Group seeks reduction of security checkpoints in South East

An Igbo group, Cultural Credibility Development Initiative (CCDI) has asked the Chief of Defence Staff, General Leo Irabor and Inspector General of Police (IGP), Alkali Baba, to end the ‘strangulation’ of the South East region by dismantling several security checkpoints on the roads.

In an open letter titled: The Strangulation Of Igboland With Checkpoints addressed to the security chiefs and dated December 16, 2021, the group stated that the checkpoints had compounded the problems of Igbo people, as they have made life unbearable for them.

In the letter signed by its Secretary, Pastor Steve Nwabuko in Enugu, yesterday, they called for intervention and reduction in the number of the checkpoints by at least 75 per cent, so as to save travelers from the nightmare being experienced in all the roads of the region.

“We are writing to bring to your attention, the suffocation caused by the massive number of checkpoints in Igbo land.

“For the avoidance of doubts, travelers from Lagos to South East meet checkpoints every one kilometre up to Benin City. Travelers from Abuja encounter checkpoints every two kilometres until they get to Delta. They are then subjected to the horror of a checkpoint every half kilometre from Delta to any part of the South East.”

“The distance between checkpoints is further reduced to 200 meters after the Niger Bridge. This Niger Bridge obstruction with checkpoints causes five-kilometre backlog of cars in traffic snarl,” the letter reads.

It lamented that the situation in Igbo land is such that it takes about five hours to travel from Lagos to the outskirts of Asaba in Delta. But it takes about six hours to travel the distance from the outskirts to Asaba to the Niger Bridge, adding: “The suffering is unbearable.”