AKA Ikenga, an Igbo social cultural group, has bemoaned activities of Local Government officials, who extort money from motorists passing through Federal highways in Edo State, calling on Governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, the Inspector General of Police and the Local Government Chairman in the area to intervene in the matter.
In a release issued recently, the group noted with dismay “the return on Benin Ring Roads, of the hatchet men and women, who disappeared from federal roads in Edo State, after we petitioned the Inspector General of Police and copied the Governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and the Local Government Chairman involved.”
Titled Gov. Oshiomhole: Save Our Souls, the statement, which was jointly signed by President of Aka Ikenga, Chief Goddy Uwazurike, and Secretary General, Barrister U.P.E. Nnaji, the group averred that “the Local Government men have come back to federal roads around Benin City to demand money from travelers, whose only crime is that they are passing through federal highways in Edo State. The modus operandi of these extortionists, who claim to have the backing of the Governor and the (Madam) Chairman of the Local Government involved, is to block roads with all kinds of dangerous materials. Then, when the motorist stops, he is asked to produce all kinds of licenses (many unheard of) before he will be allowed to continue his journey!”
In most cases, “the motorist will be detained with impunity by the armed men and the brazen demand is not different from the one done by kidnappers on the road. What puzzles every road user on that road is the amount of cash extorted by the uninformed local government staff, who promptly stuff any money they recover from the hapless motorists in their pockets!”
The group added that, for the sake of peace, Comrade Oshiomhole and the Madam in-charge of the Local Government should do everything possible to pull their men and women out of federal roads and “allow them to go back to the city of Benin and in doing so, they would have succeeded in making Edo State a friendly one.”
Source: Guardian.
