Some commercial taxi drivers have taken to the streets in Abuja to protest the usual harassment of officials of the Abuja Task Force and Vehicle Inspection Office (VIO).

A former branch chairman of the union, Mr Kabiru Badmos, who led the protest at Berger Junction of the metropolis, on Monday told CEOAfrica reporter that it was about time the VIO officials and Abuja Task Force members stopped harassing them publicly “being tired of paying  exorbitant fines that are illegal.”

“As a union, we do not have any problem if a driver is arrested because he does not paint his taxi in the official colour or because his vehicle papers are not up to date. But a situation where they make unjustifiable arrest and demand exorbitant fine for which no official receipt is issued is what we cannot tolerate.''

While narrating the ordeal commercial taxi drivers face on a daily basis in that part, he said, ''There was a day a task force official took hold of the steering of one taxi here, even while the engine was still running and, in the process, the driver lost control of the steering and crashed into a tree. Immediately, the woman-passenger started bleeding and was rushed to the hospital. We don’t know which of the hospitals she was taken to and we don’t know her state of health right now,'' he said.

“On Saturday, some members of the task force struggled with one of our drivers here at Berger route while he was trying to drop a pregnant passenger. This is just getting out of hands.''

Badmos, however, urged the FCT authorities to provide the operators with a proper bus stop or garage where they can always park their cabs when they need to take a rest. 

Benneth Gowon, an assistant superintendent of police, who was at the scene trying to dissuade the angry drivers from taking the law into their hands, exonerated the police from the matter.

"We were here on Saturday when the unfortunate incident of the pregnant woman took place. We only helped the victim but we were not part of it,'' he said.

 He however urged the taxi operators to follow the proper channel to present their case, so that they don’t become the offenders themselves.