Truck drivers carrying foodstuffs and fertilizer into Rivers State say they are stranded at Iriebe in Obio/Akpor LGA due to the curfew in some parts of the state and accused the police and other security agencies of extortion.
The truck drivers said they had been at the checkpoint in Iriebe axis of the Port Harcourt-Aba Express Road for days.
Our correspondent, who visited the area, observed that most of the trucks had been on the same spot for the past five days.
Speaking with our correspondent, a representative of the truck drivers, Ibrahim Adams, said security personnel were demanding N2,000 before allowing them pass and appealed to them to allow him return to his state.
Adams stated. “I carried fertilizers and got to the checkpoint. This is not our state. We are going back. So, they should allow us to go. They said we should pay them before we pass. But we say we are not paying.
“We are Nigerians. They are asking for N2,000 per truck, why? These trucks were here for one week. We have to go.”
Another truck driver narrated his experience trying to leave the state, saying, “My boss sent me to Aba, but when I reached the checkpoint, they asked what I am carrying, I said let me reverse first, they said no.
“They told me that big trucks like the one I am driving will pay N7,000 or N5,000 before passing. I have spent three days here without having my bath,” he stated
Efforts to reach spokesman of the State Police Command, Nnamdi Omoni, was unsuccessful as he did not pick calls put across to his mobile phone.
Omoni also did not respond to a text message sent to him by our correspondent as of the time of filing this report.