The Abia Commissioner of Police, Anthony Ogbizi has, in response to complaints that roadblocks remain in the state, said roadblocks remained banned – just as directed by the IG – but that, there is a difference between roadblocks and checkpoints.
[Read Also: The Nigerian Police has been removing roadblocks since forever, will they actually do it?]
Highlights:
- As reported by Vanguard, several police teams have mounted roadblocks in some parts of Aba and along the Old Aba-Umuahia highway. The policemen operating with patrol vehicles such as Federal Highway Police, MOPOL 28, and the Eastern Ngwa Police Divisions are allegedly using the roadblocks to extort money from motorists.
- The roadblocks along the old Aba-Umuahia highway were located within a distance of less than two kilometres. From a distance of less than two kilometres, there are over five police checkpoints, with the first one at Acho Nwakanma junction to Osusu Amaukwa.
- A cross-section of motorists lamented that the police teams now use the numerous roadblocks on the Ukaegbu junction, Ikot Ekpene Road and Aba-Umuahia road to extort money from them and urged the Commissioner to call them to order.
- Ogbizi said, “Roadblocks remain banned. There is no roadblock, there can’t be roadblocks. They can’t be located less than a kilometre. I don’t even have manpower like that. There are differences in our patrol systems. If you give me the exact location, I will send my men to check. “There are policemen at the Abia /Rivers and Imo/Abia border posts because of IPOB activities. You know Abia is bordered by about six states. When you talk about Mopol 28 and Mopol 55, we deploy them in strategic points like the Hausa quarters, onions market, cattle markets. These are not roadblocks. How do we intercept vehicles that are stolen? We send our policemen to mount strategic points. These are not roadblocks.”
Omoleye Omoruyi… an apprentice web/game developer, novelist, sensitive to happenings in the world. Meet him @Lord_rickie on Twitter/Instagram
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