AWKA— What happens when the state agencies tasked with protecting citizens instead become the single greatest threat to their lives?
Only weeks ago, during its 12th Regular Meeting in Awka, the Anambra State Chapter of the Alumni Association of National Institute (AANI) issued a clear, urgent, and unambiguous warning. They forcefully condemned the “menace” of statutory security and traffic agencies along the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway, explicitly calling out the systemic extortion, the creation of synthetic bottlenecks, and the dangerous use of makeshift roadblocks. They warned that these archaic practices were an accident waiting to happen.
Yesterday, that warning manifested in a horrific display of blood, twisted metal, and shattered glass near the Amawbia Roundabout Flyover.
The graphic reality of this entirely avoidable tragedy is captured by the video above, which has since ignited widespread public fury. The footage serves as a damning indictment of the Nigeria Police Force and the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC).
In the video, a white and blue commercial Toyota transit bus belonging to the Enugu State Transport Company (ENTRACO) lies completely overturned, its wheels pointing uselessly to the sky. It is a full-load vehicle. The impact was violent enough to scatter passengers across the hot asphalt, leaving them bleeding and deeply traumatized on the side of the road.
What makes this incident, so infuriating is the deliberate negligence that caused it. The Amawbia corridor is currently an active construction zone. The lanes are already heavily restricted, narrow, and difficult to navigate. Common sense, and basic highway safety protocols, dictate that traffic should flow seamlessly through such hazards.
Instead, unrepentant personnel from the Police and the FRSC chose this exact bottleneck to set up their “pockets”, artificial gridlocks designed intentionally to trap motorists, not for security, but for intimidation and financial extortion. By blocking the narrow space left for commuters with official vehicles and heavy hazards, they engineered a death trap. The ENTRACO bus, navigating a severely restricted space under state-enforced duress, somersaulted.
The video shows ordinary citizens and passing commuters stepping in as emergency responders, reaching deep into the crushed cabin of the upside-down bus to drag out trapped victims. Meanwhile, a stone’s throw away from the bleeding passengers, FRSC officials in their uniform stand surrounded by a mob of furious onlookers. The shouting is raw; the anger is palpable. The people know exactly who caused this.
As local community members have bitterly pointed out, these checkpoints have yielded zero reported arrests of actual criminals or highway bandits. Their sole function is to squeeze money out of everyday travelers.
AANI’s earlier resolution noted that these counterproductive, predatory activities directly conflict with Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s commendable vision of building a smart, modern, and disciplined Anambra State. You cannot build the “Silicon Valley of Africa” when your federal transit routes are governed by highway piracy.
The state government and the top brass of both the Police Command and the FRSC must see this video as a final warning. Public patience has completely evaporated. If these hazardous extortion rings are not immediately dismantled, and if the personnel stationed at the Amawbia Flyover are not held criminally liable for this crash, the people will eventually push back.
When citizens feel that the state’s uniform is a badge for extortion that leads to their death, they will take the law into their own hands and chase the aberration away. The authorities must act before a tragedy turns into an uprising.
