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From Paul Osuyi, Asaba
It occurs on a regular basis in the Asaba axis of the ever-busy Benin-Onitsha highway in Delta State.
Brawling, shouting, confusion and arguments between motorists, especially vehicles tagged as commercial and conveying goods and articulated heavy-duty trucks, members of task forces on revenue generation for Delta State Government and Oshimili South local government council.
Some operatives of the multiple task forces are branded while others simply adorn T-shirts, armed with sticks to unleash terror on defaulting motorists.
But the most recognised of these set of task forces are those wearing orange reflective vests with “Oshimili South Local Government Council Task Force on Road Decongestion and Unauthorised Parking” inscribed on the back.
Vehicle windscreens have been shattered, side mirrors have been yanked off by the operatives, who chase perceived defaulters with reckless abandon, causing accidents sometimes on the highway.
Sometime ago, somebody was reportedly killed by task force operatives around Issele-Asagba junction on the expressway, allegedly for failing to pay approved levies.
Meanwhile, a recent accident in the Okpanam axis of the road was said to have resulted from the activities of the task force.
An eyewitness said the operatives suddenly emerged on the road and started blocking a commercial bus, which made the bus to somersault, leaving the occupants in critical condition.
After the accident, rather than provide help, the operatives were said to have simply disappeared into the bush, abandoning the victims and their operational vehicle.
“We don’t know if they are the original task force but these boys come to the road. They used one bus to cause the accident. A lot of people were injured, some persons were rushed to the hospital, and the boys ran into the bush and left the victims.
“The accident occurred just before the airport. The vehicle somersaulted several times.
“They were using their vehicle to block the bus which somersaulted. They ran into the bush and abandoned the victims,” a voice in a video recording sighted by our correspondent claimed.
In a related case, a direct victim of assault allegedly by task force used his vehicle to block the highway, causing traffic gridlock.
The victim, from another video recording, had blood stains on his face. He alleged that his phones and ignition keys were removed by task force operatives, insisting that he was not going to remove his vehicle from the road until he avenged his assault.
“Without that I will not agree, I want to handle one of them. I was on the major road, a federal highway, not that I entered the street. From here to Kano, we have rest of mind, no harassment.
“They collected my phones, money and the ignition keys. I can’t move this vehicle now because there is no key,” he said.
He drew the attention of the Federal Government as well as the governments of Delta and Anambra states to the activities of the task force, urging government to intervene and save motorists plying the highway.
“I want to call the attention of the Federal Government the attention of the government of Delta and Anambra states to see the illegalities of the touts around Asaba towards Onitsha.
“If you don’t have all these documents, which are over 80 pieces, some of them are Kebbi State board. These are the documents which a single vehicle must have. And if you don’t have the documents which are illegal, consider your windscreen and side mirror broken.
“So you are taking risk in the hands of these touts. This menace must stop. If you don’t have it, they would take between N70,000 and N80,000 based on your negotiation power.
“They will not take you to any office to pay fine because they know what they are doing is illegal. Delta and Anambra governments should stop this, they are causing a lot of problems.
“You can travel from here to Sokoto, nobody will disturb you but once you are getting to Delta State from Benin to Anambra, you are going to face a lot of problems.
“A lot of people have been attacked because they will clear your vehicle and you will not go, and once it is night, they will rob you.
“We are appealing to the government to please call these people to order, let them leave the road, this illegality is too much,” he pleaded.
A victim of task force operatives along the highway, Mr. Victor Sorokwu, narrated his ordeal, after his vehicle was impounded for allegedly driving against traffic along the highway.
According to Sorokwu, the operatives did not wear any uniform but simply laid ambush around Asaba Aluminium waiting to pounce on motorists perceived to have defaulted.
“They have no uniform, they are uncouth. In fact, the best way to describe them is that they are street urchins. Maybe the state government decided to gather them and form them into a task force so that they begin to make something for themselves.
“My experience was that they neither understand traffic rules because you cannot be driving out from inside of town to negotiate a turn in the highway, and they say that you are driving against traffic.
“The place they call one way is Asaba Aluminium, there is a road beside there that directly connect the express, and you can even negotiate a bend and then turn to take you towards Summit Road.
“They are lurking by the fence like an ambush. As you just come out, they would say one way. It is not they are in any way assisting the free flow of traffic, they are not even trying to guide against accident.
“In fact, they are the ones causing accidents and some traffic hiccups here and there on the road. Sometimes, they pursue vehicles into accident.
“Sometimes you see them throw nail planks into the express road to puncture tyres and that lead to accident on the major highway, after which they will disappear.
