Probe Begins As Rivers Policemen Extort N40,000 From Passengers

A Nigerian Twitter user who is simply identified as @LifeOfNapaul has slammed police officers with a huge accusation.

He accused some policemen of extorting N40,000 from him and three other persons in Rivers State.

Narrating his ordeal in a series of tweets on Sunday evening, the victim said he boarded a public vehicle to a destination in Port Harcourt when the policemen stopped the vehicle and started searching him and three other passengers for incriminating evidence.

Noting that the policemen found nothing incriminating, the victim said the policemen demanded N50,000 from them, adding that he alongside the other three victims parted with N10,000 each before they were allowed to continue the journey.

His post read, “I’m so tired and exhausted mentally because this has been occurring. The last time, I was taken to the police station, bundled like a criminal, because I use an iPhone.

“Today (Sunday), on my way to PH via public transport, in the middle of nowhere, we were told to park, I was searched, my WhatsApp chats were opened one by one, every app was searched and they found nothing.

“Bruh, in the middle of nowhere, these guys said they wouldn’t free us until we ‘serviced’ them, we were just four guys in the Sienna, the rest were women. They told the driver to leave us but I kept begging the driver to stay.”

The victim said the encounter lasted for over one hour, adding that when he attempted to engage the policemen to resolve the matter peacefully, he was handcuffed.

He wrote, “Bro, I’m not a criminal, they said I’m a suspect, I kept asking ‘how?’ At that moment, I was so angry. The officers asked for N50,000, and in the end, we paid 10k each, 10k each for being a Nigerian youth. The funny thing is that these so-called officers were counting the money they made from extortion in front of us.

“The account number I sent the money to was a woman’s account number and I searched Facebook and discovered she lives in Abuja. I didn’t get their names, the Hilux they used wasn’t the official Nigeria Police Hilux and it had no plate number.”

The victim attached a picture of one of the policemen involved in the alleged extortion to the post.

Reacting, the Rivers State Police Command, in a tweet using its handle, @RiversPoliceNG, said the state Commissioner of Police, Nwonyi Emeka, condemned the action of the policemen.

“The Commissioner of Police we have in Rivers State Command has zero tolerance for such shameful acts, the officer will be identified and face disciplinary measures while your money will be refunded,” the police stated.