Drivers, residents groan as hoodlums tighten grip on P’Harcourt routes

Residents of Port Harcourt and surrounding areas in Rivers State grapple with touts and hoodlums who have taken over major bus stops, roads, and flyovers, with Civil Society Organisations warning that continued neglect could push citizens toward self-help and further destabilise public order, writes DENNIS NAKU

Residents of Port Harcourt are grappling with a growing wave of lawlessness as hoodlums and transport touts have effectively taken over major roads, bus stops and flyovers, harassing commuters and extorting commercial drivers. Across key flashpoints in Port Harcourt City and Obio/Akpor local government areas, miscreants openly brandish sticks and pipes while imposing illegal levies on drivers, often resorting to violence against those who resist. The situation has left many drivers operating under fear, with some lamenting that they now “work like elephants and eat like ants.”

Burdened by the menace, the Commercial Drivers Welfare Association of Rivers recently led a protest to the Government House and the headquarters of the State Police Command to register their grievances and complaints.

Speaking during the protest at the government house entrance, Chairman of the association, Christopher Ezeali, called for the introduction of an electronic, harmonised government tax system to ensure proper accountability by the Rivers State Board of Internal Revenue.

Ezeali appealed to the State Commissioner of Police, Olugbenga Adepoju, to deploy a special team to patrol flashpoints where touts hold sway, such as the entire stretch of Ikwerre Road, Aba Road, Emenike junction axis, Eleme junction and Oil Mill to stop the trend.

“We (drivers) will operate from morning till night and go home with peanuts. We work like elephants and eat like ants. At the end of the day, we end up losing our vehicles, some of which we purchased at higher prices because of the multiple taxes on the road,” he lamented.

The state CDWA chairman listed some of the illegal charges imposed on the drivers and called on the state governor to intervene. Ezeali said, “They (touts) will come out and ask for security money, executioner money, sanitation money, mostly at Rumuola junction. Rumuola has now become a death trap. Rumuola has become the Sambisa forest. Rumuokuta, Waterlines, Eleme junction, Ikwerre Road, and Lagos Bus stops too. Please, our dear governor, we don’t need any compensation for our members from the government because when they push us to the wall, it might lead to a clash that might cause loss of lives.”

He emphasised that after the extortion and buying of petrol, they return home with a pittance and appealed to the governor to ban the sale of local government tickets.

Still on the situation, over 10 civil society organisations held a joint news briefing where they raised the alarm over the activities of touts and area boys, emphasising recent harassment of journalists.

The CSOs include Social Development Integrated Centre (Social Action), Environmental Rights Action, Miideekor Environmental Development Initiative, Relief International Africa, Rights Advocacy Development Centre, Pilex Centre for Civic Education Initiative, Research Initiative, Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre, Voices for Change Campaign and Centre for Environment, Human Rights, Development, among others.

They called out Governor Siminalayi Fubara and the Rivers State House of Assembly for maintaining a studied silence while touts and criminal elements take over the metropolis.

However, Fubara, through his Chief Press Secretary, Onwuka Nzeshi, said the issue was a security issue that should be handled by the police.

Nzeshi stated, “Issues of harassment and attacks are security issues, and it’s best for the police to address them, which I believe the police can handle.”

Responding, spokesperson of the state Police Command, Blessing Agabe, said the command was aware of the attacks on the two journalists, saying her principal personally invited the newsmen and heard directly from them. Agabe said the matter was still under investigation.

On the harassment and extortion of commercial drivers by youths and area boys, especially at bus stops, she said,” Nobody has the right to intimidate drivers.

She condemned any act of extortion but dismissed claims that policemen were party to such an act.

“I’m aware that some drivers’ association did a protest to the command, and they presented a letter to the command, which the Commissioner of Police is looking into. If there is any fresh case, it should be reported officially, and action will be taken.”

The CSOs had condemned the attacks on two journalists by miscreants in the state, Charles Opurum of Channels Television at the Rumuola axis of Port Harcourt and Alwell Ene of Megaletrics, operators of Classic FM 91.1FM, Beat FM 99.9 FM and Naija FM 92.7, all in Port Harcourt.

While Ene was attacked and beaten by a group of miscreants while on an investigation at the Garrison axis of Port Harcourt, Opurum was accosted and attacked by thugs while driving into a filling station to refuel at the Rumuola part of the metropolis, with his car slightly damaged when he tried to introduce himself and inquire what he had done.

The state police spokesperson, Blessing Agabe, said it was investigating the incidents, though there are concerns that not even one suspect has been arrested in connection with the incidents.

Expressing dismay, the CSOs passed a no-confidence vote in the state government and the state Police Command. They also demanded the removal/redeployment of the state Police Commissioner. They bemoaned that Nigerians faced a situation where they cannot walk freely without being harassed or assaulted by stick-wielding and pipe-carrying urchins and area boys.

