Naval officer allegedly kill man in Abia over N50 toll fee

Irate youths from Isiala Ngwa South Local Government Area of Abia State on Monday reportedly blocked the Umuiika axis of Owerri-Aba Expressway in protest over the alleged killing of a member of their community by yet-to-be identified naval personnel attached to the Nigerian Navy Finance and Logistics College, Owerrinta.

But sources at the Owerrinta naval authority on who pleaded anonymity, on Wednesday denied the allegation, saying that no one died in the melee.

The man who was reported dead was identified later identified as one Mr. Ibe.

It was gathered that late Ibe was shot dead by the angry naval personnel posted to the area after he refused to give him N50 “toll pass”.

Our reporter who visited the area gathered the youths in protest barricaded the Owerri-Aba Expressway where they set burn fire, stopping cars from opposite directions from using to complete their journey.

While some commuters were forced to discontinue their journey, commercial and private car owners resorted to using nearby village roads to finish their journey. No thanks to youths of the villages who capitalized on the situation to force drivers to pay through their nose for using their rural roads.

A source at the location who gave his name as Paschal said that though he was not at the scene of the incident, but people who claimed to have witnessed what happened said that the youths of the community were angered when the news of the incident broke to them.

According to Paschal, it took the intervention of a man he later discovered to be the Speaker of Abia State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Chikwendu Kanu to calm the youths that had barricaded the road for close to three hours.

A commercial motorcyclists who gave his name as Chidi, it is a common habit for the naval officers at Umuiika junction to be collecting tolls from them even though they weren’t happy paying it.

Chidi confirmed to our reporter that the naval officers collect from N50 and above from motorcyclists and commercial drivers.

Corroborating Chidi’s statement, a commercial bus driver plying Owerri from Aba, Mr. Offor Uchenna told our reporter that the naval officers uses some boys who pretend to be selling groundnut or plantain chips to extort money from them.

According to Uchenna, they pay between N100 and above depending on the type of vehicle and quantity of goods they are carrying.

“It is not a hidden fact that the naval personnel and even army officers on expressways in the southeast have turned their checkpoints to toll collection centers. We were complaining about the police, but the case of the soldiers and naval officers are going out of hand and needs to be addressed and looked into, that is if the oga that posted them here are not benefitting from the tolls that they collect here.

“We had much respect for soldiers and these naval officers when they came to the state newly during that insecurity. But with what we are passing through in their hands, it seems that leaving barracks to come and stand on the road has corrupted them.

“If you observe very well, they don’t collect the money themselves, they use small boys or even adults who pretend to be selling walnut, plantain chips and anything just to confuse the people that they can confuse. That has been going on at every army and naval checkpoints including the one before Imo Airport and Umuiika. People around here said that the man died.

“Some drivers who used roads of the villages around here said that the youths used woods to block their roads and do collect as much as N1000 from driver for the damage that they are doing to their roads.”

But the source from the Owerrinta naval base claimed that the man who was said to have died on the spot was still alive and refused to comment further on the issue when pressed further by our reporter.