Come Up With Your Proof – Police
A Nigerian man has narrated how some police officers stopped him along a highway in Nigeria on his way to the airport and allegedly extorted N80,000 after falsely accusing him of being a “Yahoo boy” (Internet fraudster) and a cultist.
The man said the officers took advantage of the fact that he was anxious to meet up with his flight.
The incident happened on 10 July in Rivers State, South-south Nigeria, while the man was on his way to Port Harcourt Airport, he said.
He said he missed his flight because of the incident.
The man, who shared on Twitter his experience, uploaded a video of one officer, which he secretly recorded during the incident. The 32 seconds video shows the armed officer making a phone call inside a car.
He also posted on the microblogging platform details of the withdrawals he made via POS for the officers.
“I was heading to the airport and had a flight by 12:30 p.m….they stopped me at around 11:30 a.m., asked me to come down, searched me & said I was a yahoo boy & cultist, they even slapped me & threatened me when I said NO that I wasn’t.
“I had to give them money so I could leave before I’m hurt or killed and also try to catch my flight.
“When I got to the airport at almost 12:30 because of how long they held me, the flight had already left! I was devastated. I had to reschedule another flight again and wait till 7 pm.,” the man said via his Twitter handle @ndubuisi_nick.
The man said the officers entered the car he was inside and ordered the driver to “move ahead” when he (the victim) was reluctant to give them money. He said the officers initially demanded N300,000.
“I didn’t know where they were taking me to. They kept on saying that they will deal with me; I was so scared for my life,” he said.
Police react
The police in Rivers State reacted on Twitter to the man’s tweet.
“Please, can you come to the Public Relations Department of the Rivers State Police Command with evidence of transfer so as to track the police operatives that exploited you?” the police tweeted at the man.
“We have called on Nigerians several times, and we are still calling to stop transferring money to these policemen rather than report their conduct to the nearest Police Station or call 09014273818,” the police added.
“It wasn’t a transfer!! They took me to a POS centre to send money to the POS operative to get cash and give it to them!” the man responded to the tweet from the police.
Cases of police extortion are rampant on Nigerian highways. Some of the helpless victims move on after such an incident, while others take to social media to expose the officers involved.
Some officers last year extorted N1 million from a student at gunpoint in Edo State, South-south Nigeria.
The officers were later arrested, and the money was retrieved and handed over to the student after the incident went viral on Twitter.
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