OPEN PETITION : OHPRPH Against Extortion of Road Users by Delta State Board of Internal Revenue Taskforce in Udu LGA, Others

OPEN PETITION :

OHPRPH Against Extortion of Road Users by Delta State Board of Internal Revenue Taskforce in Udu LGA, Others

  

The organization for Human & People's Rights Protection and Humanitarian, OHPRPH, Delta State Chapter is petitioning the State Government to stop the officials of Delta State Board of  Internal Revenue Taskforce from harassing and extorting road users, and also diverting supposed Government funds, extorted from members of the public to their private pockets. 

We observed that the officials of the task forces are in the habit of levying all sorts of fines arbitrarily on road users without regard for law and order in the state.

They also connive with some security operatives to harass road users in the name of searching for those with expired vehicle particulars.

Their recent act of illegality includes taking money from their perceived victims in the name of the Delta State Government without issuing receipts, and the money is not paid into the Delta State Government's coffer. 

This constitutes a high level of lawlessness, which the State Government must not allow to continue. As a Human Rights Organization, we will stand in solidarity with the Government to protect Deltans and Nigerians at large.

Actions of the taskforce officials against road users recently portray them as oppressors and violators of people's fundamental rights, which does not tell Good of Governor Sheriff Oborevwori led Delta State Government.

OHPRPH hereby appeals to the Executive Governor of Delta State,  his Excellency Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, and Chairman of Delta State Board of Internal Revenue (DBIR) Chief Solomon O. Ighrakpata to call officials of Delta State Internal Revenue Board to caution their Taskforce and call them  to order.

On Friday 19th, August 2024, Some men, who claimed to be officials of Delta State Internal Revenue Board in branded T-shirts, allegedly extorted the wife of the Delta State Chairman of the Organization for Human & People's Rights Protection and Humanitarian, Comrade Ejiro-steve Unukpo in Udu Local Government area of Delta State of the sum of 20,000 while driving in her car to a function in Udu Local Government Area. 

It was gathered that the task force officials stopped her in the company of policemen, who examined her vehicle particulars and observed that some of them had expired two weeks ago. 

The wife of the Human Rights Activist, Mrs. Elohor Unukpo, pleaded that she had since paid for the renewal of the particulars, and the delay was from the Government office where the renewed documents are being processed. The taskforce officials refused her plea and levied a fine of N30,0000 naira on her while on the road. 

Mrs. Elohor Unukpo requested for the account to pay the fine, and one of the task force officials called a POS operator and requested the lady to transfer to the POS operator or withdraw the Cash from the POS in person and hand over the money to them.

Upon her refusal to make such payment to their designated person or private hands without a receipt, the Taskforce officials reacted violently, raining abusive words on her, and called in the police, who bundled Mrs. Elohor Unukpo to a police station.

At the station, a police officer advised Mrs. Elohor Unukpo to negotiate with the leader of the task force (a lady to be precise) the one in black clothing, who told  Mrs. Unukpo to pay the sum of #20,000 which must be handed over to her(the eader of a taskforce) & Mrs. Unukpo was led to a POS operator to withdraw the said amount. Mrs Unukpo was later ushered to one of the officea inside the police station and handed over the cash to the lady who was said to be leading the taskforce.

The Delta State Government must come clean and tell the public if there was any prescribed legitimate fine for road users to pay in case of any breach of the law, the amount, and how such monies should be paid. 

As a Human Rights Organization, OHPRPH will stop at nothing to take legal action against extortion in Delta State.

We will deploy all legal means and  intelligence to investigate agents of the Delta State Government who have decided to turn Delta State into an extortion haven and bring them before the law.

We recommend an immediate refund of the money extorted from Mrs. Unukpo since there was no receipt issued for such money.

Attached to this writeup is the picture of the lady, who claimed to be the leader of the task force at the scene.

By Comrade Okorie Samuel

Organization for Human & People's Rights Protection and Humanitarian, OHPRPH.