VIDEO: Police Officers Threaten To Shoot Corps Members, Extort N1Million From Them At Gunpoint
The Nigerian police have identified officers allegedly involved in the extortion of N1 million from three National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members in Surulere, Lagos State, on Thursday.
It was gathered that the officers are from Kafaru Oluwole Tinubu House, Area C Police Command, Surulere, Lagos State. They are accused of harassing the corps members during a stop-and-search operation.
In videos posted on X by one Oluyemi Fasipe on Thursday evening, a police officer is seen asking for the car documents of the vehicle’s occupants while threatening them with a gun.
Fásípè (@YemieFash) wrote, “Dear @BenHundeyin, Your officers today in Surulere extorted 1 million naira from 3 corps members. They were threatened with firearms, kidnapped, and taken to the KAFARU OLUWOLE TINUBU HOUSE AREA C POLICE COMMAND of the @LagosPoliceNG where they were robbed. Their offense was the absence of a physical copy of a driver’s license. This is evil.”
In one of the videos, an officer is also heard saying, “This one is fighting me, I give myself to gun, somebody give me gun, carry me come here and you are putting hand on me like this.”
The officers, however, instructed someone to remove the car owner’s license plate.
One of the officers said, “If you do anyhow, I will molest you. What do you mean?”
A police officer got into the car and instructed the corps members not to make any calls. When the corps members explained that they needed to inform their relatives about the situation, the officer insisted they put their phones away, threatening to write a statement against them if they did not comply.
The officer said, “If you reach the station, you make any call, me I’m telling you now, this is what we always do for our station, you don’t make call now, you go put your phone inside your pocket first.”
One of the corps members said, “If I am in the car with you, it means I cannot make the call, I cannot call anybody, nobody has to know where I am.
“But I need to call people they need to know where I’m going to, my loved ones.”
The officer said, “Put your phone inside your pocket because this is what I am going to give you statement to make.”
One of the corps members, who was driving, asked, “Why are we making statements? You said we were going there to photocopy.”
Meanwhile, the Lagos State Police Command PRO, Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed the incident on his X (formerly Twitter) account on Thursday, stating, “They are men of Area C, Surulere. The Area Commander has been contacted.
“The men have been identified. They are being interrogated.
“However, we need more than a verbal accusation. Kindly tell us more. The spy camera would have captured the exchange of money too, be it cash or transfer. Give us something to work it. Update as regards the outcome of the ongoing interrogation will be made available.”
Dear @BenHundeyin ,
Your officers today in Surulere extorted 1 million naira from 3 corps members. They were threatened with firearms, kidnapped, and taken to the KAFARU OLUWOLE TINUBU HOUSE AREA C POLICE COMMAND of the @LagosPoliceNG where they were robbed. Their offense was… pic.twitter.com/8nJeD0iIFq
