Ifenna Okeke, a website designer, has narrated how police officers from the Area E Police Station, Festac, Lagos, extorted N300,000 from him.
Okeke told FIJ he was on a Bolt ride heading to the Festival Mall at about 2:30 pm on Wednesday when some police officers stopped his driver and ordered him to alight and give himself up for a search.
Okeke, who could not remember the area where the officers stopped him, said he was shocked to see so many police officers in the area that day.
“When I alighted, they asked for my profession. I told them I was a web designer. Then they asked for my ID card and my office. I was angry because it’s a remote job. They asked me to unlock my phone,” he told FIJ.
“I reminded them that the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) had said no one should open their phones for a police officer to search. One of them got angry when I said that. He then ordered my driver to drive to their station, saying I had to tell their Divisional Police Officer (DPO) the same thing.”
According to Okeke, the Bolt driver did not argue, but drove them to the station. He said he suspected the driver and the officers worked hand-in-hand.
When they got to the police station, an officer took him to the DPO, who immediately asked him to cooperate if he had the intention of leaving.
“They saw some of my works, such as ID cards, on my phone. Then they began to ask me if I knew the people on the ID cards. I told them my duty was to design alone,” he said.
Later, the officers coerced him into writing a statement. Okeke was desperate to leave the police station, as he had a plan to leave Lagos by Friday.
Aware of his desperation, the officers told him to pay N5 million. He then negotiated with them.
At some point, the officers asked him to bail himself out with N500,000, but another officer, the one who arrested him, said he should pay N300,000.
“When I agreed, they escorted me to a nearby POS shop where I paid N305,000,” he said, “N300,000 for the police and N5,000 as charges.”
FIJ made several calls to CSP Adekunle Ajisebutu, the Lagos State police spokesperson, but they were not answered. At press time, he had not responded to a text sent to his phone.
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