Kaduna commuters stranded as drivers protest alleged extortion by traffic agency

Ma n y commuters yesterday trekked long distances to their places of work as commercial drivers protested what they described as extortion and harassment by personnel of Kaduna State Traffic Law Enforcement Agency (KASTLEA).

Some commuters who could not trek did not go to work as commercial vehicles, tricycles or motorcycles were not allowed to operate on the city’s major roads. Youths were also seen at different locations holding leaves and asking passengers to get down from any bus, tricycle or motorcycle seen carrying passengers.

One of the commuters, Juliana Moses said she was already in a bus when members of the road transport union stopped the driver and asked all the passengers to get down. “I have been standing here for over two hours, hoping that the situation will get better but nothing is happening,” she said.

Another resident, Mohammed Mubarak who works in the town, said he trekked from Kakuri in Kaduna South where he resides to Station and could not go further.

The commercial drivers said whenever they were arrested by men of KASTLEA, they were forced to cough out N20,000 and above to get their vehicles back, that some of them had their buses seized by KASTLEA and they could not afford the charges leveled against them over offences such as wrong parking. “We don’t want KASTLEA again,” the drivers chanted.

A driver who gave his name as Yaro Baba said, “Some drivers do not own the buses they drive. As such, they remit money to the owners on a daily basis but frustration from KASTLEA is making life difficult for us.”

The General Manager of KASTLEA, Colonel Zakari Ahmed (rtd), while addressing newsmen over the issue, expressed worry over why the protest was coming in the sixth or seventh month of the agency’s operation. According to him, the ‘group of miscreants’ were probably instigated by some opposition members.