Three
policemen, attached to the Lagos State Police Command have been dismissed for
extorting over N200, 000 from Nigerians and forcibly using their banking
facilities at gunpoint.
The affected
policemen have been identified as Inspector Okelue Nkemeonye AP.No 136005, sergeant
Braimoh Sunday F/No. 355897 and Sergeant Yusuf Olukoga, F/No. 359928.
Until their
dismissal, the three policemen worked with
Area ‘N’ Command Ijede-Ikorodu under the Lagos State Command.
The policemen, led by an Assistant Superintendent
of Police, (ASP) Bayo Obadia, used a police vehicle, embarked on arbitrary
arrest of several young Nigerians, whom they termed ‘Yahoo boys.’
The youngsters were released only
after they paid some money. Most of the money they extorted was paid into the
account of another alleged yahoo suspect. They also used his ATM to withdraw
the money.
The suspect, names withheld, said a
gun was used to threaten him and he was repeatedly slapped. He would later
report the matter to PCRRU, leading to investigation.
Assistant
Commissioner of Police (ACP), Abayomi Shogunle, in charge of Public Complaint
Rapid Response Unit (PCRRU) explained that on June 21, 2017 the PCRRU received
a complaint via WhatsApp number 0805
700 0003 which stated thus:
“My name is (withheld), I went to
the bank this morning to deposit money to a Company’s account (name withheld)
but there was no network, so I deposited the money into my personal account to
do the transfer to the account later. When I came out of the bank, I saw a car
packed full of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) policemen, wearing black clothes
with Anti-Robbery Squad written at the back. I was told to enter the vehicle
with a gun pointed at me. They collected my mobile phone and asked me what I do
for a living; I told them that I had just finished my youth service, and that I
was living with my brother. I pointed out my brother’s shop for them to stop by
and see him because he was the one that sent me to the bank. They refused to
wait; they did not allow me to either pick my calls or make a call. I received
an alert on my phone with the money I went to deposit. They searched my phone and
on seeing the alert, started saying I was a yahoo boy. They said I would have
to pay them N1m. One of them slapped me; they drove us around Ikorodu, Ijede,
Gberigbe, Ibeshe, Igbe, Ikpakodo, Itaelewa, Agric and first gate, harassing
people. They moved the people into their vehicle and collected huge sums of
money from them. They collected N50, 000.00 from me. I noticed that each
junction we reached, people hailed their leader by his nickname (OJ. Ojewunmi).
One of them, called Austin slapped me. They picked me up around 9am and dropped
me at about 6pm after collecting money from me. They even used my account to
collect money from the guys that I met in the car and used my ATM to withdraw
from them.”
Shogunle
noted: “Their dismissal followed an Orderly Room Trial at the Zone 2 Command
Headquarters, Onikan-Yaba, Lagos in which the men were found guilty by the adjudicating
officer on two charges of offence against discipline as provided for in
paragraphs C (ii) Corrupt Practices and E (iii) Discreditable Conduct of the
First Schedule of Police Act and Regulations Cap. P19. Law of the Federation of
Nigeria 2004.”
Shogunle
recounted: “Upon the receipt of the complaint, a case with Tracking Number PCRRU637624 was
registered and acknowledgment of complaint sent to the complainant. PCRRU
Investigation team was dispatched to Ikorodu where all the three dismissed
policemen including AP No. 98199 ASP Bayo Obadia who led the team were
apprehended. PCRRU preliminary investigation reveals that all the allegations
contained in the WhatsApp message actually happened. Also, the four police officers
who were armed on the day of the incident falsely paraded themselves as
operatives of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) despite not being posted to
SARS by police authorities.
“Investigation
also shows that the officers extorted a total sum of N200, 000 from the young
men whom they tagged ‘Yahoo Yahoo Boys.’ The money was collected from them via
N90,000 ATM withdrawal and N110,000 mobile bank money transfer to a third party
account provided by the policemen. All the extorted N200, 000 was recovered by
the PCRRU Investigators.”
According to Shogunle, the dismissal
of the policemen was in continuation of the current efforts of the IGP to flush
out unethical officers giving the Nigeria Police Force a bad image.
Shogunle
added that all the arrested officers, witnesses and recovered exhibits,
including the N200, 000 cash and printed bank statement of account were handed
over to the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Zone 2 Lagos for further
detailed investigation and necessary disciplinary measures.
“The
approval of the punishment of dismissal from service as recommended by the
Adjudicating Officer is part of the outcome of the disciplinary measures. In
the case of ASP Bayo Obadiah who led the team of the infamous men on this
unacceptable conduct, an Official Query was issued to him by the AIG Zone 2
Lagos, both his reply and Query has been forwarded to the office of the Force
Secretary, Force Headquarters, Abuja from where it would be proceeded to the
Police Service Commission as required by Police Regulations,” said Shogunle.
The
IGP has commended the complainant for coming forward to report the incident to
PCRRU. The IGP has also said that all allegations of professional misconduct
reported against any police officer would be treated in line with relevant laws
and in keeping to the “Change Begins With Me Champaign,” of the Federal
Government.
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