A Federal Road Safety Officer, identified by www.calitown.com as H. I. Ezema, male, caused a stir late Friday afternoon when he harassed and thoroughly embarrassed the former deputy governor of Cross River State, Efiok Cobham, in Calabar, under the guise of performing his functions.
An eye witness at the scene, Cross River senior citizen, Ray Ugba Morphy, informed www.calitown.com that trouble actually started with him when one female Road Safety official at a checkpoint mounted on the Murtala Mohammed highway, by the state secretariat, insisted that a sick but sleeping child, being taken to hospital in an emergency situation, must be removed from the front seat.
The driver of the vehicle, who is also the father of the child is said to have insisted that since it was an emergency and he had driven out of the house with the child alone, before Morphy joined them midway, having prompt medical access in an emergency situation, should override every other road regulation, something the officer did not agree to. While the faceoff ensued, a long queue of vehicles had begun to form with some occupants alighting from their vehicles to intercede.
Cobham, former deputy governor to Liyel Imoke, we gather, happened on the scene, approached the officers and pleaded that a truce be reached, something Ezema will hear nothing about. “I was thoroughly embarrassed by his refusal to listen to His Excellency. I, Chief Ray Ugba Morphy, I told the officer that it was a former deputy governor who was talking to him. He replied, “So what?”, Morphy wrote to tell us.
Shortly after, “…he stopped a lady in her jeep, she showed her documents, which were all intact. He then, in a bid to find fault in her by all means, said her tyre had expired. The lady said she was on her way to church for a funeral, and he insisted on delaying her. His Excellency Effiok Cobham, who was also on his way to the same church, intervened This officer refused to budge”, Morphy also said.
At press time, attempts to speak with the Public Relations Officer of the FRSC, Cross River State Command, proved abortive as he didn’t take calls nor return the message we sent to him.
