By Lukman Olabiyi

Motorists plying Ijebu Ode-Itokin Road, Ikorodu, have pleaded with the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Alabi, to call his officers to order over alleged extortion by police operatives on the route.

They also called on Alabi to set up a committee of  independent investigators to verify their claims against his officers on the route.  The route which links Ijebu Ode, Ogun State, and the Epe area, according to commuters and motorists, has become a haven for extortion by police officers who have allegedly shunned their primary assignment of providing security to the citizens.

The motorists lamented the rate at which they are being extorted every two kilometres along the road by the police officers who station themselves  at different spots between Maya and Itokin.

To confirm the outcry of the motorists, Daily Sun embarked on a trip  to the axis on Friday and Saturday and the story was not different from the motorists’ claims on the activities of the policemen on the route.

From Maya to Itokin, which is not up to 20 kilometres, Daily Sun counted about 10 spots  where police operatives were extorting the transporters.

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At different spots on the route, the police officers, numbering about three to six at each spot, carry out their ‘business’ openly the extent of giving ‘change’ to drivers who had the  highest denomination of naira, while transporters who failed to cooperate with them were arrested for frivolous offences.

The state commissioner of police, Alabi, last week, at the Lagos State Stakeholders’ Forum on Police Accountability quarterly meeting and awards, said there were stop-and-search points at different places within the state, and it had become part of the security architectures in the state to combat likely intruders.

The Lagos police boss, at the occasion, called for community/police partnership, due to inadequate personnel, to tackle crime and criminalities within the state. However, contrary to the state police commissioner’s reason for the stop-and-search directive, his men appear to be doing it for their personal benefits.

Different commercial drivers who spoke with Daily Sun, called for the intervention of the police boss in the state. A driver, who simply identified himself as Muri, said the police officers along the route were taking advantage of the bad road on the axis to exploit them.

“All you will see on this road is stop-and-pay and not stop-and-search by the police. How much are we making that we have to settle with the police with over N1,000.00  for a trip,” he asked.

Another driver, Wale, who shared a similar view, advised the commissioner of police to set up a committee of independent investigators to verify their claims against his officers on the route.