By ALBERT AKPOR, EVELYN USMAN and IDOWU OLAIDE
AS part of his reformation policy, the new Acting Inspector-General of Police IGP MD Abubakar pronounced an outright ban on all checkpoints across the country moments after assumption of office. Part of the reasons for the ban was based on public outcry that Police Check points which were ordinarily mounted to monitor and nip the commission of crimes in the bud had literally turned ‘clearing house’.

Instead of fighting crimes and  checking suspected vehicles, policemen on duty at checkpoints  checked pockets of motorists only. To the new police boss who was incidentally a victim of illegal checkpoints while serving as Police Commissioner in Lagos, this rot in the force could not continue and the only way to bring corruption and unprofessionalism among men and officers of the force to the barest minimum was to disband checkpoints across the country.

Before the ban , motorists plying the Lagos/Ibadan, Benin/Ore  expressway  had been subjected to hours of delay caused by the road blocks. Aside this are road accidents caused by  the heavy woods used by the policemen to block the roads, particularly along the Benin/Ore expressway.

Sometimes, robbers who were usually clad in black uniforms akin to that of the Police, also block the road with heavy woods, pretending to be policemen. Several motorists have fallen victims to these unscrupulous individuals .

one of the police checkpoints

A vivid example was that which occurred along the Benin/ Ore road during the tenure of a one time Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Ogbona Onovo where a gang of robbers reportedly blocked the road with a heavy wood pretending to be policemen.

A Luxury bus  ran into them, where the passengers were asked to lie on the road, only for another vehicle which driver was trying to avoid the robbers to crush the hapless passengers. For some policemen, the ban  came as a huge relief as it  will lessen the danger they face in the hands of men of the underworld, who  are  most times, armed with more sophisticated weapons.

But on the other  hand, some Nigerians who saw the action of the police chief as a welcome development to address the resultant traffic gridlock on most of the highways, have started feeling what they called harsh reality of the ban. They claimed that with the removal of policemen on checkpoints, motorists are now at the mercies of armed robbers.

According to some respondents, the ban is ambivalent. To a serving assistant Commissioner of Police(names withheld), “It is partially wrong to ban road blocks, just as it is very good too. It is partially wrong because robbers can snatch vehicles from any part of the country and move same to another part unhindered.

This is likely to give rise to car snatching and other criminal tendencies. But we have put another measure in place to check this. The measure paid well in Lagos recently, where a gang of robbers who left Delta state to operate in Lagos were apprehended and some weapons recovered. But for the measure on ground, they would have succeeded.

But to a Police Inspector who simply gave his name as James, the ban was a welcome idea. “ We have lost some of our men in the process . Even though policemen on road blocks are usually at alert, they have sometimes been caught unawares because you  can never be too careful than the person that is plotting against you.

So for me, it is a good idea for those of us in the Rank and Files because we are the ones who usually face the heat while our superiors give the order.

If you check the record, most policemen who lost their lives in the course of the road block duties are of the Rank and Files” This view was corroborated by a female Sergeant who said, “The ban came to us the Rank and Files as a huge relief because several policemen of the Rank and Files have lost their lives.

The most painful aspect of it is that most times, it takes long time for the bereaved families to be paid their loved ones’ gratuity. As if that is not enough, policemen are bullied by  members of the public who they strive to protect   Not too long, a police Corporal was shot dead in Ogun state at a road block. He died trying to confront a robbery gang.”

To an Intra- State commercial driver who identified himself as Ike Kalu, the cancellation of the checkpoint is wonderful. “It is wonderful in the sense that if we are supposed to go home with N1000 we would have shared the money with policemen on the roads at the various checkpoints.

If we work in the morning, we would meet a group of policemen, in the afternoon and evening the story is the same; they would not let us go. Even, they are normally responsible for the traffic jams we normally experience on the roads.

They can go as far puncture your tires if you refuse to part with the demanded amount. Now, with the ban on road blocks we are relieved and this had rekindled our belief that Nigeria can be a better place with good leadership.

Just imagine our policemen at road blocks chasing commercial buses, collecting N100 and chasing Okada riders and collecting N50 from them as if they are criminals. But the negative effect is that the armed robbers may be back, and this again, can be curbed by policemen doing their work; otherwise, what are they doing in the office?

They are supposed to be patrolling. securing public properties and protecting their lives; that is the duty of the police. But they have purposely kept quiet and remained in their offices so that people would start calling for their return to checkpoints. because they know that armed robbers will definitely stage a come back. “

Another motorist, a Taxi Driver who doubles as Chairman of Ikeja airport taxi drivers association, Mr. Saka Adekolo also bared his views. According to him, “The cancellation of the check point as is a good idea because since  three weeks or more now that ban came into force, we move freely and there is no problem on the roads.

For example, I drive my vehicle early morning from Alapere to Airport and nobody harasses me. But the only thing I want the IG to do now is that, police should have stand-by security patrol vehicles like the one they have at Opebi in Ikeja so that If anything happens we can alert them.

The idea of mounting checkpoint where policemen who are supposed to be fighting crimes are busy collecting money from us is totally wrong. When there was police check points, it really affected us a lot. Sometimes, police delayed us in the cause of our work.

They asked for unnecessary things and this had happened to me several times. And now, there is nothing like that again. Then, they would stop me and asked of my particulars and opened my burnet , looking for engine number, meanwhile there is no report that a particular vehicle had been snatched.

Sometimes, they said that one of my engine numbers is lost and took me to their station and asked me to go and bring money before they will release me. But the only problem in the cancellation of the check points is that, it may give armed robbers more chances to operate.

However, my advise for the new IG is that he should carry out his police reformation agenda with human face; especially, their welfare. We have heard of our policemen and women coming out in flying colours at international assignment.”