficult times “We will confront any police or security apparatus anytime they want to extort money from any driver, we are not foreigners but doing legitimate business with complete and updated vehicle particulars” Udo said.

When correspondent arrived the scene, a policeman from the command who pleaded anonymity, said the command received a message from the drivers and were mobilized to the scene to avoid the fracas from escalating further.