By Musa Kutama, Calabar
The Police in Calabar, Cross River State capital have started harassing drivers and impounding their vehicles under the guise of tinted glass permit, despite an interim injunction preventing them from doing so.
Journalists in Calabar on Wednesday and discovered that a team of policemen and traffic warders mounted a post in front of the popular Akim Police Station.
The officers who were vigorously asking for tinted glass permit and even impounding vehicles without tinted glasses were about 15 in number seen.
One of the victims, John Osakwe, a journalist in the state who narrated his ordeal with the policemen said he was driving from the stadium axis towards the police station and was ordered to park.
“I parked and brought out my papers, because they are all complete but one of the officers came close, looked at my vehicle and said the front glass is different from the back glass and asked for a permit.
“I asked him which permit and he said permit for using a factory fitted tinted glass and I told him my vehicle glass is not tinted.
“The officer who opened my car door and snatched the key from the ignition said they have been ordered from above to impound vehicles whose front glass looks different from the back glass,” he said.
Osakwe said as he continued to ask him his rationale for harassing him when his vehicle glasses were not even tinted and the officer said there were two types of tinted glasses – the dark one that prevents you from seeing inside the vehicle and the one that is not so dark.
He said although they could see inside my vehicle, the policeman said the glass was a little dark while the other officers came together to shout at me that the journalists who should know the law on the issue are feigning ignorance.
“When I called DSP Irene Ugbo, the Police Public Relations Officer, (PPRO), her response was, we should try and get our documents complete and asked me to hand-over the phone to the officer, after few seconds of discussion my car key was handed back to me.
“The officer was still insisting that I go and get a permit for my vehicle glasses from the police and that the cost is N30,000,” he added.
Another resident, Mr. Edem Udofia who spoke to journalists said his vehicle was impounded and driven into the police station because they said the glass of his bus was dark, even though the vehicle came that way.
“I have not gone in yet, I am still trying to see who I can call to help me in the matter, my family depends on that bus, if I don’t get it out today, it means there will be no food,” he said.
Speaking on the matter, Mba Ukweni, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) said nothing gives the police the authority to impound vehicles on account of the glass being a little dark or tinted if their is nothing incriminating in the vehicle and the papers are intact.
“The court has restrained the police from impounding vehicles or harassing drivers on account of tinted glasses, the police can’t do otherwise they have to comply with the court order,” he stated.
It would be recalled that a Federal High Court sitting in Warri had earlier issued an interim injunction restraining the police from implementing or enforcing the recently announced tinted glass permit policy slated to commence on Monday October 6.
