Delta Court Sentences 3 To Prison Over Illegal Revenue Collection

A Revenue Mobile Court in Delta State, sitting in the Asaba Judicial District, has sentenced three persons to imprisonment for illegal road blocks and collection of revenue on  Asaba-Benin Expressway.

The convicts are Ifeanyi Obinor, 34, from Aniocha North local government area, Delta State; Victor Joseph, 28, from Gombi local government area, Adamawa State; and Burema Midingawa, 19, from Karim Lamido local government area, Taraba State.

The Delta State Internal Revenue Service Task Force on Illegal Revenue Collectors, acting on a tip-off, swooped on an illegal group impersonating government revenue agents and extorting levies ranging from N10,000 to N15,000 from truck drivers on the Asaba-Benin Expressway, at Issele-Uku junction.

The court, in its decision on the case brought before it by the Task Force on Illegal Revenue Collectors, sentenced Obinor to three years’ imprisonment with hard labour or an option of a fine of N1.5 million

The duo of Joseph and Midingawa were handed two years’ imprisonment each or an option of a fine of N1million.

The imprisonment is to commence forthwith upon the expiration of any other terms and are to be concurrent and consecutive.

It was gathered that the group usually commenced their illegal activities at 8:00 pm daily, blocking the highway with heavy logs and causing massive gridlocks on the expressway.

A source revealed, “Following public outcry against the menace of these touts, the DSIRS Taskforce and Operation Delta Sweep raided the location on March 12, 2026, arresting three individuals at the scene while others, including security agents, escaped into the bush”.

The source continued, “On March 17, 2026, the three suspects – Burema Midingawa, Victor Joseph, and Obinor Ifeanyi, were arraigned at the Revenue Mobile Court, presided over by a Senior Magistrate, and sentenced to various jail terms after pleading guilty to the charge of illegal revenue collection”.

Reacting to the development, the executive chairman, Delta State Internal Revenue Service, (lRS), Hon Solomon Ighrakpata, decried the continued involvement of persons in illegal revenue collections in the state, despite repeated sensitisation and warnings against such practices.

Ighrakpata said the IRS was not relenting in its efforts to curb the menace, saying that such activities undermine the state’s revenue service law and create an unfavorable business environment.