Girls are sexually harassed at Adamawa checkpoint, lawmaker cries out

Abdulrahman Abubakar, a member of the house of representatives, (Adamawa-APC), on Tuesday, alleged that security personnel at checkpoints in the north-east sexually harass girls under the guise of conducting checks.

Abubakar made the allegation while moving a motion on the need to investigate the activities of security personnel at the checkpoint along the Yola-Girei road in Adamawa.

He said the checkpoint was manned by officers of Nigerian army, Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

According to him, commuters on the road are regularly subjected to harrowing experiences at the checkpoint by the officers.

The lawmaker alleged that commuters were often diverted into secluded areas under the guise of intensive checks and were harassed and intimidated.

According to him, the officers, oftentimes, allegedly abuse hapless young girls sexually.

He said that due to lack of substantive evidence, appropriate authorities often turned blind eyes to the incidents.

The legislator said that the situation had turned the checkpoint into a tool of flagrant extortion, harassment and abuse of commuters at gunpoint.

According to him, if the brutality and harassment of commuters are not checked and officers duly sanctioned, they can become more emboldened to commit worse crimes.

In his ruling, Yakubu Dogara, speaker of the house of representatives, mandated the committee on national security and intelligence to investigate the allegation and report back to the house within six weeks.