A commercial tricycle operator in Awka yesterday got a beating of his life from a group of touts for insisting on not paying cash to them as directed by the new governor of Anambra State, Professor Charles Soludo.
The governor had during his inauguration last week directed that commercial vehicle operators, including trycycle and motorcycle, should no longer pay cash to touts operating in the name of revenue generation across the state.
He said that an acceptable system of revenue collection would be put in place to ensure that people were not unduly taxed. In most towns in the state, touts print illegal tickets which they use to collect money from drivers.
It was gathered that the touts, numbering three, had accosted the Keke driver at the park close to the popular UNIZIK junction and demanded the normal N200 fee before commencing the daily business.
The driver however told them that he heard the new governor warning people not to pay cash to anybody henceforth, a statement that infuriated the touts.
The trycycle operator was said to have told them to go and look for something else to be doing, as touting had expired in Anambra State, unless they were the only people who had not heard that Soludo had banned touting in the state.
But the touts insisted on collecting the money and told him they were not ready for jokes. In fact, one of them also told the Keke operator to call Soludo and tell him that they demanded the money.
They also told him that Soludo had just come, adding that he does not know how the system operates.
It was at this point that they pounced on him until he fell.
