Cases of police brutality, extortion, extrajudicial killings and other unprofessional activities in Nigeria have continued despite sanctions by police authorities, such as dismissal from service.
The Nigeria Police Force says it has arrested and detained one of its officers for allegedly extorting N10,000 from a motorist in Lagos State, Nigeria’s South-west.
The arrest and detention of the officer followed a video clip circulating on Facebook in which the unidentified motorist accused the officer of extorting N10,000 from him.
Apart from his voice, the clip did not show the motorist’s photograph.
But the officer was seen in the clip collecting money from the motorist.
The motorist, as seen in the clip, narrated to PREMIUM TIMES that a team of police officers stopped him at a checkpoint in Idimu, Lagos State.
He said the officer then asked for his vehicle documents and, after inspecting them, claimed the documents stated the car was grey, while the actual colour was ash.
The motorist said he appealed to the officer not to delay or punish him for such a flimsy excuse, but the officer paid no heed.
“He started chanting that he’s going to arrest me and delay me as well as take me inside their office,” he narrated.
The motorist said the officer initially asked him to pay N30,000, but later reduced it to N10,000 after he pleaded that the amount demanded was unavailable.
He recalled that the officer declined his several appeals that the N10,000 was the only money he had.
“I told my boy to withdraw the money for him, which he did before they (police officers) released me,” he recounted.
The officer was filmed handing over the vehicle’s document to the motorist and counting and confirming that the money was complete.
The motorist did not specifically indicate when the incident occurred, although the clip was uploaded to the X handle on Monday.
In the clip, he showed a photograph of his vehicle and its document, which refuted the officer’s claim that the colour in the document did not match that of the vehicle.
The photograph shows that the vehicle’s colour is ash, as indicated in the vehicle’s document.
Reacting in an X post on Tuesday, the Complaint Response Unit (CRU) of the police announced that the officer had been identified and arrested in connection with the incident.
“The officer in the viral video has been identified, queried, and he’s undergoing further investigation at the @LagosPoliceNG,” the CRU wrote on the microblogging platform.
The police unit did not mention the officer’s name, but a photograph of the officer uploaded on X by the unit showed his name tag as “Samson E.”
“The outcome of the investigation will be made known to the members of the public as soon as possible,” the CRU assured.
Police brutality, extortion and torture
Cases of police brutality, extortion, extrajudicial killings and other unprofessional activities in Nigeria have continued despite sanctions such as dismissal from service.
The latest incident occurred about two days after the Commissioner of Police in Delta State, Yemi Oyeniyi, ordered the “orderly room trial” of two police officers for allegedly using a POS machine to extort motorists inside a police station.
Three weeks ago, some police officers in Anambra State illegally arrested, tortured and extorted N1.4 million from some Nigerians.
The money was later refunded to the victims following public outrage.
Last month, police in Anambra State arrested and detained six senior officers who allegedly tortured and extorted N200,000 from a trader in Onitsha, the commercial hub of Anambra State.
In February, three officers were dismissed over alleged kidnapping, extorting N1.7 million and car snatching in Imo, another state in the South-east.
Two months ago, police operatives shot dead a private motorcyclist in Ebonyi State.
In November 2024, police operatives from the Crack Squad in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, shot dead a labourer and critically injured three others in the state.
A similar incident happened in Abakaliki in 2018 when a police officer shot and killed a commercial motorcyclist for allegedly refusing to give him a N50 bribe.
In August 2024, police operatives in Bayelsa State extorted N3 million from a Nigerian man at gunpoint.