They warned that the lingering disorder, if not urgently checked, may compel citizens to self-help. Program Manager of Social Action, Dr Prince Edegbuo, warned that such attacks and brutalisation of journalists was tantamount to an attack on press freedom and democracy.

Edegbuo stated, “The Rivers State Civil Society Organisations and Citizens Groups condemn the recent attacks on journalists in Port Harcourt. This is a direct assault on press freedom, democracy and the fundamental rights of citizens to access information.

“These disturbing incidents not only endanger the lives and safety of media practitioners but also create a climate of fear and intimidation that undermines the role of the press as a watchdog of society. A free, independent, and secure media is indispensable to any democratic process, particularly as Nigeria approaches the 2027 general elections.

“We are deeply concerned that if urgent and decisive actions are not taken, these attacks could set a dangerous precedent, weakening public confidence in democratic institutions and discouraging journalists from carrying out their constitutional duties.”

“Such an environment poses a serious threat to the credibility, transparency, and accountability of the forthcoming elections.

“In the light of this, we call on all relevant authorities to act swiftly and decisively. Security Agencies must immediately investigate these attacks, identify perpetrators, and ensure they are brought to justice without delay.

“The Rivers State Government should take proactive steps to guarantee the safety and protection of journalists and media houses operating within the state.”

“The Nigeria Police Force and other law enforcement bodies must strengthen measures to prevent further attacks and provide rapid response mechanisms for journalists under threat,” he added.

Similarly, the Program Manager, Environmental Rights Action, Port Harcourt, Kentebe Ebiaridor, queried the failure of the police to make arrests over the attack on the journalists. He also queried the seeming silence of the Rivers State Government over the situation.

“Can we say there is governance in Rivers State where the governor does not speak and the House of Assembly is dormant? People of the state are silent where hoodlums have taken over every corner in Rivers State.

“If the Rivers State government and the Nigerian Police do not wake up to their responsibility, the people of Rivers State will stand up and defend themselves because you cannot be walking around the Rumuokoro, walking around Garrison, walking around the flyovers and flashpoints you have in Rivers State, and your life and your mobile phone are not secure,” Ebiaridor said

Ebiaridor continued, “I, therefore, seize this opportunity to call on the Inspector General of Police, Olatunji Disu, who was a Commissioner of Police in Rivers State and did very well in stamping out crime, to call on the state commissioner of Police to do the needful.

Also, an official of Relief International Africa, Green Isaac, said he expects that the present Commissioner for Police, who was once a Deputy Commissioner of Police, Operations, should know the nooks and crannies of the state and flashpoints of crime in the state.

“Now that he is Police Commissioner, we shouldn’t be shouting at the top of our voices. We should be protected. The Divisional Police Officers covering Garrison, Olu Obasanjo, Waterlines, Rumukrusi, Eleme junction, and Lagos Bus Stop should also be redeployed because they are not giving us what we want.

“You can’t move freely in these places at night if you are not driving, and even if you’re driving, you have to be very careful, else these people will run you down. It is absurd, and we don’t want that anymore.

“As a people, we are shouting at the top of our voices that if these continue, we will take that responsibility from them. And it will not be good when we, the people, think that they cannot discharge their responsibility, and we are the people to take it up.”

Dr Peter Mazi, also of Social Action, argued that a government may be deemed to have failed if it is unable to ensure the security and welfare of its citizens.

Mazi said, “You see those boys at the bus stops collecting money for themselves and the police. You have them because the state is not performing its function. Some of these people are known, some are unknown, performing the function of tax collection and embarrassing people whom they feel refuse to heed their request.

“So until the state government, the governor, the police and those who took an oath to secure us and give us welfare and those representing us, wake up to their responsibility of securing us, this will continue to happen. If it is like this now, imagine what will happen in 2027 when the general elections start.”

Steve Obodoekwe of the Centre for Environment, Human Rights, and Development said it was baffling that thugs and suspected cultists act with impunity, even in the presence of policemen.

According to Obodoekwe, “In the past, when criminals saw security agencies, they hid, but these days you see criminals committing before security operatives. Those flashpoints like Rumuokoro, education, waterlines, you see policemen at one corner looking away.”

He prayed that the state give force to the anti-cult law in the state.

He said, “Let us not forget that there is an anti-cultism law in Rivers State. What happened to that law?

“I will pretend that the Commissioner of Police is unaware of this, so let me urge him to secretly move around to see what is happening at bus stops, regardless of police presence.

“Let the IGP step in and withdraw the police commissioner in the state and all the Divisional Police Officers in the flashpoint areas so that this can stop.”

The executive director, Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre, Dr Fyneface Dumnamene, traces the security in the state to the youths and criminal elements that have been displaced from the Boko Haram ravaged area in the North and running to safer parts of the country, causing crime.

“That is why you see most of the pockets of attacks happening in Port Harcourt and its environs. This is just the beginning of what is about to happen, and that is why we are talking about this matter to be addressed holistically.