Commercial drivers plying the Emohua/Kalabari axis of the East-West Road in Rivers State have accused the police of using thugs to extort money from them.
Speaking to journalists, the leader in charge of Choba Park in Port Harcourt , Moses Ibidubo lamented how commercial drivers now spend more than a thousand naira each trip, settling police at checkpoints.
“We thought that the deployment of security agents on the Emohua/Kalabari road will help reduce kidnapping which it didn’t.
“Instead, it has increased extortion of commercial drivers by the police and their civilian thugs.
“The police are using these thugs to stop and harass us on the road, coercing us to settle them on every checkpoint.
“Over nine police checkpoints are on that road and yet kidnapping is still happening and that is why we are confused.
“Just this week, those thugs working for the police destroyed the side mirror of my colleague’s vehicle while forcing him to give them money.”
The commercial drivers appealed to the police to focus on crime fighting and leave them alone.
