Back home, coming out of Medical Centre in Ikeja of recent, there was a heavy traffic on both sides of the main road and the car I was in was to come to the main road from the centre.
All of a sudden, a siren started blaring from the roundabout under the bridge. Within some minutes some men in Air Force uniform came around with guns and horsewhip “koboko” harassing everyone on the road. The car I was in was forced to reverse into the Centre.
When they succeeded to clear part of the road, then I saw an Air Force car with tinted glass guided through the thick traffic and passed the exit of the Medical Centre and forced themselves into opposite lane of the road.
This is definitely wrong! Whosoever was in the Air Force car does not have more right of the road than any other stranded in the traffic!
In other countries of the world, the only vehicles allowed to use sirens are medical vehicles (ambulance and doctors); fire brigade vehicles; police vehicles and maybe one or two other service vehicles. Before any of these vehicles use its siren, it must be on emergency service, otherwise it drives normally through the traffic obeying ALL traffic rules.
A friend of mine was on the road in Abuja one day and said all roads from the Airport to Aso-Rock were closed, and cars forced completely off the roads, because the out-gone President was coming. My friend was so bitter with the system, and said the President lost his vote from that day. There are so many people using sirens on the roads now without knowing who is who.
Mr. President, the harassment of innocent Nigerians on the roads with koboko, guns and sirens must stop.
•Olutola Fakehinde, Ota, Ogun State.
