Maduako Igbokwe I Friday, Sept. 08, 2023
AWKA, Nigeria – Anambra Keke Drivers Forum AKDF has demanded that one of its members whose Keke was detained for one week illegally must be compensated by the government.
One, Mr Everest Mboto, a Keke driver was arrested and detained for no just cause, after he had paid his monthly taxi and other obligations to the state government.
Mboto said that his Keke was arrested when men of Anambra State Road Traffic Agency ARTMA accosted him and demanded for bribes, when he declined they arrested him.
According to him, many of the Keke drivers who paid N500 were allowed to continue to work, even loading on the main roads.
He said “My Keke was detained for one week without just cause and Anambra state board of Internal Revenue would demand for the payment of the one week in which my sources of livelihood were denied me. The State Government is making the lives of the poorest of the poor in the state to live in mystery. The government is compounding the economic situation of the poorest of the poor in the state. If you pay your taxes, it will not be reflected in the government’s app. Will I be punished for the government’s ineptitude” .
Speaking on the matter, the Coordinator of Anambra keke Drivers Forum (AKDF), Comrade Osita Obi said that the management of ARTMA will be held responsible for this irresponsible act.
According to him, ARTMA must pay for the one week Everest Mboto did not go to work for illegally impounding his keke.
He stated that AKDF will no longer allow its members to be treated this way, saying that somebody must take responsibility for this obnoxious behaviour.
He, however, urged the Keke drivers to discharge their civic duties by paying their taxes when due and also to obey traffic rules in the state
Also speaking on the illegal detention of Keke by the state agents, one of the Keke operators Ifeanyi Okereke said non- punishment for erring government officials were responsible for the impunity of the tax enforcement team and other government agents in the state.
According to him, somebody must be held responsible for his action, regretting that in Anambra state Keke riders are treated as third-class citizens.
“Everybody wants to make money from the Keke drivers. The government is stretching on tax payments. It forces us to pay even when our Keke are in mechanics, we pay when we are admitted to the hospital without working. We are already on the ground and the government is just matching on us.
“You can’t hold someone’s means of livelihood unjustly for one week and you don’t pay for it. The government must be responsible because the riders met all their obligations to the government. This is one of the reasons why the law enforcement agencies go Scot free for all these abuses of law” he said.
