Military checkpoints, gridclock return to Plateau roads

Military checkpoints in Plateau State, which disappeared a few weeks ago, have returned, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.

NAN reports that the checkpoints have resurfaced in Jos, other towns, as well as major and rural roads in the state.

It was also observed that joint security teams, comprising soldiers and policemen, conducted thorough searches on vehicles, forcing a return of traffic gridlock that eased off last week.
President Muhammadu Buhari had three weeks ago directed that military checkpoints and road-blocks be removed from the highways.

A top source in the Special Task Force told NAN in Jos that the road blocks returned to Plateau State following an appeal by Governor Simon Lalong.

The source said, “The governor, after visiting the scene of last Sunday’s night bomb attacks in some parts of Jos north, had blamed the return of the blasts on the lack of mechanism to check the movements of evil people.

“The absence of the military checkpoints has ensured a free flow of all manners of evil and I call on the President to order that they be restored in Plateau.”

NAN reports that before the governor’s appeal, a member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Timothy Golu, had also called on the President to restore the checkpoints in Plateau “especially in the rural areas’’.
Golu had premised his stance on the relevance of the military to securing fleeing villagers, especially from night attacks.

He also argued that the military checkpoints were crucial in curtailing the movement of small arms and light weapons, emphasising the need to secure the “hapless rural dwellers’’.

The lawmaker had said, “Some criminals are deterred when they know that they could be pursued by armed personnel at the checkpoints, but removing such checkpoints will ease their schemes and operations.”

STF spokesman, Capt. Ikedichi Iweha, said the military checkpoints “never totally disappeared’’ at any time.
Iweha added, “The checkpoints did not disappear; we merely reviewed them and collapsed some of them for effective service delivery.

“But, following what happened, I mean the bomb blasts and their aftermath, we resolved to restore the checkpoints to ease and quicken our response to situations.

“You recall that miscreants took advantage of the blasts to engage in arson and looting. The Commander was of the opinion that such would have been averted if checkpoints were nearby.

“So, he quickly ordered that the checkpoints be restored to respond much better to emergencies in and around the vicinity.”

(NAN)