Commercial Drivers Lament Extortion by Army

Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Azubuike Ihejirika

Commercial drivers plying the Enugu-Onitsha and Enugu-Port-Harcourt Expressway Sunday alleged that the increasing spate of extortion and harassment in the hands of soldiers operating along the areas had started taking its toll on their business.

They have therefore urged the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Azubuike Ihejirika, to save them from the situation before it degenerates to a more dangerous dimension, even as they threatened showdown with the soldiers if nothing was done immediately.

The drivers, who spoke to journalists, alleged that the soldiers had turned virtually all their check points along the highway into compulsory illegal toll gates, where commercial drivers were forced to pay between N100 and N2,000 depending on the type of vehicle involved.

Speaking through their spokesman, Anichebe Agbo, the drivers expressed worry that the soldiers, had allowed themselves to be corrupted by their police counterparts through the illicit act.

“Those trailers carrying cow from the North to the eastern part of the country are always forced  to pay between N1,000 and N2,000, lorries, N500 and we mini-bus drivers pay N100 to N200, depending on the type of load or passengers you are conveying.

“So, we want Ihejirika and the GOC of 82 Division to know that the men they sent out to Onitsha- Enugu expressway to check crime are now tax collectors, and the most painful aspect of the whole thing is that they harass innocent citizens with their uniform and guns with impunity,” Agbo explained.

While also calling on the media and Enugu state government to come their rescue, the drivers described the act as broad day robbery.

“We know that the Chief of Army Staff can help us solve this serious problem by asking the General Officer Commanding (GOC),  82 Division Enugu to immediately investigate this notorious  soldiers, because they are really dragging the image of the Army to the mud,” he said.