Some commercial taxi drivers have taken to the streets in the Maitama area of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja to protest harassment by 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, told News Express that it was about time the Task Force and VIO officials stopped harassing them, as are “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 fines for which no official receipt is issued is what we cannot tolerate,” Badmos said.

Narrating the ordeal the commercial taxi drivers, 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.

“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 urged FCT authorities to provide the operators with approved garages and places 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 during the Monday protest, trying to dissuade the angry drivers from taking the law into their hands, exonerated the police.

“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.

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

•Photo shows Abuja green cabs.