Group Decries Activities Of Touts In PH

A Port Harcourt-based Non-Governmental Organisation, Advocacy for Peace, Good Governance and Social Justice has criticised some local government councils in Rivers State for unleashing touts and extortionists on the roads and streets of Port Harcourt metropolis.
The President of the group, Mr John Clement, who made the condemnation while chatting with newsmen in Port Harcourt at the weekend, expressed regrets that the level of hooliganism displayed by the touts was unbecoming. He said that traffic offences were within the domain of either traffic policemen or the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and flayed Port Harcourt City and Obio/Akpor Local councils for the mayhem caused by touts on the streets and roads of Port Harcourt.
Clement noted that the seizure by touts of both private and commercial vehicles without due process of the law, was against the fundamental right of fair hearing of the drivers of those vehicles.
He said many private vehicle owners were horrified by the action of the touts.
The president remarked that the foisting of jobless people on drivers was wreaking havoc as innocent people become victims of extortionists.
He said that for any person to be punished for breaking the law, such law must be written down and the punishment prescribed.
Clement stated that the councils must make their bye-laws available for purchase.
He said, a situation where people who had allegedly offended a particular law pay differently was condemnable.
He noted that because the touts were paid from what they could raise within a particular day, the tendency to apprehend innocent drivers in order to increase returns was very high.
According to him, the rule of self-help must be abandoned where the rule of law operates. If the touts are not checked, he said every driver will be adjudged to have broken the law for greater returns”, he said.

Chidi Enyie