Commercial tricycle operators, in some areas of Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital have alleged that some men of the Nigeria Police Force have continued to extort money from them to the tune of over five million naira monthly.
Speaking with newsmen in Port Harcourt through their different representatives, the tricycle riders said the policemen force them to part with at least six hundred naira daily per tricycle.
According to them, their members are around 350 in number, and that the policemen usually molest any tricycle operator who fails to comply with their demands .
Mr Kingsley Edu and Mr Raphael George are commercial tricycle riders, while narrating their ordeal, lamented that the harassment has caused many of their colleagues to abandon the tricycle business.
According to them, failure to part with the required sum leads to impoundment of their tricycle and compulsory fine of 5000 naira before release .
The predicament of tricycle riders in Port Harcourt is further corroborated by three motorists Mr. Damian Opera, Simon Okoiruele and Florence Okoro who attribute it to the failure of leadership in the police hierarchy.
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According to them, the flagrant extortion carried out by men of the force has become a daily occurrence and no longer done by the men in secret. They also alleged that the ugly act appears to be enjoying the backing of the top officers of the command.
According investigations by our correspondent, extortion by men of Nigerian Police, takes place along major roads like Azikiwe road by Post office, Aba road by Rumuola bustop, NTA road by Okilton junction, Eastwest road by Choba Bridge, Ikwere road by UST roundabout, Port Harcourt-Owerri road among others
Meanwhile the State Police Public Relations Officer Grace Iringe-Koko denied knowledge of the extortion, saying that police have deployed their men to monitor any act of extortion and other misbehavior by officers while on duty.
“It is not only police that mount road blocks, some of these vigilante people also mouth road blocks and extort money from the people”
“We have been telling our men to desist from acts of extortion, through our daily orientation to the officers and men, some times, some of them still go contrary “
In spite of the ban on extortion by the police high command, the act has continued unabated, as a result, Nigerians appeal for drastic action to be taken to put a stop to the practice.
