AUGUST 10, 2016
BY IJENDU IHEAKA
Tricycle operators on Tuesday staged a peaceful protest against extortion of their members by the police and army personnel in Aba.
The tricycle operators told newsmen that police and army personnel were arresting them and disturbing their business if they refused to part with N50 or N100.
The protest which began on Obohia road moved to Cemetery road, Ngwa road, Mosque Street, Kent road and terminated at the Abia State Amalgamated Tricycle Operators Association (ASATOA) office on Ehi road.
The protesters carried placards which bore the following inscriptions: “No more N50 for police and N100 for army” “Monkey dey work Baboon dey chop must stop” “We do not want police army extortion again in Aba”.
They said that military personnel stop them at checkpoints and ask them to pay N100 as “security levy” while the police takes N50 at every check point from them.
Mr Nicholas Eke, a tricycle operator said the protest this morning began because “We do not like the way the police in Aba is maltreating and intimidating us, collecting N50 from Keke.
“They want us to carry only three persons. And for a route where we chage N50 per passenger, the total fare we collect per trip is N150.00.
Then the loaders will collect N20, the Police will collect N50 leaving the rider with N90 which would not be enough for them to buy fuel and get some reserve to meet their financial obligations”, he said.
Another operator, Chidiadi Amuchienwa, said “We are tired of the trouble the police and the army are giving us in Aba. We cannot work any day without them extorting money from us.
“They are making it seem as if we are working for them. This is getting worse every day and we want government to help us stop this evil.
“Many of our members have now had their tricycles taken back from them by the owners because they could not meet their daily agreement. This is the result of police and army harassment and extortion, it must end”, he said.
The Chairman, ASATOA, Mr Eugene Eze said that his team had worked hard to sustain a good rapport with the Police in Aba but regretted that the effort at making them “happy” seemed not to work.
“Go and inquire, there is no police station that we have been trying to have a good rapport with in Aba.
“But I am very disturbed by the trouble that they met out to our members resulting in complaints from members of the union every day.
“I want to tell you that governor has spoken of the radio played in tricycles. The government did not say you should not play radio but that you should not play it loudly enough to disturb others or hinder you from hearing the horn of other vehicles.
“But now the police in Aba have turned the directive into another thing. That is not good. I am saying this for them to know that I was present when the directive was given” he said.
He said that the group have sent him on an errand to go speak to Governor Okezie Ikpeazu and the new State Commissioner of Police on their plight and promised to do their bidding.
He assured that he would effect the release of those members of the union who the police arrested this morning and urged the members to be peaceful while he makes effort to resolve the problem.
The protest brought the areas where they moved through in Aba under traffic gridlock, leaving passengers stranded on the road without vehicles to take them to their destinations while the protest lasted
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