A taxi driver named Umo Friday has accused police officers at the Choba Division in the Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State of assaulting him after he refused their demand for N100 in extortion.
Friday, a father of four, told The PUNCH reporter on Thursday that the police officers attacked him, broke his car’s side mirror and threatened to shoot him along the NTA area of Ozuoba in the Obio/Akpor LGA, just when he was about to close operations on Wednesday.
The distraught driver said he had three stranded passengers whom he assisted from the Obiri-Kwere area to Ozuoba when he encountered the policemen at about 7pm on Wednesday.
He stated, “The three passengers, two women and a man, were stranded because they didn’t get transport. So, I assisted them. As we were going just after AIT in Ozuoba, there was a police checkpoint there.
“The officers now asked me for N100, I told them that I helped these three passengers, and that they were not paying me. The officers refused. The next thing one of them said I should park. Before I knew it, they broke my car’s side mirror and attacked me. I came down and said they must fix my side mirror.
Continuing, he said, “The road was now blocked and people gathered. Their fellow policemen were angry with them and they started begging.
“The policemen are from the Area Command in Choba. They should be cautioned because the way they are treating fellow Nigerians is not good. All of us are struggling.”
The taxi driver also said at one point the officers threatened to shoot him and called on the police authorities to caution their men on stop and search duties.
Efforts to reach the spokesperson of the state police command, Grace Iringe-Koko, proved abortive as her mobile phone was engaged for a long time.
Iringe-Koko, a Superintendent of Police, had yet to reply to a text message sent to her as of the time of filing this report.
