The Police Command in Cross River State has pledged to probe complaints and petitions from both motorists and residents regarding alleged coercive extortions by police officers along the routes of the Calabar Carnival, especially during the night.
Irene Ugbo, the Police Public Relations Officer, confirmed this intention when addressing inquiries from journalists concerning these reported incidents.
“My team and I will launch an investigation immediately into all the complaints. If found to be true, the culprits would be punished, and the issue would be quickly handled,” she stressed.
Against the backdrop of complaints about police extortion from motorists, especially along Marian Road—an active area in Calabar housing nightclubs, hotels, and eateries—the upcoming carnival season has intensified crowd gatherings in popular public places and eateries like the Christmas Village on Marian Road. This surge in activity has prompted increased police checkpoints for security measures.
However, drivers in Calabar have voiced concerns over the alleged demand for N100 at many of these checkpoints, which they feel obligated to pay. While acknowledging the importance of police presence at night on Marian Road, particularly for security, commercial drivers expressed their dismay at the financial burden imposed by these demands.
During separate interviews, the drivers appealed to the authorities to reduce the number of checkpoints and address the issue of compulsory payments at each stop.
Akpan Udoh, a commercial driver, lamented, “Marian Road isn’t lengthy, yet we encounter about four checkpoints from Rabana Roundabout to Efioete Roundabout, and they all request payments from drivers on both sides of the road.”
“They create very long traffic by barricading a large part of the road, leaving just a small portion for vehicular movement, and in doing so, they make you burn so much fuel before it gets to your turn.”
Asuquo Edet, another commercial minibus driver, narrated how he was stopped at one of the checkpoints on Thursday at 8 pm by a police officer who demanded the usual N100.
When he complained that he had parted with N100 twice, at two checkpoints, he claimed he was ordered to park and bring out his vehicle’s documents.
The checkpoints, he said, are too many.
“If we give N100 at each of the checkpoints going and do the same while coming, it means for a trip, we would have spent between N800 and N1,000 for settling the police,” he said.
