NOTEBOOK: How Wuse market caught ‘fire’

Taxi drivers at the Wuse market in Abuja took to major roads on Wednesday to protest the alleged extortion by the task force of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA).

One person was reported to have died and another injured in the protest which grounded traffic at Wuse and its environs.

HOW IT ALL STARTED

A witness said trouble began when men of the task force team — “comprising policemen, soldiers of the Nigerian Army, officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps and vehicle inspection office (VIO)” — who were at the market in the morning started arresting some drivers and impounding their vehicles.

Some of the drivers resisted the arrest of one of them who they said is not feeling fine and had only packed his car to rest.

One of the drivers recounted the incident to TheCable thus: “We told them (members of the task force team) that the man is not working because he is having eye problem. So he was trying to relax and go home; that they should leave the man alone. But they insisted on taking him.

“Before you know it, they hit the man with gun and his nose started bleeding. Then they started shooting in the air. Blood was still coming out of his nose and all over his face and they pushed him into their car and whisked him away.

“So, we now said no, this must not continue.”

That was then stones started flying in the air, tyres started getting burnt and roads barricaded.

‘WE WERE TREATED AS CRIMINALS’

The drivers lamented that there was “culture of impunity” among the task force members who “always treat us like we are criminals.”

Some of them who spoke with TheCable said time and again, their cars had been impounded “for no just cause”.

“All this while, they have been terrorising us,” a driver who identified himself as Emma, said.

“Treating us like we are nothing. They will shatter your car windscreen even when you did not do anything.”

Another of his aggrieved colleague interjected: “We work with fear in Abuja. We work as if we are armed robbers; because sometimes they pose as passengers and enter your car. Next thing is, they tell you to start going to their office in Mabuchi.

“Enough of this nonsense abeg.”

DRIVERS DETAIL HOW THEY ARE BEING ‘DEFRAUDED’

According to some of the drivers, the “unjustified” charges levelled against them usually range from N20,000 to N50,000.

One of them said when such charges are given, they are asked to make payment into bank accounts of individuals.

“What they do is, if you pack to pick your passenger, they will just act like they are one of your passengers. Before you know it, they will impound your car,” the driver who refused to give his name, said.

“When they take your car to Mabuchi (where their office is located), they will give you bank account number where you are to pay money into. And those account details are not for corporate accounts, they are individual accounts.

“If they toll your car with a big truck, you pay N50,000; if it is with a small car, you pay N20,000. If they drive it to their office themselves, you pay N10,000.”

The drivers called on the government to investigate the alleged fraud within the task force and bring defaulters to book.

“We want government to investigate and probe the task force (team). Let government probe them and know what they are using all those levies for. Even if it is government that sent them, those people in authority who sent them should be probed too,” one of them told journalists at the scene.

POLICE OFFICERS INTERVENE

Some of the police officers who had arrived at the scene were seen calming the nerves of the irate drivers and urging them not to take the law into their hands.

A police officer who was seen addressing the drivers said: “Throwing stones and injuring people will not solve this. What you will do is to lay a formal complaint this evening or tomorrow morning. We will make sure cars impounded wrongfully are released, especially the ones towed this morning. So, please tell your members to sheath their sword; violence will not solve this.”

NOT EVEN JOURNALISTS WERE ALLOWED TO COME CLOSE TO THE TASK FORCE TEAM

When TheCable approached a member of the task force team concerning the fraud allegations, he refused to speak, ordering the reporter to leave the scene immediately.

“If you know you are not one of us leave here immediately, I don’t want to see anyone around here,” he said in anger.