By Ifeizu Joe
A resident of Anambra State, Mr Nonso Oguno has lamented the activities of members of Anambra Road Traffic Management Agency (ARTMA), saying they were giving Governor Chukwuma Soludo a bad name.
Oguno, a resident of Awka said the activities of members of the enforcement arm of the agency was constituting nuisance, adding that it was high time the people resisted them.
He said the condition was made even worse because the governor recruited touts into the agency, hoping that this would rid the state of touts, but the activities of the touts within the agency had gotten out of hand.
He said: “In an effort to recreate and reabsorb touts in the State by Governor Soludo, touts are now exploiting every opportunity within their disposal to intimidate and Extort the unsuspecting public especially the Awka resident, all in the name of Traffic Enforcement team.
“Soludo peddles this dictum “Soludozie Anambra” but this is simply rhetorics, and negates the exact intentions in the context, as the supposed agents of Soludozie Anambra are now doing.
“It is therefore, high time the residents rise up in defense of themselves against this touts in the guise of Traffic enforcement Team as an official Label, who have not been useful for themselves nor the society.
“They cannot be useful to Government as the Governor thinks, because they’re unleashing their unbearable attitudes resulting from drug use and addiction, on the people, which is a major influence in carrying out their ill Traffic Enforcement Acts.
“Without mincing words, this act is no longer acceptable, it is suffocating, especially amidst the economic exigencies of now and may tarnish whatever positive image and opinion the people are trying to form about the State Governor.”
Oguno who posted a short video of the intimidation by the agency said they now arrest and extort people arbitrarily, while also impounding their vehicles.
THE RAZOR reports that even though the agency has been very helpful in reducing traffic gridlock in some areas in the state, most bad eggs have been giving it a bad name through extortion, and even arresting people who park respectfully by the road to answer phone calls.
