EXTORTION RACKET BOOMS IN BENIN
REPUBLIC
ABDULMUMINI ADEKU,
REPORTS FROM IGOLO VILLAGE,ON THE
BANKS OF REPUBLIC OF BENIN
………………………………………………..A SOURCE TOLD
THIS REPORTER THAT HE COULD ARRANGE THROUGH AN ACCOMPLICE TO PAS THROUGH THE
SAME “BENIN” GATE WHERE HE WAS REFUSED ENTRY.
………………………………………………. A SOURCE SAID
THAT THE PREVIOUS DAY PEOPLE MOVED AROUND AND DID NOT PAY FOR MOVEMENT.
………………………………………………..NIGERIAN SOURCES
CONFIRMED THAT HIS CHURCH MEMBERS WERE VICTIMS
OF EXTORTION AT THE BORDERS
…………………………………………….. BORDERS SEALED
FOR 48 HOURS FOR THE POLLS IN WHICH 36 CANDIDATES TOOK PART
………………………………………………..SOURCES SAY
BENINOISE SEE MIGRATION AS A WAY OF MAKING MONEY FROM NIGERIANS
……………………………………………….OFFICIALS OF THE
NIGERIAN IMMIGRATIONS SERVICES RAISE EYE BROWS OVER THE CONDUCT OF THEIR
COUNTERPARTS IN BENIN REPUBLIC
………………………………………………CREASENT
UNIVERSITY LECTURER ESCAPES DEATH BY WHISKERS AS EXTORTION GAME GETS UGLY.
……………………………………………….PRESIDENTIAL RUN
OFF NOW ON THE 20TH OF MARCH,2016 BETWEEN LIONEL ZINSOU AND PATRICE
TALON
The 2016 Republic of Benin elections
has come and gone but memories of the rot that pervades the territorial borders
between Nigeria and Benin will linger on for a very long time to come.
When this reporter got to the Idi
Iroko Border Post in Ogun State of Nigeria on the 6th of March,2016
,he did not have problems completing his travel documentations at the Nigerian
Immigration Services upon which he was allowed to depart for the Republic of
Benin.
At the entry point to Benin
,this reporter was told by two stern looking policemen that they could not
allow him to enter into their nation because he was following the as he will
have to pay a sum of N3,000 since he was following the igloo route for
the first time.
This reporter pleaded with the three
officers he met at the border post that he had not travelled abroad in about
three years and was not even aware that there had been a change in immigration
rules regarding travel routes.
This reporter saw a Nigerian
computer Science lecturer at the Berger University,Mr Muyiwa Adedapo Fajobi who
was forced to change more C.F.A into naira as he needed to pay6 N300.00
for crossing the route..
It the n dawned on this reporter
that there was an entrenched culture of extortion and decided to start digging
for more revelations.
A source who looked like one of the
most respected touts in the area told this reporter that if he had been around
the previous day he was sure that nobody would have collected anything from
him.
The source revealed that there were
several routes that he could help this reporter to pass through but that it could
cost him at least N1,000 as at 6th March,2016 but that this
could increase to N2,000 on the day of elections with the border expected to be
closed by 12 midnight on the day this reporter cam probing.
It was gathered that a lot of
economic activities had being seriously affected by the recent effect of the
dollar on the naira.
It was discovered that about three
weeks ago,students from the Crescent University ,Abeokuta ,Nigeria were
molested with one of their lecturers electrocuted by the Beninoise Nationale
Police as they took the dangerous game of extortion to another level.
A source pointed out that the
people were very hostile to Nigerians out of envy and so they use every
opportunity that they have to extort money from them and anyone who refuses to
pay them will have to go back in the mould of this reporter.
Checks also showed that the Nigerian
Immigrations Services post at Idi –Iroko,Ogun State was always in
perpetual darkness save for generators given to them as donations
by spirited Nigerians with only one or two working as at press time.
A source speaks:”If I knew you
were going to meet their policemen I will have discouraged you, all this people
who are working on foot do not pay anything to them at all and yet they are
allowed to walk free to their destinations”
A Nigerian immigration officer also
lamented how he was asked to pay a sum of N11,000 to disvirgin his son’s
passport but this was later reduced to N2,000 by the same Beninoise authorities
.
Pedestrians from Nigeria could also
be made to pay N200 on a daily basis as many times as possible depending on the
mood of the Beninoise police.
A fellow traveler later informed
this reporter that she had gone to igloo same day on foot though a footpath
after paying a mere N100
Yet another source told this
reporter that there was another route on foot behind the Idi Iroko main market
.
At about 12 noo,this reporter made
his way back to the Idi –iroko motor park and entered an Isuzu bus which would
seem had seen its best days in life.
However it was this old rickety bus
that was to provide the next spectacle for the next four hours for its
passengers.
It had inside it,8 bags of rice,3
big containers of groundnut oil, 1 big container of palm oil as its
main cargo and as such it became a main target of members of the Nigerian
Customs Services.,Idi –Iroko Border Patrol Team.
The bus was stopped at least a
record eight times with the Customs stopping 6times while the Nigerian police
and the road Safety Team also stopping it to check its cargo.
When this reporter and 15 others who
paid an average of N400.00 each aside from the luggage alighted at 3:50 P.M.
local time as the Sango Otta Terminus,the bus driver believed to have spent at
least over N7,000 to bribe law enforcement agents heaved a sigh of relief for
the first time all day.
AS the world awaits who will replace Mr Thomas Yayi Boni as President of Benin Republic ,the speaker of
the parliament Mr Adrian Houngbeji has been described as capable of swinging
the polls in the favour of business man ,Mr Patrice Talon now said to be in commanding position to steal victory from current
Prime Minister ,Mr Lionel Zinsou .
In a brief chart with the News office Desk of Paedia Express
Multimedia at his home in Lagos,Nigeria ,Mr Olubunmi Fatilewa who is a Nigerian business man based in Cotonou on a short visit to Nigeria
insists that Mr Yayi Boni wishes to install his stooge ,Mr Zinsou as President
but that he will not be able to do that without the support of the likes of
Houngbeji.
He described Mr Houngbeji as a seasoned technocrat and politician whose antecedent in Benin political and
socio-cultural history was well known by all.
He went down memory lane
to recount how Houngbeji from
Port Novo had served the people selflessly without asking for anything in
return other than to serve the people.
He inisisted that the
lot of the people in that nation would have been better if the likes of
Houngbeji were given a chance ,were it not for the politics that has ensured
that he has being rigged out on several occasion by the powers that be.
According to him late President Mathieu Kerekou and his anointed
stooge ,Thomas Boni Yayi later fell apart so much so that Boni was told by the
former not to be allowed to attend his funeral at death were it not for state
protocol that over ruled that.
Mr Fatilewa affirmed that the issue of nepotism and ethnicity
was also deeply rooted in Dahomey
politics as well as while the people of Port Novo were
firmly behind Adrienne Houngbeji ,the people of Cotonou did not want him in
power.
He added that
Beninoise enjoyed a booming economic period during Kerekou’s reign as
compared rto the collapsed economy they were witnessing presently.
Fatilewa also told
this reporter that Former President Kerekou begged the nation to forgive him for helping to install a non performer in
office.
No comments:
Post a Comment