Checkpoints mounted by police officers on Nigerian roads nationwide remain prohibited, the Inspector General of Police Mohammed Adamu has said.
Mr Adamu who reiterated this while speaking in an interview with Channels Television yesterday warned that any officer caught mounting checkpoints will be lawfully dealt with.
Officers often extort money from commuters at checkpoints which are mostly found in the South-East geo-political zone.
“To date, checkpoints in terms of roadblocks are banned, any police officer that engages in that is doing an illegal duty and if he is caught will answer for it,” Mr Adamu warned.
The police boss said rather than mount checkpoints, the officers are allowed to embark on stop-and-search operation while on patrol.
“What we have is stop and search; while you’re on patrol and you suspect a group of people or vehicles, then you stop them, ask questions. If you want to search, if you think there are any incriminating items in the vehicle, search, if you don’t see anything, they pass,” Adamu explained adding that a monitoring unit has been set up to ensure compliance.
