RE: COMPLAINT ON THE PUBLIC HARRASSMENT, ASSAULT & EXTORTION OF MONEY FROM VEHICLE OWNERS BY FRSC OFFICERS

Zik Gbemre

This is to bring to the attention of relevant authorities of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), and other relevant authorities of the government, about the observed public harassments, assaults and extortion of money from vehicle owners by officials of the FRSC whose office is at Orhuwhorun Road, Warri Delta State. As partners with the FRSC since 2012, we consider it necessary to make this complaint and urge for it to be addressed since it is painting the image of the Commission in bad light.

The two cases in point was the unexplained and unnecessary assault, harassment and ‘demanded-extortion’ of one Pastor Patrick Oluwagbemi of the Mountain of Fire Ministry at Orhuwhorun Road, Warri, Delta State, and one Barrister (Mrs.) Oghale Igben, by some officers of the FRSC Office along Orhuwhorun Road (DSC), Warri.

For Pastor Patrick Oluwagbemi’s case, it all started on Friday September 26, 2014, at about 7:45am, when the said Pastor Patrick Oluwagbemi was driving along the Orhuwhorun Road having dropped his children off at School (Delta Steel Company-DSC Primary School), then he discovered his car fuel has gone really down and needed to be re-filled. On getting to the nearest filling station (which was also close to where the FRSC officers had mounted a road check-point on Orhuwhorun Road), Pastor Patrick signaled the light of his vehicle to enter the filling station, only for one of the FRSC officers (described to be a tall and dark man) to accost him and ordered that he should not enter the filling station to buy petrol. While Pastor Patrick was trying to explain to the said FRSC officer that he really needed to buy petrol, the FRSC officer threatened to puncture Pastor Patrick’s car tires if he enters the filling station and then the said officer asked another vehicle to block the Pastor from moving. The next thing that happened was for the FRSC officer to pounce on Pastor Patrick, giving him a punch while he was still inside his vehicle, for no justifiable reason. Pastor Patrick could also not get the name of the described FRSC officer because he was said to be using his hand to cover his inscribed-name-tag on his chest.

The Pastor said he could not understand what exactly was his offence because he had observed all traffic rules while on the said road that day. It was not like Pastor Patrick did not signal his corner lights to enter the filling station, neither was anything physically wrong with his car; a Nissan Black-coloured Liberty Jeep with Registration Number: JZ143EKY. The next thing that happened was for Pastor Patrick’s car to be blocked and towed by the said FRSC officers to their station along Orhuwhorun Road. On his arrival at the said FRSC Station in Orhuwhorun Road, the same FRSC officers almost lynched Pastor Patrick for no reason. By then, the tires of his said car had been deflated and the plate number and bumper all damaged. The said FRSC officers then issued an “Offence Receipt” to Pastor Patrick, demanding him to pay N35, 000 (Thirty-five Thousand Naira) before his car will be released to him. Let us reiterate here that they use this sort of ‘offence booking’ to cover-up their misdeeds and abuse of power as FRSC officers.

The second case in point involved one Barrister (Mrs.) Oghale Igben, a married female lawyer who, on August 22, 2014, went to the FRSC Office in Orhuwhorun Road (DSC), Warri to ask for the release of her client’s vehicle. Only for her to be beaten up and had her clothes torn by the FRSC officers. Though, the said lawyer had already lodged a complaint about this incident to the Police authorities in Ovwian Police Station, the question is, if a lawyer could be beaten up and her clothes torn by FRSC officers in their Warri office, we can then imagine what they will be doing to the ‘ordinary Nigerian man’. For the FRSC officers to tear the clothes of a married woman and naked some parts of her body, shows they have no iota of shame and can best be described as perverts. There is no amount of explanation that would justify such barbaric and reckless behavior from public officials of the FRSC. Such calibers of persons are not fit to be officers of the FRSC.

From our further investigation also, the cases described above are just two out of the many cases of motorists getting harassed, assaulted and extortion of money by the FRSC officers in Warri office stated. The FRSC officers in Warri area are known to be very hostile and aggressive to the public like armed robbers and kidnappers. They have practically turned their office to a ‘boxing ring’.

In fact, the said FRSC officers in Warri area have made their described check-points on Orhuwhorun Road their ‘abode’; where they “daily” embarrass, assault, harass and extort money from motorists going about their normal business on Orhuwhorun Road and Warri and environs. The said FRSC officers are daily constituting nuisance on the same spot along Orhuwohrun Road, especially areas like DSC Township/living-quarters and its environs around the FRSC Office.

