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By Afric-tv24 - Commercial motorists plying the Enugu-Onitsha Highway have appealed to the Chief of Army staff (COAS), Lt.-Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika, to stop soldiers from extorting them.
By Afric-tv24 - Commercial motorists plying the Enugu-Onitsha Highway have appealed to the Chief of Army staff (COAS), Lt.-Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika, to stop soldiers from extorting them.
The motorists alleged that the soldiers had turned 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.
One of the motorists, who did not want his name mentioned, said: “Those trailers carrying cow from the North to the East were always forced to pay between N1, 000 to N2, 000. Lorries pay N500 and mini bus drivers pay between N100 and N200.
“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.”
Describing the act as a broad day robbery, the motorist said: “We know that the Chief of Army Staff can help us tackle this problem by asking the General Officer Commanding GOC 82, Enugu, to investigate these notorious soldiers because they are really dragging image of the Army to the mud.”
It was learnt that the soldiers forcibly asked the motorists to drop the money in a big Ghana-must-go bag in a nearby bush.
A motorist, who identified himself as Peter Aneke, specifically mentioned Umunba-Ndionu check point in Ezeagu Local Government Area of Enugu State as one of the places where the soldiers carried out the act daily
