“You no wan pay the money abi, oya bring the particulars. This keke is going to the station. You no get the money, abi?”

Joy Aghama, a tricycle driver who resides in Ijede, the Ikorodu area of Lagos State, was returning home from work on Monday night when some police officers attached to the Ijede Police Station stopped her.

After making her stop, one of the officers told her to give them money for a hitch-free passage, but she told them she had nothing to give to them.

Irritated by her refusal to part with cash, the officer and his colleagues then demanded for her tricycle documents. In addition, they also swore to detain the three-wheeled vehicle at their station if she remained uncooperative.

READ ALSO: For Refusing to Pay ₦100 Bribe, Lagos Police Claim Physically-Challenged Tricycle Driver Is a Cultist

“I made calls, asking someone to help fetch the papers for me. I then called the station’s DCO, but her number was not reachable,” Aghama told FIJ.

“While I was trying to make these calls, I also asked them to be patient and not take the tricycle away because it was not fully mine yet. I am yet to fully pay the agreed amount to its original owner. Despite paying for it periodically, the owner had been magnanimous enough in allowing me keep its papers with me.

“But the officers would not listen to me. In the twinkling of an eye, one of them grabbed me by the hair and slammed my head on the tricycle windscreen. The windscreen got shattered instantly. They then dragged me out of the tricycle and started dragging me on the floor like I was a criminal.”

Aghama, speaking in-between tears, also told FIJ that she eventually ended up at their station at about 8 pm on Monday.

During the period, a friend finally brought the documents the police officers requested for to her.

READ ALSO: After FIJ’s Story, Lagos Police Release Physically Challenged Tricycle Driver

Despite finally being shown the document they had requested for however, the police officers refused to release her.

It was at this point that they accused her of assaulting and tearing the uniforms of the policemen who arrested her. This, they said, would cost her some money in bail fee.

“I had some money in the keke, so I sent my friend’s husband and one of the officers to check and take the ₦18,000 I had in one of the compartments,” Aghama said.

“After they took they took the ₦18,000 from me, they let me go at about 10 pm. On my way out however, I discovered that the ₦50,000 I had in another compartment had gone missing. I intended using that money as further part payment for the keke.

“This meant that the officers at Ijede Police Station stole ₦68,000 from me altogether. I left their station without any money, and without a windscreen.”

When FIJ called Sunday Oluwadare, DPO of the station, for comments on the matter on Tuesday morning, “he told this reporter to tell Aghama to come and see him”.

FIJ also called the Police Complaints Rapid Response Unit, and a respondent promised to escalate the matter.

Earlier, FIJ reported how police officers attached to the same division assaulted and detained a physically challenged tricycle driver on the same day.

Ojukwu is a reporter with FIJ in partnership with Report for the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe.