Aka Ikenga, others want roadblocks dismantled

Igbo groups have called on President Muhammadu Buhari to order the dismantling of multiple roadblocks in the Southeast, which restrict movement.

The groups, Otu Oka Iwu, Ndigbo Lagos Foundation, Aka Ikenga and Nzuko Umunna, also condemned the statement by the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr. Mohammed Adamu, on the continuous roadblocks in the Southwest to Southeast and South-south regions of the country.

Speaking at a briefing in Lagos, the coalition said many travellers are made to go through hectic experience from the roadblocks, noting that it is a system to extort. 

“Our citizens are routinely harassed, intimidated and extorted of their belongings at these checkpoints. Huge man-hours are merely a fraction of the economic losses, occasioned by these roadblocks, as journeys that ought to take a few hours are punctuated at every few 100 metres stretching the journey to four times the normal hour it ought to take.

“In many instances, especially on the Sagamu-Benin-Onitsha Expressway, the roadblocks are barely a pole apart. Ohanaeze Ndigbo lists 24 checkpoints between Lagos and Ore, 23 checkpoints between Ore and Benin, and 13 checkpoints from Benin to Onitsha, accounting for a total of 60 checkpoints on that narrow corridor alone. This is replicated throughout the Southeast and most of the South South zones.”