Attention! ‘What We Have In Our Roads In Delta As Traffic Officials Are Extortionist, Thugs In Uniforms’

Zik Gbemre, a human rights activist and National Coordinator of the Niger Delta Peace Coalition (NDPC), has decried what he dubbed as apparent gross abuse of power and other nefarious activities of the supposed Officials/Authorities of the Delta State Traffic Management Authority (DESTMA), especially in Warri, Effurun and environs, Delta State.

Gbemre said that what the supposed Officials/Authorities of DESTMA are doing at the moment in Warri, Effurun and environs, is nothing short of thuggery and “public thievery on uniforms”.

He alleged that the officials “practically go around Warri and environs, even in Tricycles (Keke) to harass, embarrass, intimidate, and extort money from unsuspecting motorists, over, often times, unjustifiable, ridiculous and frivolous and fabricated offences”.

There is no day that passes by without motorists/people complaining about DESTMA activities on our roads around Warri, Effurun and environs, he said.

According to him, the situation is so bad that many do not know which of the DESTMA Officials can be classified as real or fake.

He claimed that the traffic agency now have thugs in DESTMA uniforms who go about looking for victims they want to extort money from, by either having their vehicles impounded or registration plate numbers seized, if motorists do not bribe them.

“Those motorists they cannot drag to their Office at Warri/Sapele Road by the VIO Office, they usually lose their Vehicle Registration Plate numbers, which one is expected to go and bribe them to get it back, he alleges.

“A case in point happened on Monday December 16, 2019, when a vehicle with Registration Number AM 74 JRT, was said to be driving through Deco Road between the hours of 1pm to 2pm, when they noticed that that the entire road was blocked from Deco Junction by a Trailer Vehicle, which was believed to have either broken down, or unable to make a U-turn at the said Deco junction.

“As a result of this, all the vehicles heading towards Deco junction, were left with no other choice but to reverse, to use the left-hand side of the dual-carriage express road as the alternative route. But rather than the supposed officials of DESTMA to vent their anger and frustration on the said Trailer vehicle that blocked the road, and also find out why it has blocked the road to address the problem; they instead, resorted to stopping every vehicle that followed the left-side of the carriage road, to extort money from them.

“They demanded for a N10,000 (Ten Thousand Naira) bribe from the said vehicle with Registration Number AM 74 JRT, before they would release the vehicle.

“In fact, throughout the said day, the said DESTMA Officials were extorting the stated amount and even more from every vehicle that passed through the other side of the blocked road.

However, when the occupant of the said vehicle insisted that they will not pay any dime to them, the said supposed DESTMA Officials unscrewed and took the plate number away.

Gbemre alleged that the truck with vehicle Plate Number (AM 74 JRT), was then issued an offence receipt of N25,000 (Twenty-Five Thousand Naira) to be paid before the vehicle plate number will be released after the driver failed to offer bribe to the officials.

This is just one example, of the many cases of vehicles whose plate numbers were either seized, or their cars impounded by DESTMA Officials, over such unreasonable offences, he claimed.

He said that many impounded vehicles are currently at the office premises of DESTMA in Warri by the VIO office building along Warri/Sapele road allegedly to create avenues for vehicle owners to bribe the officials before their vehicles will be released.

Gbemre said that DESTMA and its officials have become public nuisance in the state.

“We therefore demand that the said DESTMA Office and its supposed officials should be called to order, or completely disbanded and taken off our roads.

“As it is now, DESTMA is constituting public nuisance on our roads in Warri, Effurun and environs, with their thuggery practices and extortion of motorists, he alleged.

The authority of DESTMA appears to have no iota of control over the nefarious activities of its officials, he retorted.

The Director General of the agency, retired navy commander, Samuel Idah Azubuike who was recently screened by the Delta House of Assembly in a controversial manner despite his appointment by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa being challenged by a human rights lawyer, could not be reach as of press time.

Mr. Idah has since September resumed office as DG of the agency even without his official appointment and screening in accordance with the law establishing the traffic agency.