Olumuyiwa Abiodun, a Lagos State resident, has narrated how a group of policemen led by one Taiwo Ogunbodede, an inspector, extorted N12,000 from him after accusing him of ‘wrongfully changing lanes’ along Ikorodu road on October 6.

Abiodun told FIJ that he had simply made use of the interchange that links motorists to Ikorodu road from the flyover at Anthony Bus Stop when the police officers ordered him to stop and forcefully entered his vehicle.

“I was driving my Mitsubishi Carisma car along Anthony area on October 6 and when I descended from the flyover, I joined the traffic and then the ramp that connects motorists to Ikorodu road in order to come back to Yaba,” Abiodun said.

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“Suddenly, one police officer, whose name I would later know to be Inspector Taiwo Ogunbodede, also popularly called ‘Enilolobo’, ordered me to stop and forcefully entered my car.

“He then ordered me to stop my car at gunpoint and seized my car key.

“I asked him my offence; he replied by saying “I joined the traffic immediately under the flyover”.

“Bemused, I asked him if what he had just said was a joke, but he said he was serious about it. He also added that the government had now “made my offence an offence”.

Abiodun said he would later discover that Ogunbodede and the other officers who answer to him were a police unit attached to the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) office in Oshodi.

“As I was speaking with him, he passed my car key to another officer who drove my car to their LASTMA office in Oshodi. I had to take a ride to their office and while I was going, he gave me his personal phone line to call him when I got to their Oshodi office so as to negotiate my fine with him,” Abiodun said.

Abiodun said when he got to LASTMA’s Oshodi office, he met tens of hundreds of victims with similar stories in front of their gate.

“It was boldly written on LASTMA’s entrance gate that videoing, taking pictures and phone calls are not allowed,” the motorist said.

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“Eventually, Ogunbodede asked me to talk to one officer inside their office. When I met the officer I was referred to, he wrote N12,000 on a small piece of paper and asked me to go and give the cash to another officer before my car could be released.

“When I eventually got my car back and was about leaving their premises, the officer at the gate collected the piece of paper from me and tore it immediately. I observed that the crime these LASTMA and police officers perpetrate in this state is so organised that it makes it difficult for victims to get justice.”

When FIJ called Taiwo Ogunbodede on his phone line, he demanded to know how this reporter got his number.

He also denied the allegation and challenged Abiodun to come to his office and prove all he had said.

“How did you get my number? I only give my phone number to people I know and it could be possible that I gave my number to him (Abiodun) on passionate grounds,” Ogunbodede said.

“As an inspector, I cannot be so foolish to give my number to the person I arrested because of N12,000. How much is it? If he is sure of his claim he should come to me and prove it.”