The House of Representatives has directed the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Usman Alkali Baba, to remove all illegal police and military checkpoints along various roads across the country.
This follows the recent loss of lives in a ghastly motor accident in Anambra, allegedly caused by a police checkpoint.
The House at Plenary on Wednesday also mandated the IGP to remove all the wooden barriers across the roads as it affects the lifespan of roads.
It further mandated its Committee on Works to investigate the status of road concessions given in the past six months and report back within two weeks for further legislative action.
The resolutions of the lawmakers were sequel to the adoption of a motion ‘on the need to investigate the loss of many lives on the Onitsha-Owerri expressway within Ihiala federal constituency,’ sponsored by Hon. Chudy Momah, representing Ihiala Federal Constituency, Anambra.
Momah, in his submission, said for over two years, police and military checkpoints on the Onitsha-Owerri expressway in lhiala has been operational to reduce insecurity in the area.
He, however, lamented that road users have since been subjected to degrading and inhumane treatment occasioned by the operation of the military and police checkpoint in that area.
“No one is spared, as everyone suffers under the weight of the oppression as men, women, and children are forced to alight from their cars and raise their hands up before pass through the checkpoint,” he said.
He recalled that an accident that occurred on November 4, 2021, involving three vehicles on the Onitsha-Owerri road, claimed the lives of three children and six adults.
He noted that the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), while recounting the account of an eyewitness, had said that the driver, upon sighting the police checkpoint, tried to apply brake but couldn’t, thus resulting in the fatal accident.
The lawmaker also recalled that most recently, on November 28, 2021, a trailer carrying a container load of goods ran over 20 public road users, who died on the spot.
“Nursing and pregnant women are also not spared. In fact, nursing mothers are made to carry their babies up high as they walk across the checkpoint, sometimes being forced to walk for over one km. Recently, a pregnant woman on a bike was whipped thoroughly at the military checkpoint.
“Traditional rulers are also stopped and searched in an embarrassing manner, including ransacking their traditional attire. Cognisant that the military and police checkpoints are located in the middle of the busiest road in the local government area, opposite Abbot Boys Secondary School, Ihiala, and opposite Ihiala Divisional Police headquarters, an area that ought not to be associated with a military checkpoint.
“As it’s popular knowledge, military checkpoints are to be stationed at border communities. Thus, this military checkpoint ought to be mounted at Amorka community, which is the border between lhiala Local Government Area in Anambra State and Imo State and not its current location, which is a commercial hub crammed with markets, businesses, schools, among others. We have been informed that the town leaders have also asked that the checkpoint be relocated because of these hazards mentioned above in order to mitigate the calamitous consequences of the current situation. Yet, this dreadful situation persists with no glimmer of hope of improvement.”
In his contribution, Hon. Yusuf Gagdi (APC, Plateau), while agreeing that activities of security agencies must be monitored, advised that citizens too must be cautioned not to take laws into their own hands.
According to him, “The issue of insecurity has always echoed in the ninth Assembly legislative agenda. Here we have communities with checkpoints for the purpose of protecting the lives and property of the people as one of the primary responsibilities of government. I think we must caution them to be careful of the way they discharge their constitutional responsibility, not to stampede the rights of the citizens of those communities.
“However activities of security agencies must be checkmated, they shouldn’t take maintenance of laws and order for granted, but the citizens of this country whose security presence is for their own good, should equally not take that for granted to even start putting themselves together in the name of attacking police formations. We must be careful; the motion is good, I support it, but the citizens too must be cautioned not to take laws into their own hands.”
After observing a minute silence for the lives lost in various accidents at the police and military checkpoints on the Onitsha Owerri road in Ihiala federal constituency, the house mandated its Committees on Police Affairs and Legislative Compliance to ensure compliance.
