Lagos Police extorted N100,000 from me, barber narrates sad

Gbenga Oloniniran and Uthman Salami

Some yet-to-be-identified policemen in Lagos State have allegedly extorted a man who identified himself as Precious Onwubuya, of the sum of N100,000.

This latest development comes barely a day after the Lagos State Police Command, on Wednesday, announced the dismissal of a sergeant, Ekpo Shimuyere, who was attached to the Sogunle Division, for extorting a young man of N98,000.

Onwubuya, who also revealed that he is a barber, took to his Twitter handle @alilmoonn, on Thursday, to narrate his ordeal, stating that he was abused by the policemen numbering up to four in a vehicle, with a driver.

He said, on his way back from Ikoyi, where he had gone to collect his marriage certificate, the policemen who were driving behind him asked his Uber driver to stop. He said this was around Second Rainbow area.

According to him, he was allegedly taken to a Point of Sale outlet where he made the payment. The receipt of the POS slip posted by Onwubuya, dated June 1, 2023, showed the sum of N100,800 payment was approved, with the N800 suspected to be the POS charges.

“They were four men plus the driver. (I) was coming back from the Federal Registry at Ikoyi. These men stopped my Uber driver and asked him to open his boot, and he did.

“The policemen found nothing, the other one asked me to come down and meet their boss, I did, and the boss asked me to enter inside the car they were using to patrol, they carried me and said they wanted to report me to the Economic and Finacial Crimes Commission. I'm a barber by profession, I have my certificate.

“I'm innocent, these men pressed me to the extent I couldn't breathe and I was begging them so I could take some air, they refused, they said I'm using an iPhone 14 pro max, (that) I'm into fraud. I swear on my life I have never done anything like that in my life!” he narrated.

Continuing, the victim stressed, “the policemen told me to pay them N2 million. Firstly, they took my phone from me, I can't even reach my mom or family. I told them that I don't have up to that amount they're requesting, and I pleaded with them to stop, so I could, but they never listened! It's so sad Nigeria,” the tweep added.

He said they later made him pay N100,000 after discovering he didn't have up to the N2million they allegedly requested from him.

According to him, the policemen said they would take him to the EFCC or beat him if he didn't pay the money.

“So, the man checked my UBA balance and found out I didn't have such an amount and (told) them to collect 100k from me. I did nothing, they didn't see any fraud activity on my phone, the man said if I didn't pay, they would beat me or take me to the EFCC and lock me up.

“I was begging, I told them it's my hard-earned money. Nigeria is hard and these men are still making it unbearable for us. It's very sad. They took the 100k from my bank. I couldn't take pictures of the police because they were with my phone.

“I only have the picture from the POS slip. These men are in the second rainbow, Lagos State,” he added.

Efforts to get the reaction of the Lagos police spokesman, Benjamin Hundeyin, proved abortive as his line was busy when a voice call was initiated.

However, reacting to Onwubuya's tweet on Twitter via his handle @BenHundeyin, the PPRO, who seemed to be aware of the report, told the alleged victim to keep the police updated.

Hundeyi advised, “Just as we discussed on the phone, follow through with the Area Commander's advise and keep us updated.

“We will not be deterred in our resolve to rid the Force of bad eggs. We will not!” Hundeyin insisted in the tweet reacting to Onwubuya.