Motorists and residents of Aba, the commercial nerve centre of Abia state have lamented the activities of men of the Nigerian Army who extort money from motorists at various check points in the city.
The also condemned the involvement of the military men in civil matters, such as debt collection, land disputes and marital issues.
A cross section of residents who spoke to pointblanknews.com lament that the security agents who were sent to the city to maintain peace and stop the activities of kidnappers and other criminals ,have converted  their stop and search check points to toll gates where they forcefully extort money ranging from N50 to N100 per trip from motorists.
Pointblanknews.com checks revealed that soldiers stationed at the Abia Hotels gate on the Aba “ Owerri road, appears to have perfected the art of extortion as they stop motorists and direct them to a young man in his mid 30’s who serves as their agent.
According to source, the young usually sit or stand beside a call girl’s both where motorists are directed by the soldiers to go and see him.
A visit to the military checkpoint at Faulks road stationed near the LG Electronics show room revealed a similar situation as a young man stand at short distance collecting money for the soldiers.
A bus driver who spoke on the condition of anonymity hinted that one risks being delayed and passenger ordered out if he fails to comply or play tricks.
Another one simply addressed as Igwe said the soldiers were busy causing artificial gridlock on the two roads in a bid to make motorists stop and comply with the arrangement.
You need to see what is happening; one of the soldiers will just stand at a distance to monitor drivers who may want to drop their money with the young man. If he gets you, you will be frog marched and passengers will be ordered out, he alleged.
Pointblanknews.com gathered that sometimes these soldiers would retreat to a shop near their check point while one of them will stay behind to direct motorists to their agent.
A source hinted that some bus drivers have devised a way to escape paying the roger.
According to the source, the way out is to load half full and present it as an excuse to them while you complete the remaining spaces after the check points.
One of the bus driver identified as Felix who attempted to play with the soldiers at the LG Electronics Show room along Faulk road, was said to have been humiliated and detained for an hour as well as being made to pay the N100 roger.
Other drivers plying the Ogbor Hill route disclosed that the soldiers stationed after the waterside bridge road started the collection of roger, but later stopped. A resident of the area said,”
I am not against their stop and search operations. What I am against is the money they forcefully collect from commercial drivers, not minding what the drivers convey in their buses. This same action if you could recall, was what led to the withdrawal of police from check points by the current IG of Police. If this thing continues, these soldiers will be more corrupt than the police.”
As at press time, efforts to contact the Public Relations Officer (PRO), 14 Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Captain Olabisi Ayeni and the Head of the Forward Operation Base (FOB), stationed at Ngwa High School, Aba , Capt. Chris Nwogu, did not yield fruit as they could not pick their calls.