Protesters in Benin City Edo state have turned the ongoing protest in the country to a broad daylight extortion venture. Our correspondent who visited the protest venues along the Benin –Ore Express road watched as the protesters mounted road blocks and subjected motorists to hellish ordeals and extorted road users.
Mourners , security agencies, residents, business owners and persons on emergency duties were not spared as they were harassed, intimidated and made to part with money before they were allowed to move from one road block to another mounted by the protesters.
More than five road blocks were seen from the GRA area of the state to the 7UP Bottling company towards Ore Express road and each roadblocks were manned by fierce looking protesters used sticks and tyres to barricade the roads.
Our correspondent noticed that the protesters who are majorly men also forced the road users to use green leaf on their cars and punished others by compelling them to dance along with them before they were made to drive through the barricades on the road after the motorists paid them a fee.
Some mourners who had come to Benin city to bury their dead and were heading back to their various destinations recounted how their pleas to leave Benin City fell on deaf ears until they had to pay some amount of money to the protesters before the protesters allowed them through each road block.
One of the mourners who gave his name as Salua said ‘’ I came to Edo state for a burial. Some of my colleagues and friends were with me all through the burial but on Saturday after the burial and we headed back to our various destination, we started experiencing hellish situation in the hands of the protesting young men. Some faces I saw are faces you do not see on a normal day. The protesters were angry with us because they felt we were not protesting with them. But we showed them our obituary posters that we came to the city to bury a loved one. That explanation got them angry the more as they subjected us to long wait since they have barricaded they roads. We were held on the illegal road blocks for a long time . The entire areas were rowdy with various group of young men shouting, screaming and barking orders that the road block should not be opened for us and other motorists to move. In order to get out of the chaotic scene, we noticed that the young men were demanding for money before they can allow our vehicle to move on. After making us to part with money, they screamed at us and said ‘’ This is what you people supposed to have done since, you were busy telling us that you came for burial , don’t you know that we are hungry? Now that you have given us money , you can move but be rest assured that you will meet another road block in front that one is not our business , we have collected our own money from you people’’ at every road block we encountered, we parted with two thousand naira and bought them sachet alcoholic drink’’ .
Our correspondent also narrated how the protesters intimidated her to dance before she can get along the road .
She said ‘’ We drove into the protesters and from one road block they mounted to the other on the Benin –Ore Express road. They ensured we regretted coming out on the road. I counted about eleven road blocks mounted by the protesters . They were also extorting motorists before they can allow a passage, you pay some money to them. They charge between N1000 to N2000 on each vehicle depending on how they feel. There was one of the road blocks that I and other persons in our vehicles were made to dance. The leader of that road block and his goons came at us while we were held in the traffic they created as a result of the road block they mounted and he was very angry with us. He ordered us to come down from our vehicle and start dancing with them. We were so scared of the fierce looking men they are and we danced were forced to dance . When the leader noticed that some persons among us were not dancing to their satisfaction, he will come at us and shouted orders for use to dance well because if we do not dance to their satisfaction , they will not allow us to drive through the barricade on the road . At that point of helplessness and seeing that any form of disobedience can have serious harsh consequences , we decided to dance and kept dancing. They targeted me and made me dance more because to them I was looking like someone that is not hungry. I danced my heart out seeing that we were in their midst without any security personnel to help us. The protesting youth rendered the security of the state useless. There were no sight of security personnel at all the road blocks they mounted . These protesting youth had a field day harassing anyone on the road and extorting them. They are lords to themselves and the people their subjects they treated as they deemed fit, they held us hostage saying we cannot leave ,intimidating their fellow citizens and forcing us to part with money to regain our freedom and movement . It was a very horrible situation I found myself and all through the ordeals from one road block to the other , money and prayer including obeying what they said was what got us out of their menace. I danced and when the leader saw that I had danced to their satisfaction, he ordered that we should be allowed to drive through the barricade. Some of them insisted that we must give money as well to appease them which we did . One of our persons in the vehicle gave them some money before they removed the sticks and we were allowed to pass through the barricade’’.
