OPINION: ON THE OBSERVED ABUSE OF POWER, THUGGERY PRACTICES AND EXTORTION OF MOTORISTS BY DESTMA

By Zik Gbemre

We consider it necessary to draw the attention of the Delta State Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, to the apparent gross abuse of power, thuggery practices, extortion and nefarious activities of the supposed Officials/Authorities of the Delta State Traffic Management Authority (DESTMA), especially in Warri, Effurun and environs, Delta State, and urge that they be called to order, or practically disbanded to save motorists on Delta roads.

What the supposed Officials/Authorities of DESTMA are doing at the moment in Warri, Effurun and environs, is nothing short of thuggery and ‘public thievery on uniforms’. They practically go around Warri and environs, even in Tricycles (Keke) to harass, embarrass, intimidate, and extort money from unsuspecting motorists, over, often times, unjustifiable, ridiculous and frivolous and fabricated offences. There is no day that passes by without motorists/people complaining about DESTMA activities on our roads around Warri, Effurun and environs. The situation is so bad that many do not know which of the DESTMA Officials are real or not. As it appears, they now have thugs in DESTMA uniforms who go about looking for victims they want to extort money from, by either having their vehicles impounded or Registration Plate numbers seized, if motorists do not bribe them. Those motorists they cannot drag to their Office at Warri/Sapele Road by the VIO Office, they usually lose their Vehicle Registration Plate numbers, which one is expected to go and bribe them to get it back.

A case in point happened on Monday December 16, 2019, when a vehicle with Registration Number AM 74 JRT, was said to be driving through Deco Road between the hours of 1pm to 2pm, when they noticed that that the entire road was blocked from Deco Junction by a Trailer Vehicle, which was believed to have either broken down, or unable to make a U-turn at the said Deco junction. As a result of this, all the vehicles heading towards Deco junction, were left with no other choice but to reverse, to use the left-hand side of the dual-carriage express road as the alternative route. But rather than the supposed officials of DESTMA to vent their anger and frustration on the said Trailer vehicle that blocked the road, and also find out why it has blocked the road to address the problem; they instead, resorted to stopping every vehicle that followed the left-side of the carriage road, to extort money from them. They demanded for a N10,000 (Ten Thousand Naira) bribe from the said vehicle with Registration Number AM 74 JRT, before they would release the vehicle. In fact, throughout the said day, the said DESTMA Officials were extorting the stated amount and even more from every vehicle that passed through the other side of the blocked road.

However, when the occupant of the said vehicle insisted that they will not pay any dime to them, the said supposed DESTMA Officials unscrewed and took the stated vehicle Plate Number (AM 74 JRT), and issued them an offence receipt of N25,000 (Twenty-Five Thousand Naira) to be paid before the vehicle Plate Number will be released. This is just one example, of the many cases of vehicles whose plate numbers were either seized, or their cars impounded by DESTMA Officials, over such unreasonable offences.

Looking at the case stated, firstly, no defined offence was committed by the owner/driver of the stated vehicle because the said entire road was blocked at that moment by a Trailer. And so, motorists were left with no other choice but to use the alternative left-side of the road that was free. When a major road like that is blocked, an alternative route becomes the next option for motorists to use because you don’t expect people to stay stuck in one place. This situation should not warrant or give license to the DESTMA Officials to exploit and extort money from motorists. It is absolutely wrong and a gross abuse of power by the so-called DESTMA Officials to take advantage of an unfortunate situation, to extort money from people. They cannot be allowed to use the State Government’s Agency and Authority to be exploiting and extorting money from Deltans. Things are already hard for everyone as it is. We cannot have agencies of the State Government to now add to the sufferings of people. They cannot go about impounding vehicles as they please just because they are looking for money. That is not right!

If you visit the Office premises of DESTMA in Warri by the VIO Office building along Warri/Sapele road, you will see many impounded vehicles there. All of which are obviously aimed at creating avenues for vehicle owners to bribe them before their vehicles will be released. We cannot pretend that all is well with such practices allowed to happen freely in our society. Enough of this illegality and extortions by Officials of the so called DESTMA and their thugs in uniforms. The Officials in DESTMA have become public nuisance to the society in Warri and environs.

We therefore demand that the said DESTMA Office and its supposed officials should be called to order, or completely disbanded and taken off our roads. As it is now, DESTMA is constituting as a public nuisance on our roads in Warri, Effurun and environs, with their thuggery practices and extortion of motorists. The authorities of DESTMA appears to have no iota of control of the nefarious activities of the agency.
Zik Gbemre.
December 23, 2019

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