Leke Baiyewu The House of Representatives has urged the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, to order the removal of illegal roa...
Leke Baiyewu
The House of Representatives has urged the Inspector-General
of Police, Usman Baba, to order the removal of illegal roadblocks set up by men
of the Nigeria Police Force on roads across the country.
The lawmaker representing the Ihiala Federal Constituency in
Anambra State in the House, Ifeanyi Momah, at the plenary on Wednesday raised
the alarm over accidents being caused by roadblocks along the Onitsha-Owerri
Expressway.
In a motion titled, ‘Need to Investigate Loss of So Many
Lives along the Onitsha-Owerri Express Road within the Ihiala Federal
Constituency’, Momah noted that for over two years, military and police
checkpoints in lhiala had been operational to quell insecurity in the area.
The lawmaker said, “Road users have since been subjected to
devastating, degrading and inhumane treatment occasioned by the operation of
the military and police checkpoints in that area. Being a major express road,
the negative impact of these military checkpoints has been grave on the
community as well as all the road users.
“In this menace, no one is spared; all suffer under the
weight of oppression. Men, women and children are forced to alight from their
cars and raise their hands and pass through the checkpoints.
“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
checkpoints, sometimes being forced to walk for over one kilometre.
“Very recently, a pregnant woman on a bike was whipped
thoroughly at a military checkpoint. Traditional rulers are also stopped and
searched in an embarrassing manner, including ransacking of their traditional
attire.
“The House is cognisant that the military and police
checkpoints are located in the middle of the busiest road in the entire local
government area, opposite Abbot Boys Secondary School Ihiala, and opposite the
Ihiala Divisional Police Headquarters, both located in the same axis, an area
that ought not to be associated with a military checkpoint.
“As is popular knowledge, military checkpoints are to be
stationed at border communities. Thus, this military checkpoint ought to be
mounted at the Amorka community, which is the border between the lhiala Local
Government Area and Imo State, and not its current location, which is a
commercial hub crammed with markets, businesses, schools etc.”
According to the lawmaker, leaders of the community have
asked that the checkpoints be relocated due to the difficulties they cause.
Momah recalled how on May 30, 2020, a police makeshift
roadblock allegedly caused a fatal crash in Ihiala, which led to the death of a
truck driver, his assistant and over 10 bus passengers.
He also recalled how on November 4, 2021, around 3.50pm, a
crash involving three vehicles on the Onitsha-Owerri-Ihiala Road claimed the
lives of three children and six adults as the driver of one of the vehicles,
upon sighting the police checkpoint, tried to apply the brakes but they failed,
thus resulting in the fatal accident.
The lawmaker also recalled that on November 28, 2021, a
truck conveying a container load of goods ran over 20 road users, who died on
the spot.
The lawmaker also prayed the House to ask the IG to direct
the Commissioner of Police in Anambra State to review the location of the
police checkpoint in Ihiala “with a view to forestalling further occurrence of
such disaster, especially during the festive season.”
Another member, Yusuf Gagdi, however, noted that lawmakers
had been individually and collectively raising issues over the security crises
across the country, “and here we have a community that has checkpoints for the
purpose of protecting lives and property of the people, as one of the primary
responsibilities of the government.”
Gagdi said security operatives should be cautioned about how
they carry out their duties, especially regarding human rights.
He said, “It will be strange if I have a checkpoint in my
community and maybe as a result of the nocturnal behaviour of those security
agents, my community will want to attack the security agents. It sounds a bit
strange to me.
“So, yes, the activities of the security agents at the
various checkpoints must be checked; they should not take maintenance of law
and order for granted and begin to trample upon the fundamental rights of the
citizens of this country.”
Another member, Shehu Koko, noted that illegal roadblocks
should be removed, warning that security operatives should not be attacked over
alleged rights abuses, adding that it was the prerogative of the IG and not the
Commissioner of Police in Anambra State to order the removal of the roadblocks.
The Deputy Minority Leader, Toby Okechukwu, insisted that
there were hostilities between the security operatives on the road and the
people in the area.
He also decried that the reconstruction of the
Onitsha-Owerri road had suffered delays despite that it, along with 12 other
roads, had been given to private entities as concession, which had worsened the
plights of the people using it.
Another member, Dachung Bagos, prayed the House to urge the
IG “to ensure the removal of illegal checkpoints across the country.”
The lawmakers unanimously granted the prayer.
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