By Samuel Oyadongha
YENAGOA — The Bayelsa State chapter of the Civil Liberties Organisation, CLO, has alleged that some men of the Bayelsa Police Command and soldiers of the Joint Task Force, JTF, have been engaging in large scale extortion from commercial motorists and motorcycle operators in the state.

But the JTF dismissed the CLO’s claim as untrue, saying its men were not at any time involved in the illegal act.

The CLO, in a statement in Yenagoa, observed that  policemen and soldiers engage in extortion, especially between the Mbiama and Igbogene axis of the Mbiama-Yenagoa Road.

CLO in the statement  by its Vice Chairman, Flint Williams-Odonmini, General Secretary, Alagoa Morris and Legal Adviser, Sotonye Egbeipou, describing the act as alarming.

The civil rights group observed that the policemen and soldiers engaged in extortion,  mostly on Mbiama and Zarama on market days and urged authorities of the police and army to call their men to order.

“The CLO is disturbed by the alarming rate of police extortion along our roads, especially as it affects commercial motorists and motor bike operators.

“Whilst bike operators plying routes leading into and out of Yenagoa suffer most, commercial vehicles operators fall victim mostly on Tuesdays and Fridays, when the Mbiama and Zarama weekly markets take place.

“It is no secret that some men on military uniform have also joined this negative practice of extortion, between Igbogene and Mbiama. The police and military authorities are thus called upon to save the public this very vexing and embarrassing act of corruption,” it said.

Efforts to get the comment of the JTF proved abortive, as Coordinator, Joint Media Campaign Centre, Lt. Col Timothy Antigha, could not be reached but a dependable source described as untrue the allegation against its personnel.
“The security operatives involved in the illegal act are not men of the JTF under Gen. Sarkin Bello command.
It is just an issue of mistaken identity, they are not from the JTF,” the source said.
In its reaction, the Bayelsa Police Command said the Nigeria Police, especially its men in the state, were professional officers who abhorred corruption.

Police Public Relations Officer, Eguavoen Emokpae, however, stated that “based on your information, I will dispatch a team of police men to monitor and if found, such police men will be arrested.”