Police Causes over Four Hours Hold-Up Because of Fifty Naira Bribe

Ngurore community, a suburb of Yola South Local Government of Adamawa state witnessed a frustrating occurrence  in the morning of Wednesday, 30^th November, 2016 been the market day of the community. The drama started when a red Sharon bus drive drove to a police check point before the Ngurore bridge as the police asked him to give them a bribe of Fifty Naira, the driver pleaded with them to collect Thirty Naira as that was the only cash with him but the police refused and insisted that he must give them Fifty Naira. The driver also insisted on giving them Thirty Naira which they refused to collect. The driver moved his vehicle and the police pursued him with their van. As the driver noticed they were coming after him, he stopped his vehicle, blocked the only narrow way leading to Yola, with his bus, locked vehicle vehicle steering and ran for his dear life.

This event caused the motorists coming from Numan as well as those from Yola to hold on and form a queue from Ngurore to welcome to Yola and those from Numan queued from Ngurore to Demsa as well. It took the intervention of other uniform men such as Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps, the Traffic warden, the army, men of the National Union of Transport Workers (NURTW) and other prominent personalities who gathered to plead with the public before the vehicle was lifted out of the main road and road could be paved for passage.

Even the ambulance that was going to Yola for an emergency issue had no option than to join the lengthy queue. Other motorist who could not be patient with the ugly event that lasted for more than four hours wanted to devise another means of passage by driving through the sandy river but ended up being frustrated the more as their vehicles got hooked in the river as a result of sand.

The ugly event was terrible and attracted serious insults on the Nigerian police as almost all Nigerian civilians are tired of their unfriendly attitude of extortion and have been waiting for such a day so they could express their anger verbally and by conduct.

 Credit: Attamah C. Malachy