” I wonder what a local council or state traffic agency should be doing on the highway. But you see a local government agency stopping vehicles on the highway, a federal government road, not township road, not internal road, not state road,” Sorokwu fumed.
According to him, “after a heated argument, I told them that they should provide the evidence, they should video it because I know it was not one way.
“So what they did was to lure me to their office, and I was pressed for an official assignment. So all the entreaties I made fell on deaf ears. Eventually they gathered more people, more than 30 that came with police.
“It was at that point, the police that was with them was trying to use arm twist tactics and I had to call the PPRO. And I gave the phone to him, initially he didn’t want to speak with the PPRO.
“So they now told me that since I am a public servant, a journalist, I should come with them to their office since they had already captured it in their book.
“They lured me to their office. When I got there, I met mean looking touts behind the desk acting as secretary. I said to myself what kind of set up is this right in the heart of the state capital. They took my particulars and said having entered their compound, I should pay N20,000; the offense is N30,000. Then for them on the table, N5,000, totalling N55,000.
“I thought a higher authority would listen to me, so I went to the person they said was in charge, one Malachi. I didn’t know they were all of the same mentality and mindset. They are like a cartel making money for thugs, urchins and boys on the street.
“Eventually, I called the council chairman and was told that the team was a combined team working for the state and local government.
“The council chairman was quite amiable and understanding. He listened to my story after which he issued a note for me to take to that same mean looking boys behind the desk.
“When I got there, they were disappointed. They insisted that I should still find them something, that I should give them N5,000.
“Reluctantly, they allowed me go but before I came out, they had deflated my four tyres. And they have a vulcaniser on stand by to pump the tyres at the rate of N1,000 each. So it was a very harrowing experience for me.”
Condemning the activities of the task forces, Mr. Osita Biose, described them as extortionists, insisting that they have no distinct job schedule.
“They will be asking you about seat belt, about driver’s license and vehicle particulars. What is the function of Federal Road Safety Corps and others?
“These people are just boys that worked for politicians during the election, and what the government is doing is just to package all of them and find something for them.
“It is quite unfortunate that government we voted into power is doing this sort of thing. And the boys are not decent. Most of these boys are touts.
“Another election is coming in 2023, they are already thinking of one evil to commit. They are not disciplined human beings. It is very unfortunate,” he stated.
Also, the Anioma Youth Forum Worldwide (AYF-W) is calling on the Delta State Government to act fast and save the state’s image from the activities of touts who masquerade as task force operatives.
Publicity secretary of AYF-W, Elvis Ekwukwo, in statement expressed utter dismay and disappointment with the non stop recklessness of members of the various Delta State task forces.
Ekwukwo stated that the group has become inundated with complaints from members of the public about the unacceptable level of high-handedness, gangsterism and molestation of Deltans and dwellers by members of the different taskforce teams.
“It is indeed an embarrassment to the state to say the least, to have a group of persons wearing the State Government vest of taskforce enforcement deploying acts of thuggery, intimation, harassment and most times physically assaulting members of the society just to implement a simple mandate of revenue collection.
“AYF-W without any reservations, is totally disappointed and demands that Delta State government, especially the ministries and agencies where these taskforce are detailed from to take decisive actions to put an end to the daily ugly reports of unleashing terror on Deltans and other dwellers of the state as their activities have reached a completely unacceptable point,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the Delta State Traffic Management Authority (DESTMA) has dissociated itself from operatives of a taskforce allegedly harassing motorists in the guise of either enforcing traffic rules or engaging in revenue collection.
Director General of DESTMA, Sam Idah, said the parastatal under the state Ministry of Transport was not a revenue generating organ, noting that their primary mandate was to ease flow of traffic within cities in the state.
Idah insisted that DESTMA is the only agency of the state government saddled with the responsibility of enforcing traffic rules and regulations, adding that his officers were civil servants and not commissioned agents.
He said: “DESTMA officers are not taskforce operatives that earn commission. We are civil servants, and we are about the third largest agency in terms of staff strength.
“They don’t have anything to do with us in DESTMA. In DESTMA, we work in accordance with the law. Our officers wear blue uniforms.
“The taskforce operatives don’t wear blue. I have gone round, trying to stop them. They are not working for DESTMA.”
In his reaction, the executive chairman of Oshimili South Local Government Area, Obi Kelvin Ezenyili, said the council was working in collaboration with the state government to sanitise the system.
Ezenyili said in the past two weeks, about five persons have been remanded for illegally constituting themselves into task force to cause problems on the road.
The council chairman also seized the opportunity to appeal to members of the public to cooperate with constituted authorities and avoid breaching traffic rules.
