The Police in Lagos State, through the Lagos Police Command, had stated that some officers attached to the command have begun trial after an alleged extortion of over one million naira from three members of the National Youth Service Corps in the state. It was disclosed that there were four officers being tried.
In a publication made on X on Thursday by one user named Oluyemi Fasipe, he claimed that the police officers attached to the Area C Police Command in Surulere had allegedly collected a total of one million naira from three persons who belonged to the National Youth Corps.
Reports indicate that the corps members were stopped by the police along the Surulere expressway; after the stop, the police officers surrounded their vehicle and immediately began to search it, leading to a confrontation and argument between the corps members and the police officers. It was disclosed that after a long confrontation, the vehicle belonging to the corps members was taken to the Area C police station, where the extortion was claimed to have taken place.
The user who made the claim noted that the police force in Surulere extorted one million naira from three corps members. He noted that they were threatened with firearms, kidnapped, and taken to the Kafaru Oluwole Tinubu House, Area C Police Command of Lagos state, where they were robbed. The user also noted that the offence was the absence of a physical copy of a driver’s license,” he posted.
In a video released by one of the corps members, which was recorded through a spy camera during the argument, the officer was heard asking the driver of the vehicle for his driver’s license. The driver had equally told him he was renewing it, the answer according to him led to an argument with the police demanding to see the paper driver licence.
The argument led the officer to remove the plate number of the vehicle, with the other policemen threatening that they would be molested if they didn’t cooperate with the police.
Another voice record which had circulated after the incident had heard a corps member claiming that the police officers had called the sum of N200,000 from two of them.
He explained that the officer had directed him to long into his NYSC portal. While trying to log in, one snatched his phone. He further explained that the officers started going through messages and pictures on the phone. He claimed that the officer had asked the corps members where he had gotten money to purchase a car; he explained that he had told them the car belonged to his mum, but the officers, in turn, requested N10 million.
He disclosed that he had told them he could not afford the requested amount but could pay to give them N50,000, but they declined the officer and searched his account, where they found N116,000. He further disclosed that he had told them he would be able to give them N100,000, but they insisted on a larger amount, with the officer suggesting he call all the individuals related to him to send in money.
.He noted that the officer had heard him talking to the girlfriend on the phone to send in N200,000. According to the record, he noted that his family already knew he was with the police because a call was placed prior to the mother. immidetly they were stopped by the police, and noted that the mum had equally called the girlfriend, who said such an amount was not available.
He also claimed that the officer had seen about N200,000 in the account of one of the corps members, and they requested him to send them N100,000; they also said he should hand in his ATM card where the withdrawal would be initiated. He further noted that the police had forced one of them to transfer his Bitcoin worth $842.
In a reaction, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, noted that the officers involved in the incident had been identified and were under interrogation, with trials initiated to unravel the truth about the incident.