Published 29th Dec, 2021

By Daniel Ojukwu

On Tuesday, Solomon Buchi, a renowned relationship coach, tweeted about how policemen kidnapped him and his younger brother the previous night.

The officers, according to Buchi, stopped the commercial vehicle he and his brother boarded, paid the driver off and drove them from Wuse 2 in Abuja to the outskirts of the capital city.

“Five hundred thousand naira out of N617,000 in my account. Just like that? I was squeezed in the boot; I nearly passed out. They threatened to kill. They said they worked for the Inspector-General of Police. When they dropped us off, all I saw was BWR 127QO as the plate number. I’m not sure of the last two letters though,” Buchi tweeted.

When FIJ contacted Frank Mba, force headquarter’s spokesman, he said, “They could be police officers operating as rogues. They could also be criminals claiming to be police officers.”

FAKE NUMBER PLATE

When our reporter went to the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) office in Ojodu, Lagos, to trace the number in Buchi’s tweet, Rahila Koli, the corps commander in charge of the office, said they do not give information on number plates as they are personal data.

However, on condition of anonymity, a worker at the FRSC told our reporter that the corps does not issue number plates that end with ‘QO’ to vehicles.

He said, “You cannot find ‘QO’ on a vehicle. We have QA, QC and others for motorcycles, but not for vehicles. The number plate is fake”.

FORENSIC ANALYSIS

Although, this officer emphatically stated there was no way the number plate could belong to a licenced vehicle, it was not enough to come to a verdict, as Buchi had earlier stated he was not sure of the last two letters.

Our reporter went further to confirm that FRSC-issued number plates usually start with three letters, followed by two to three numbers and then end with two letters.

Our reporter subjected the number plate to an authenticity test, using the National Vehicle Identification System, which, contrary to Koli’s claim, provides information on verified number plates, the vehicle type and colour.

When this reporter checked for ‘BWR127QO’ on the platform, it showed no information. Checks for other variations of the number, using letters that bear remote semblance to the last two letters, also returned no information.

However, when FIJ searched for a verified number plate, it showed information on the vehicle type and colour.

This throws more mystery into the identity of the men who abducted and robbed Buchi on Tuesday night.

Like Frank Mba said, rogue policemen or criminals may be parading the streets of Abuja robbing unsuspecting people.

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