Industrialists under the aegis of Aba Industrialists Association, AIA, Abia State have cried out to the acting Inspector General of Police, IGP, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, over what they described as incessant harassment and extortion by men of the Oyigbo Police Division, Rivers State.
In a statement signed by the chairman of AIA, Sir Emmanuel Obi, the industrialists lamented that the police at Oyigbo, have continued to seize trailers carrying raw materials and finished goods of their members and keep the truck for as long as three days if the driver or the owner of the goods fails to “settle” them.
“Due to bad roads, some people who are bringing palm kernel from Cross River and Akwa Ibom States to us in Aba, will go through Ogoni to Onne, then to Port Harcourt all in Rivers State, before coming to Aba. The Police at Oyigbo, Rivers State, will stop a driver who has suffered for two days on the road going through three states before getting to Abia state, they will keep them there for another one or two days for no justifiable reason. Most of our members are running out of business.
“When the driver presents all the relevant vehicle papers including the invoice for the goods, the Police will demand for a paper they call “product permit” or “road permit” and there is nothing like such document, the police at Oyigbo just manufactured that to extort money from the drivers and by extension from us because we are the ones who pay the money.
“Is Oyigbo not in Nigeria? Why is it only in Oyigbo that the Police will ask about “Produce permit” of “road permit”? They are not are among the documents the law approves. They will then ask the driver to go and get them N20, 000 and after two hours, they will now say its N10, 000. If the driver cannot provide the amount, the owner of the goods would have to travel from Aba to Oyigbo to settle to the Police before the trailer and goods are released.
“Most of the times, we dispatch people from Aba here to go and settle police as far as Oyigbo for no offence the driver committed before our goods such as PKC and other raw materials for production could be released to us and before it could arrive our plant, we must have incurred some loses. If the driver refuses to pay; the police would incapacitate his trailer by removing its batteries until the amount is made available to them.”
He added that several reports to the DPO, Oyigbo Police Division, has never yielded fruit as the DPO had always backed the action of his men.
Obi claimed he had met with the Rivers State Commissioner of Police who ordered the release of the trucks, but since then, the Police in Oyigbo are back to the business of extorting money from drivers.
The industrialist appealed to the acting IGP to come to their aid by stopping what he described as ‘daylight robbery’ by the Policemen.
When contacted, Police Public Relations Officer, (PPRO) Rivers State Command, Mr. Nnamdi Omoni, said he is not aware of the incident and warned businessmen and residents of the state not to offer bribe to the Police.
