Published 16th Mar, 2022

By Emmanuel Uti

Michael Adibeli, a student at the Auchi Polytechnic in Edo State, has narrated how police officers at a checkpoint along Ore road in Benin, Edo State, extorted N380,000 from him at gunpoint.

Adibeli told FIJ that he was in a taxi heading to Auchi on Sunday when the officers stopped the vehicle at a checkpoint in Ore and asked to search him.

The officers found nothing on him and then asked him to unlock his phone, but he refused. They became offended and asked the driver to continue the journey without him, he said.

“When they realised I would not unlock my phone for them to see its content, they asked me to follow them to the police station. I agreed. But as soon as I entered their vehicle, they drove me to a bush,” said Adibeli.

He said the officers seized his phone as they got to the uncultivated area.

“Realising I had spent three hours with them in the bush, I had to unlock my phone. I knew they would not find anything incriminating. But on checking my phone, they saw my debit alerts and concluded I was a rich man. They asked me to pay N1 million, but I told them I had no such money anywhere,” he said.

“One officer even said they had to extort me by every means because I must be wealthy. He said they could not let my type go without blessing them. They called a superior officer who told them to take me to a PoS owner by the road. They forced me to send all my N380,000 to them.“

Adibeli said the officers zoomed off at high speed after collecting the cash and the PoS receipt that accompanied it.

FIJ contacted Bello Kontongs, the Edo State Police spokesperson, but his line was switched off. He had not replied to a text sent to him at press time.

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