From what we can deduce here, it is obvious the FRSC Unit Commander in-charge of Warri and environs is aiding and encouraging this ‘abuse of power’ by using FRSC officers under his command ‘as fronts’, to extort money from motorists. It clearly shows that the FRSC Sector Commander of Delta State Command does not have full grips and control of his men and officers. The Sector Commander has lost grips of his men in Warri area who use junior officers to collect returns for them. This was not the case when Mrs. Susan Ajenge was the FRSC Sector Commander for Delta State. During her time, there was some element of ‘discipline’ amongst Officers of the FRSC Command in Delta State.

We are not against the FRSC doing their job on Nigerian Roads, in fact, we are partners with the Commission in ensuring ‘sanity’ on our Roads, particularly in Warri and environs. But there is need for the FRSC officers to go about their job with caution, respect for people and not abusing their powers. The stated FRSC officers along Orhuwhorun Road and Warri area have clearly not been doing this, and there is urgent need for them to be brought to book. The said FRSC officers have damaged the vehicle of Pastor Patrick; they have deprived him from using his car for some days now and still counting; they are currently demanding him to pay money for the release of his car for what he knows nothing about. Why should the FRSC officers tow a moving vehicle when the owner of the vehicle is there with the car key and ready and willing to drive the vehicle to their Office if asked to do so? Again, the said vehicle was not obstructing movement of traffic on the said day. Rather, it was FRSC officers that created the scene and obstruction. Who then should we say had committed the offence; the Pastor or the FRSC officers who obstructed traffic?

From what we can see here, the FRSC officers are the ones that have committed the crime and not Pastor Patrick. More so, the said road in which the FRSC officers have mounted their daily check-point is not a ‘major road’ so to speak, but just an in-town road near a busy junction. One would have expected the FRSC officers to focus on the Highways and Express Roads to do their check-points, not unless they are actually looking for a specific vehicle regarding a case within the busy town.

FRSC officers should also not be seen to impound vehicles that are considered ‘road worthy’ while they overlook or ignore other vehicles that clearly constitute danger and threat to road users. We have many of such vehicles on our roads; pictures of some of them are attached here. These kinds of vehicles are not disturbed by Road Safety officials, yet they easily harass, assault, impound and extort money from motorists like Pastor Patrick Oluwagbemi, for no justifiable reasons.

It is wrong to charge innocent people for offences that were committed by the FRSC officers because Pastor Patrick Oluwagbemi did not commit any offence from what we can tell. Yet, he was booked for an offence he did not commit. It is also wrong for FRSC officers to beat up and assault people (like the two cases described above), for no justifiable reason. These are clear cases of the “abuse of the rights of Nigerian” by FRSC officers. The action of the said FRSC officer against Pastor Patrick Oluwagbemi for instance, is capable of instigating unanticipated crises that could be hijacked by miscreants to bridge public peace, destroy property and even lead to deaths. This was how the Nigerian Soldiers and civilian crises started like a play recently in Lagos that brought about serious public panic. If what happened to Pastor Patrick Oluwagbemi happened in the ‘infamous’ Enerhen Junction in Warri, it could have sparked off public panic and disruption of public peace.  The said FRSC officer, who beat up Pastor Patrick while on Uniform bought with Tax-payers money, is not fit to be an Officer of the FRSC and of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The public assault on Pastor Patrick Oluwagbemi by FRSC officers in Warri area is highly condemnable and should be strongly frowned at by relevant authorities of the FRSC, no matter how ‘influential’ that FRSC officer might be.

The stated FRSC Officers in Warri area have also been known to have boasted that, when it comes to traffic management in the country, they are the ones leading. The question now, has the FRSC officers taken over the entire traffic management in Warri? If they have taken over the traffic management in Warri and environs, what then is the job of the established Traffic Warders in Warri? It is obvious the stated FRSC officers prefers to mount their operations within the busy township of Warri and environs so as to perpetrate their ‘misguided activities’ while they avoid going to the highways. Like we said, we are not against the FRSC doing their jobs on Nigerian roads, but such jobs should be done with “caution and professionalism”, even within townships.

Such activities by the stated FRSC officers in Warri area of Delta State, does not speak well of the Commission and its public-image. We therefore ask that the described FRSC officers should be brought to book and dealt with appropriately, so as to serve as deterrent to others. They should be punished for ‘assaulting’ Pastor Patrick Oluwagbemi and Barrister (Mrs.) Oghale Igben.