Edo threatens to punish errant traffic officers

The Edo State Government has warned persons masquerading as Vehicle Inspection Officers and extorting money from unsuspecting motorists to desist from such acts or face the wrath of the law.

The Commissioner for Information, Louis Odion, who said this after the weekly State Executive Council meeting, on Tuesday,  recalled that few weeks ago, some men in “Pink T-Shirts, who had been harassing motorists”, were stopped by the state government.

In a statement in Benin, he said the SEC observed that whereas there was a clear directive two weeks ago that men wearing pink uniforms should desist from harassing motorists on the  roads, there had been a proliferation of men wearing white and black uniforms on the roads in the past few days, purporting to be VIOs or agents or volunteers working with the VIO unit.

While stressing that the council  strongly condemned the illegal activity and considered it unacceptable, Odion added that the Commissioner for Transport,  Orobosa Omo-Ojo, had been directed to communicate with the VIO unit of the ministry,  withdrawing such unit and formations from the road and halting their activities on the streets or highways.

The statement read, “By this announcement, the special enforcement unit, set up by the government, has also been mandated to, beginning from tomorrow (Wednesday), commence patrol on our roads and anyone found wearing uniforms, purporting to be VIOs, would be apprehended and made to face the full wrath of the law.

“This applies to other forms of extortion in the state either on behalf of any of the ministries, departments or agencies.

“Apart from the Special Enforcement Unit, which is to begin a patrol of our roads to ensure strict compliance with this resolution, members of the public are also encouraged to apprehend anyone found extorting money purportedly on behalf of the government or behalf of anybody or any ministry.”