Poly Student Accuses Lagos Policemen Of Extortion

Cursory: A Nigerian student has lamented over an alleged extortion by the Nigerian police. The young man who was detained despite not having anything illegal on him, revealed that, he was subsequently taken to the station where he was extorted by the officers.

Sanni Faruk, a student of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, has laid really strong accusations on police officers. He accused some policemen attached to the Meiran Police Division in the Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State of extorting N155,000 meant for his hostel fee.

The student said he was heading to school from home on Sunday, February 12, when the officers stopped the bus he was in at the Abule Egba area of the community. He said the policemen asked him to alight and searched him.

According to the young man, nothing was found on him, however, the officers took him into their van and drove him to their police station, where he was asked to transfer the money to an account.

He said:

“After searching me and they did not find any exhibit on me, they asked me to follow them to the station and when I asked them what my offence was, they did not say anything. I later obliged and entered the van. When we got to the station, they checked my phone and saw some transactions on it. That was when they asked me to transfer N155,000 from my account. After then, one of the officers again asked me to transfer another N5,000 for airtime recharge.

“I explained to them that the money was my hostel fee, but they said that was none of their business. They insisted that I should transfer it or I would be detained. I also told them to let me call my dad so that they could talk to him to confirm my claim, but they did not permit me. They gave me an account and I transferred it. It was after that they released me.”

The victim identified the policemen by their first names as Obi, Ajayi, Kenneth and Titus, adding that one of them also gave him his number to save as Officer Chris.The receipt of the transaction indicated that the money was paid into an Opay account at 1.23pm.Faruk further disclosed that he was arrested with some other young men who were also extorted at the station.

He said:

“I met four other persons that were arrested from other locations in the van. They were also asked to pay money before they could be released. I saw some of them begging them with N5,000 and N10,000 saying that was all they had, but they did not collect it from them.”

He, however, stated that the Divisional Police Officer, SP Toyosi Shokunbi, pleaded with him and promised to refund the money after reporting the incident to his elder brother and an official of the Student Union Government in his school.

But Shokunbi, when contacted on the telephone, said she only promised to investigate the matter and ensure that indicted policemen are brought to book.

The Police Public Relations Officer, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, could not be reached for comment as calls made to his telephone were not answered.A text message sent to him had yet to be replied to as of the time this report was filed.

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