Narrating further, the correspondent said ‘’ When we got to the road , a particular road block just before the 7up bottling company, the protesters were so many in that road block and they kept us on the road for more than 40 minutes . Everything including money we gave them so we could drive pass but still they refused to allow us through. We had no choice but to wait endlessly on the road while they danced to their music. We later found out that a woman was the leader of that road block and some of our friends went to appeal to her but she did not bulge. They begged her but she said we must remain on the road with them to protest that the protest was for the good of everybody and we should stop seeing them as our enemies. One of the protesters came to us and told us that they will make us stay on the road till 6pm for daring to move on the road when there was a protest . Another man came to us that if we sabotage the protest, he was going to buy a gun with his last money and become an armed robbers that people are suffering while we are travelling .After waiting for more than thirty minutes and forced to part with some amount of money, the protesters let us pass through their barricade and we headed to yet another road block about two minutes after. The road blocks are about two minutes apart so there is no trick you can display, you will encounter them on the road. When we got to the road block near the 7up bottling company,the protesters at this particular road block were very mean and they came against the motorists in their numbers . They were shouting and screaming at the motorists that we have the boldness to come out. There was a vehicle conveying some mourners. The vehicle was driven by a soldier man and there were two other soldiers in the entourage with the mourners. As soon as the protesters saw the soldiers, they went into a rampage and were shouting but the soldiers were very calm. The soldiers were armed and they allowed the tension to douse before they walked up to the protesters and gently spoke to them that they were escorting mourners to a burial ceremony because the mourners used the army ambulance. A man who claimed to be the leader of the protesters on that road block told the soldiers that they respect them because the soldiers did not try to use any strong tactics to get their way. The soldier told them that they were not there for trouble and they should allow them to pass but one of the youth was very angry and still preventing the soldiers from passing. Other protesters got angry with him and they started fighting and dragging him from the road. Fortunately, one of the soldiers held back the other protesters that they should stop beating the young man because at this point, a fight had broken out . It was the soldier man that stopped the protesting youth from beating up the young man who was bent on preventing the soldiers from driving through the barricade. The other protesters had to drag that particular young man away from the road and that was how the soldiers and other motorists were allowed to pass through the barricade but the motorists were extorted . There was also this particular young man that got the beating of his life for recording the altercations at the roadblock . The protesters ensured they beat him up mercilessly with evidence of blood gushing from his mouth before they let him go. One of them made the man to delete all the recordings before they let him go’’.
Other motorists spoke against the protesters mounting roadblocks and the hellish experience they faced in the hands of the protesting youth on the road . They call on the president President Bola Ahmed Tinubu , the Inspector General of Police IGP Kayode Egbetokun and the army to restore order in the country as the protesters have sadly become a menace to fellow Nigerians .
One of the motorists who gave his name as Jude said ‘’ I am a resident of Benin City and what I was made to go through in the hands of these criminals calling themselves protesters was hellish. How can a sane government allow criminals and hoodlums to take over the country in the name of protest ? Imagine what we are being subjected to by these criminals because those calling for protest in the country allowed harden criminals , cultists, yahoo yahoo boys and all sorts of criminal elements to come out from their hiding places to unleash terror on innocent citizens. Is this what a protest is all about? Forcing your fellow Nigerians to dance, part with money and wait endlessly , threatening , harassing others to join in a protest. People on emergency duties were harassed, intimidated and extorted by these so called protesters. Is this what protesters are supposed to do? Forcing people to part with money for their lives and movements . Are they not the ones protesting against so called bad government so tell me are they not worst than the politicians in Abuja ? This is not a protest and I know why they are protesting . They are having a field day extorting and harassing motorists and that is why they are coming out to protest. They are benefitting from the protest as they are forcing fellow citizens to part with money or face hell on the roads. They are criminals that should be removed from the roads. These so called protesters have weakened our security and they have taken over the country while our security are standing by looking helplessly and even begging these criminals so that they can move on the road . This should not be acceptable to anybody. Even poor people coming out to eke a living are not spared. Are they the ones feeding the poor? Why resort to intimidating and extorting your fellow Nigerians ? ‘’
Another motorist who identified himself as Ken said ‘’This is very wrong and the government and security agencies should not sit back and allow those calling for protest in their houses to continue to do so because they are hiding in their houses while calling people out on social media to protest. Who are the people bearing the brunt? , It is the fellow Nigerians that are made to suffer because hoodlums and criminals have taken over the protest. They are the ones mounting roadblocks and extorting their fellow citizens . I and my co travelers were extorted by these so called criminals . They forced us to dance, wait endlessly and still we gave them sachet alcoholic drinks , and more than ten thousand naira in all we were extorted from one road block to the other . After they have kept motorists waiting and shouting and screaming at us, the next thing is , they will come and say ‘’ Oya bring money ,bring N2000 before we let you pass the road block’’. We had to give them the money so that we can get out of their midst. At a point we resorted to prayers and pleading for our lives and properties . At some points, our co travelers had to join them and behave as if they are part of them all to clear the barricades so we can move but still they were not tricked as they know one another . At the end of the day, it was the mercy of God that got us out of all the terrible roadblocks and the money the hoodlums called protesters extorted from us. In my view, those calling for protest are doing more harm than good because they sit in the comfort of their houses and call for protest whereas it is criminals that are having a field day and subjecting hungry citizens to more hellish situations. I am traumatized as I am speaking to you’’.
Another motorist who identified himself as Blessing said ‘’ If this is what protest is, I am not a party to it because this is suffering ourselves. If we say the government is bad then what these boys doing to fellow Nigeria is it good? They are worst than the government and should vacate the roads because how can you explain the extortion of Nigerians who want to drive through the roads? Why force them to pay or intimidate them to give protesters money? This is horrible and it must be put to an end immediately because we have seen that the passion they bring to protest is fake passion, they are protesting because they are having the time of their lives forcing Nigerians to part with money for them and the media is not reporting the criminals hiding under the cover of protest. The media are busy giving hoodlums 24 hours coverage while fellow citizens are being harassed and extorted in the name of protest. Social media and traditional media houses are aiding these evil wicked protesters by giving them coverage and this must stop. Is this what protesting is about ? So tell me why are they condemning the government whereas they are doing worst things to fellow Nigerians . The hellish experience the protesters subjected us to is a life time trauma I and my co travelers will never forget ’’.
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