The Commissioner of Police in Enugu State, Mr Sulaiman Balarabe, has urged commercial drivers to be ambassadors of anti-corrupt by reporting all incidences of police extortion in the state.

Balarabe said this on Friday during an interactive meeting between senior police officers in the State Police Command and leadership of various commercial drivers’ unions/associations in the state.

The interactive meeting was part of the command’s Campaign Against Police Unprofessional Conduct (CAPUCON) programme.

He also urged commercial drivers to get their documents and papers right and up-dated and to always be patient and courteous to answer all questions posed by policemen on duty; while insisting on their rights.

“Every police personnel must serve the public with professional is and fear of God without extorting anytime from anybody.

“Presently, we are giving (the phone) numbers of principal senior officers, Divisional Police Officers and special units as well as members of the Police Command Committee Against Unprofessional Conduct to you people (commercial drivers) to contact us on incidences of extortion.

“Apart from members of the Police Command Committee Against Unprofessional Conduct, we have IGP X-Squad and Command X-Squad that will be patrolling on plain-cloths in road routes to fish out the bad eggs in the force,” he said.

According to him, when any policeman extorts money from a struggling commercial driver, he or she is collecting curse money and the money will never profit the personnel.

Also speaking, the Coordinator of Values Project, Comrade Chukwuma Okenwa, noted that the Nigeria Police remained the best in Africa for exceptional performance in peace keeping especially in Africa and beyond.

“It is ironical, that the same internationally acclaimed performance cannot be replicated in the country due to unprofessional conduct such as extortion that had pitched ordinary Nigerians against police personnel,” he said.

The Secretary of National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Comrade Austin Agu, appreciated the commissioner for his honesty and forthrightness forthrightness to ensure that the command check extortion.

“I will implore our members and other commercial drivers to ensure that they do their part by getting their particulars up-to-date to avoid any form of embarrassment,” Agu said.

Comrade Chike Nweze, Chairman of Motorcycle Union of Enugu State (Okada riders), lauded the Commissioner and other senior police officers in the state for being open and coming all out to address the menace of extortion.

“We sincerely believe that this particular programme and synergy will work for the good of the society and foster a better relationship between the police and commercial drivers in the state,” he said.

Update news