*As trailer crushes 18 travellers to death at police checkpoint
The menace of indiscriminate security checkpoints in the South-East re-echoed on Thursday as 18 persons were crushed to death in Abia State.It was a tragic morning as the travellers were killed the horrific crash along the Umuahia-Enugu axis of the Port Harcourt-Enugu expressway.
The incident occurred at a police checkpoint around the Lokpanta area of Abia State, leaving the local community in shock.
Reports indicated that the 18-seater commercial bus was awaiting police clearance at the checkpoint when it was struck by a truck whose driver lost control.
This resulted in the tragic loss of lives of both the driver and passengers.
An eyewitness, Mr. Bananas Okereke, recounted the harrowing scene, with bodies of victims strewn across the accident site hours after the disaster.
Other bus drivers immediately embarked on protest by blocking the road.
They demand justice for the victims and accountability from the authorities, the eyewitness said.
“The road is blocked by protesting bus drivers and other motorists who are asking that the policemen who caused the accident be brought back to the scene.”
Okereke added that colleagues of the bus driver and concerned citizens have rallied together, refusing to disperse until Abia State Governor, Alex Otti visited the scene and addressed their grievances.
It would be recalled the proliferation of security checkpoints in the south has been roundly condemned by people of the Zone because it has brought movement across the region to a near total standstill.
It has been so frustrating that an aggrieved individual had successfully challenged the menace in court.
Justice Ike Ogu of the Anambra State High Court in January 2022 had ordered the state government and the police to remove all roadblocks in Anambra but the police are still operating roadblocks without any restraint.
The judge had delivered a judgment in the case of Francis Moneke vs Anambra State Government and Others, saying the government and police had no legal justification whatsoever in erecting roadblocks on major roads in the state on the pretext of checking insecurity.
Justice Ogu held that such illegal blockage flagrantly violated the applicant’s right to freedom of movement and should be immediately removed to allow the free movement of persons and vehicles but the police in its lawless manner continue the usual checkpoints, causing a lot of pain to motorists as police personnel used the opportunity to extort motorists.
Commenting on the development then, Human Rights Writers Association (HURIWA) National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, urged the Inspector General of Police ( IGP ) to obey the court order forthwith and disband the illegal checkpoints which serve no purpose but to hasten the death of innocent citizens.
Onwubiko had said, “HURIWA is pained that security agents who ought to be the first law enforcement officers are flagrantly disobeying the judgement of a law court declaring the illegality of roadblocks in the South-East.
“It is even more lamentable that extortions go on at these roadblocks by police officers and the IGP has turned a blind eye to the menace.”
