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 disclosed 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 made available to
newsmen, he said that the council 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 vehicle inspection officers 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 of either purporting to inspect vehicles on the streets or
highways.
“By this announcement, the special
enforcement unit set up by the government has also been mandated to,
beginning from tomorrow, 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, anybody or ministry,” the statement read.
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