The Raids On Nigerian Roads

The Raids On Nigerian Roads

Leonard Karshima Shilgba

A new wave of terrorism is blowing away many Nigerians. State-supported raids on Nigerian roads are happening. Drivers and other road users are passing through harrowing experiences on Nigerian roads and there is no evidence that persons that have the constitutional authority to stop their oppression on the roads are doing anything to come to their rescue. Nigerian soldiers and police now mount road blocks anywhere and anytime on the roads only to extort money from drivers at gunpoint. And they make little or no effort to hide their mission, which is to extort as much money as possible. The brutality and disdain with which they treat common Nigerians require either urgent intervention by the relevant authorities or vengeful self-help by Nigerians not long from now. And the second option is not pleasant, which is why the authorities must take stern action against the armed robbers that call themselves Nigerian security officers.

Let me narrate a disgusting experience I was a witness of lately, which is only typical of the experiences of most Nigerians. I was returning from a university I had visited to examine some graduate students. I had decided to travel by road but use a public vehicle. I lost count of road blocks (not checkpoints, as the clear intention was not to check for any forbidden things and terrorists, as no attempt was made to check the vehicles we met at those places). If I should say the police and soldiers were very inconsiderate, mean, and wicked, that would be an understatement. Our driver became frustrated as he continued parting with hard-earned money. We got to a roadblock, where he complained to a heartless policeman that he did not have lower naira denominations than five hundred naira note. The policeman collected a five hundred naira note from him, asked the driver to drive and park ahead and walk back to "collect the change." We waited in the bus as our driver went back to complete the transaction, which took quite some minutes; and it was past 6 pm! Some passengers in our bus, who knew about the escapades of that policeman on the road (Lafia-Makurdi road), rained on him curses. "One day a vehicle will break his leg," said a passenger. "This is how they retire and become paralyzed," said another. "If someone dey give you money not from his mind, e no go settle for your belle," a passenger observed in pidgin language. I was quiet, taking this all in, infuriated within me as many thoughts ran through my mind about my country.

We continued with our journey and passed through many roadblocks even as our driver kept saying to the state-sponsored "armed robbers", "I dey leak." Some understood the slang. But at a roadblock, one of the state armed robbers responded, " Are you a container that you dey leak?" Those Nigerian state-supported "terrorists" that are called soldiers or police, could detain you on the road if you refuse to part with your hard-earned money. And do we not have a government? Are we not a country of laws? Do the Inspector- General of police (IG) and state commissioners of police not know about these abuses on our roads? If they truly don't, then it should be clear that Nigerians have no intelligence cover or security. But I am certain that these police chiefs know about the terrorism that their officers inflict on Nigerian road-users. And could it be that because they get their share of the road loot they have conveniently looked away?

When we were growing up in my generation in the 80's, we believed that soldiers were more decent than the police, and you dared not offer them a bribe. But today, soldiers and the police work hand-in-gloves in the national robbery on our roads. Do their commanding officers not know that their soldiers have also joined in this dishonorable act?

Sometimes when a new IG of police is appointed, he would publicly announce "a ban on roadblocks in the country." Please, enough of this insult on the intelligence of Nigerians. They should rein in their men and put in place deterrent measures, some if which I propose in this essay. The police and soldiers in Nigeria are fast making many enemies in Nigerians. As we continued with our journey to Makurdi that night, I thought, "If I had the authority, I would disband the whole Nigerian police, fix the police training colleges in the country and involve the help of some relevant international organizations to help in recruitment of officers of the Nigeria Federal Police (NFP) that would complement State Police departments. Many people we call police officers in Nigeria are simply thugs, who are bereft of civilized and respectful manners of speech and communication, who rely more on brawn than on brains, and who do not know how to handle a gun for public safety.

In order to stop the extortions that have reached epidemic proportions on our roads, I propose that police area commanders in whose area commands they happen should be dismissed from the police when such reports are received. And how can those reports be obtained? The Criminal Investigation Department should appoint undercover intelligence officers to monitor conduct of police officers and soldiers at checkpoints and presently arrest those that engage in extortion. If such arrests are made within a police area command twice, the third time, the area commander and relevant Divisional Police Officers also should be summarily dismissed from the police department (I hate to use the word "Force") without benefits.

Furthermore, at checkpoints, notices should be placed informing drivers what specific documentation is required. I don't know what the business of a soldier with "papers" is. Our driver was asked by a soldier at a roadblock to present his "papers." It is not the responsibility of soldiers to ask for a driver's license, vehicle insurance, certificate of road worthiness, vehicle license, customs documents, and the like! What kind of country are we running that government officials would push their noses into other people's businesses? The "papers" those pretentious soldiers and police officers are really interested in are those multi-colored naira notes!

Nigerians deserve to be respected. They must travel in peace and enjoy the respect of Nigerian security officers on the roads. I usually wonder the wisdom in creating long queues at "checkpoints" in Nigeria. What technology do the soldiers and police officers use to screen the vehicles that are held up at those checkpoints, where, in truth, nothing is being checked? Why is it that governments in Nigeria take delight in the suffering of Nigerians? Here are Nigerian drivers held up by soldiers at a "security checkpoint", where their vehicles are forced to move slowly on stretches of roads that are constricted with dangerously oriented logs of wood or sacks of sand or loaded barrels. You wonder how the eyes of those soldiers can see through those vehicles, hundreds of them, as they slowly pass bye. Do the soldiers have some superhuman pairs of eyes with which they could detect a bomb, assault weapons, for instance, that could be stashed away in the trunks of those vehicles? Well, they are surely satisfied with themselves that they have at least created an impression of enforcing "tight security." Don't be fooled. The only thing that is tight is the way they force vehicular movement into a single lane from two or three. They keep on with this method that has not yielded any security gains. And what if a suicide terrorist comes upon such a long queue engineered by the soldiers and police, and decides, "This is a good opportunity to make a great statement," and then blows himself up and those Nigerians that have been forced into this situation by this "tight security" make-belief? When someone stubbornly continues with a course of action that consistently yields no result, they become potential clients of a psychiatric consultant.

If you have stories about the harassment of Nigerians on the roads, do post them to me at shilgba@yahoo.com under the title, "End Road Terrorism in Nigeria." Your identity shall be protected.