Man accuses officers of extortion in Lagos, police begin probe

A Lagos resident, Nasir Ahmed, has accused three policemen of extorting him after allegedly stopping his vehicle on the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway and accusing him of driving against traffic.

The Lagos State Police Command said it was investigating the allegation, but added that it had yet to establish a link between one of the persons identified by Ahmed and the police.

Ahmed said the incident happened on Thursday while he was on his way to work and had stopped at Pinnacle Filling Station along the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway.

Recounting Ahmed’s account in a Facebook post, his friend, Abdulqadr Hanzolah, said the policemen stopped him shortly after he left the filling station and attempted to join the expressway.

“Shortly after I left the filling station and attempted to join the expressway, three police officers in a Korope bus blocked my vehicle and alleged that I had followed a one-way route,” Hanzolah quoted Ahmed as saying.

According to Hanzolah, one of the officers was wearing a uniform bearing the name Michael Monday.

He said the officers entered Ahmed’s vehicle and insisted that they would take him to Alausa, Ikeja.

“I called people I knew to intervene and explain the situation, but the officers refused to listen,” the post quoted Ahmed as saying.

Hanzolah said the policemen instead drove Ahmed through several locations, including Apapa, Mile 2, Oshodi, Ilupeju, Palmgrove and Onipanu.

“During this period, they demanded ₦500,000 from me before they would release me. They later reduced the amount and stated that the least they would accept was ₦250,000,” Ahmed was quoted as saying.

The Facebook post said that while the group was at Ilasamaja, the policemen were using Ahmed’s vehicle to carry out otheir operations.

According to Hanzolah, one of the officers later asked the others to leave the vehicle and stop another car while he negotiated with Ahmed.

The officer allegedly instructed Ahmed to transfer ₦6,000 to an OPay account belonging to Lukumon Aro Olaseni.

“He provided the account from memory while driving,” the post quoted Ahmed as saying.

Ahmed subsequently made the ₦6,000 transfer, according to the post.

Hanzolah said the policemen later gave Ahmed another account belonging to Emomotimi Rollins Kwasi and asked him to transfer money to it.

The transaction was unsuccessful because of network problems, according to the post.

Hanzolah said the policemen then asked Ahmed whether he had cash and searched his vehicle to verify the amount he said he had available.

The post said the officers subsequently took Ahmed to a POS stand in Ilupeju, where ₦50,000 was withdrawn from his account.

Ahmed also told PUNCH Online on Saturday that he had to seek financial assistance from friends during the incident.

“I had to borrow money from friends in order to raise the amount demanded because of the situation I found myself in,” he said.

He said his transaction history showed that he bought fuel worth ₦15,000 before two friends transferred ₦9,000 and ₦30,000 to him.

Ahmed said the records could establish the source and timing of the funds involved in the incident.

In his complaint to the Lagos State Police Command’s Complaint Response Unit on Thursday, Ahmed wrote, “Kindly help intervene in unlawful extortion and waste of my resources, round-tripping from Cele, Apapa, Oshodi, Ilupeju and Palmgrove meted out to me today before Cele bus stop along Apapa-Oshodi Expressway by policemen.”

He gave the command details of the alleged incident, including the name Michael Monday, which he said was on the uniform of one of the officers.

He also supplied details of the accounts to which he said he was instructed to transfer money.

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After reaching his office, Ahmed said he called the OPay number to which the ₦6,000 had been transferred in an attempt to establish whether he could recognise the voice of the person who answered.

He also contacted the Lagos State Police Command through its complaint response channel and sent evidence of the alleged payments and a photograph of the policeman.

The command subsequently sent him a photograph and asked, “Was this person part of the people that collected money from you, sir?”

Ahmed replied, “Yes.”

He added, “He asked me to transfer 6k to his OPay account before they gave me another account details which network wasn’t okay before they took me to POS point at Ilupeju to withdraw 50,000.”

The Complaint Response Unit subsequently replied, “Investigation ongoing.”

Speaking to PUNCH Online, Ahmed said he had not received a further update from the police after his complaint.

He said he contacted the command through its official complaint channel after receiving the number from a media organisation.

“I sent the evidence, the evidence of payment and the picture of the policeman that I gathered. The OPay number that transferred the money and the smart one that remained,” Ahmed said.

He said the person handling the complaint later asked him to resend the information.

“So I sent the picture and everything I sent to them. I haven’t got feedback since Thursday,” he said.

Ahmed said he was later informed that the matter was being investigated.

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Adebisi, told PUNCH Online that the command was aware of the case and had commenced steps to establish what happened.

Adebisi said the command had examined the two accounts linked to the alleged payments.

“We don’t have such a name in our record,” she said, referring to the name attached to one of the accounts.

She said the command was seeking permission from the Commissioner of Police to proceed with its findings and locate the person.

“We are taking permission from the CP to proceed with our findings in locating the guy,” Adebisi said.

The police spokesperson also confirmed that the photograph supplied by Ahmed had been examined.

“Yes, the uniform picture he sent to us,” she said.

Adebisi said the command also checked a TikTok account linked to the person in the photograph but did not find a connection between the person and the police.

“We checked through the TikTok page, no, nothing to link the man to the account,” she said.

She, however, stressed that the lack of an established link did not mean the allegation had been dismissed.

“That doesn’t mean that we are not investigating. We are. We are taking further steps that I cannot share with you at the moment,” Adebisi said.

According to her, the Commissioner of Police was aware of the matter and Ahmed would be contacted if investigators established a link or required him to participate in an identification process.

“As soon as we have a link or call him to come around for identification, but he should just calm down and give us time,” she said.

In a follow-up response to Ahmed on Saturday, the police CRU said, “We are still investigating the issue. We will get back to you, sir.”