IG, prosecute N3m extortionist officers

THE extortion of a Ghana-based Nigerian businessman, Liberty Isaac, of N3 million at gunpoint by some officers should offer the Nigeria Police Force the opportunity to deplete the ranks of the bad eggs in its fold and redeem its battered image.

Travellers and drivers experience extortion at the hands of police officers charged with the responsibility of protecting them.

It is sad that three years after the ignoble #EndSARS protests that put the police in a bad light, extortion by the police has continued to manifest in manifold and diverse dimensions.

It is the most endemic in the corruption profile of the police. The force should go beyond the puerile rhetoric of “Police is your friend” and “bail is free” to engage in a sustained image-laundering campaign powered by strong surveillance and intelligence networks that will restore its lost glory.
Isaac’s experience portrays the impunity and shamelessness with which the bad eggs in the force carry out their disgraceful acts. In a world in which electronic transfer is traceable and self-indicting, some officers in Udi, Bayelsa State, accosted Isaac, ordered him to unlock his phone, and brutalised him. The rascals handed him two account details and forced him to transfer N3 million of the N10 million in his account to them in two tranches.

Isaac was in the country to attend a friend’s traditional wedding ceremony but fell victim to the roguery of the police. The designers of electronic banking envision safe and seamless transactions, trusting the police to collaborate to handle the grey areas. But the evil geniuses in the Nigeria Police are throwing a spanner in the works. The police must fish them out.

Interestingly, Isaac decided to escape with his life by acceding to the request of the rogues of the highway, following the path of the law later. His N3 million was returned to him on bond by the leadership of Zone 16 Zonal Command in Bayelsa following the complaint lodged by his lawyer. Isaac was lucky.
Many Nigerians in his shoes lost their money and their lives. According to the Force Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, the errant officers have been arrested.

Rightly, Isaac wants the rogue officers to face the full wrath of the law to sanitise the force and help society. “… I am still seeking proper justice. These officers should be made to face the law for their actions. This is armed robbery and a kidnapping case.” All the relevant legal angles must be addressed.

The police leadership has returned the money and arrested the culprits. But that is just the midway in the journey to justice and sanitising the force. The Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, must cause them to face the law.

Every reported case is a torch that exposes the hearts of darkness. So, prosecution is the only way for the police to come out clean and build the people’s confidence. It is the way to deter the bad eggs in the force.

Sadly, the police, paid to protect citizens, are the ones extorting and brutalising Nigerians. In February, some officers attached to the Special Tactical Squad in Abuja extorted N30 million from a citizen.

Adejobi said, “They stopped the young man on the road, took him to their car, started checking his phones, checked his account balance and that was how they wiped everything off to two accounts they gave the boy, Access Bank and Moniepoint.” The errant officers were arrested.

The Isaac story offers lessons for the public. Nigerians should speak out against police oppression, using the instrumentality of the law. Citizens embolden the bullies when they suffer in silence.