{"id":64193,"date":"2025-04-13T22:43:10","date_gmt":"2025-04-13T22:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=64193"},"modified":"2025-04-14T06:22:40","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T06:22:40","slug":"abuja-boils-as-touts-clamp-down-on-motorists-impose-fines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2025\/04\/13\/abuja-boils-as-touts-clamp-down-on-motorists-impose-fines\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Agbero&#8217; Topples Abuja, Clamps down on Motorists, Demands Fines"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>By Njoku Chijioke<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Chaos has gripped the streets of the Federal Capital Territory as motorists and passengers raised alarm over the growing menace of touts seizing vehicles and slapping hefty fines on unsuspecting road users.<\/p>\n<p>In scenes that have sparked widespread frustration, the touts, operating without legal backing, have taken over major routes, impounding vehicles at will and demanding arbitrary payments from both drivers and commuters.<\/p>\n<p>Victims recount harrowing experiences, with many describing how their vehicles were forcefully confiscated and released only after payments were made on the spot.<\/p>\n<p>Some motorists lamented the absence of law enforcement officers to check the activities of these self-appointed enforcers.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This is outright extortion. These touts stop us, seize our cars, and demand money without any official receipt or explanation,&#8221; a frustrated driver told reporters.<\/p>\n<p>Passengers have also been caught in the crossfire, with many stranded as drivers hesitate to ply routes notorious for these aggressive operations.<\/p>\n<p>Residents are now calling on the FCT authorities and security agencies to urgently intervene and restore sanity to the roads.<\/p>\n<p>They stress that the unchecked activities of these touts not only disrupt daily life but also threaten public safety.<\/p>\n<p>As the calls for action grow louder, all eyes are on the FCT administration to dismantle these illegal checkpoints and safeguard the rights of law-abiding citizens<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Njoku Chijioke Chaos has gripped the streets of the Federal Capital Territory as motorists and passengers raised alarm over the growing menace of touts seizing vehicles and slapping hefty fines on unsuspecting road users. In scenes that have sparked widespread frustration, the touts, operating without legal backing, have taken over major routes, impounding vehicles [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":64194,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[181],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64193"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64212,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64193\/revisions\/64212"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}