Officers of the Nigerian Police Force have, in recent times, come under public scrutiny for regularly robbing Nigerians at gunpoint.

Some of them “operating as rogues,” according to Frank Mba, force spokesman, often make unjustifiable arrests, unlawfully search phones and plant incriminating items on unsuspecting individuals to rob them in the guise of ‘bail.’

In the month of December, FIJ reported 11 cases where the police stole a combined N2,487,000 from Nigerians, at gunpoint.

For each of these cases, the police either convinced the victims that they were bailing themselves for an unnamed crime, or boldly made it known that they were being robbed.

Imo Police Extort N17,000 From Driver for Having ‘Blue Number Plate’

DECEMBER 8, IMO

Chigozie Okafor, a graduate of the Michael Opara University of Agriculture, accused police officers attached to Okigwe Police Station in Imo of assaulting him and extorting money from him.

“They checked my driver’s licence and my car particulars, which I gave to them. They asked me about my change of ownership document and I gave it to them,” Okafor told FIJ.

He thought having all his papers would save him from the police net, but he was wrong. One of the officers asked him why he was using a ‘blue number plate’ for transportation.

In Imo, blue numbers are for private vehicles while red are for commercial vehicles.

“I asked the officer when using the blue number became a crime. I explained that I had just graduated and, instead of staying idly at home, I decided to make money for myself by driving,” Okafor told FIJ.

Okafor was detained and asked to pay N30,000 to free himself. He later called a relative who paid N17,000 before he regained his freedom.

Lagos Police ‘Rob’ Student of N50,000 at Gunpoint, Say They Can Waste Innocent Lives

DECEMBER 11, IGANDO LAGOS

Ishola Kareem, a 21-year-old student of Lagos State University, accused police officers attached to Igando Police Station of extorting N50,000 from him at gunpoint.

“I allowed them to search me and even offered my phone to them for a search. When they could not find anything that could link me to internet fraud, they asked to search my bag,” Kareem told FIJ.

However, he was unwilling to give his bag up because he had N150,000 in it. When the officers saw he would not let them search his bag, one of them threatened to shoot at him.

“One of them then asked me if I was aware of how some Nigerian police officers have wasted the lives of many innocent youths. I knew where he was going, so I asked him to accept a N20,000 bribe to free me,” he said.

“The officers said they were not begging, so they could not accept the N20,000. The least they could accept, according to them, was N50,000. I eventually paid N51,000, before they let me go. [I paid] N50,000 for a bribe and N1,000 for their recharge cards.”

Lagos Police ‘Frame’ Businessman With Google Hangouts Photos, Take N180,000 From Him

DECEMBER 15, FESTAC, LAGOS

Chibuisi Innocent, an entrepreneur, accused officers attached to the Area E Police Station in Festac, Lagos, of assaulting and extorting N180,000 from him.

“When they could not find anything incriminating in my bag, one of the officers asked me to give my phone up for a search. As a law-abiding citizen, I did not hesitate,” Innocent told FIJ.

A Google Hangouts advert was used against him, and the police accused him of internet fraud.

“After some negotiation, they agreed to collect N180,000 from me. They took me to a nearby POS shop close to their office, where I transferred to the vendor. But it did not end there,” he said.

The officers did not let Innocent go, but took him to the police station where he was forced to write that he was an internet fraudster and cultist.

FIJ Foils Lagos Policemen’s Attempt to Extort N100,000 From Motorists

DECEMBER 18, IDIMU, LAGOS

Policemen attached to the Idimu Police Division, Lagos, extorted the sum of N100,000 from two men in front of their station.

The officers, identified as Abbey B. and Bassey, reportedly ambushed the men who were driving from Egbeda to Jonathan Housing Estate, and demanded the sum of N300,000 for a fictitious offence.

Ayomide, one of the men, told FIJ that they pleaded with the officers and demanded to know the offence for which their particulars were being held, but they insisted they had committed an offence for which they had to pay.

However, when an FIJ reporter arrived at the station, a fidgety Bassey brought out a cash sum of N94,500 and returned it to Ayomide, saying he spent the rest on POS charges, and would refund later.

He said, “I know what we did is illegal, we broke the law, but I like how you came as a gentleman. We will refund the money now; no vex.”

Lagos Police Arrest Youths En Masse, Extort Them — ‘Because It’s Festive Period’

DECEMBER 22, LEKKI, LAGOS

Olayinka, a social media influencer, recounted how police officers attached to Ilasan Police Station in Lekki, Lagos, unjustly arrested and extorted N20,000 from him.

On Friday, Olayinka was on his way home at about 11:45 pm when a white shuttle, BETTER known as korope, stopped close to him, and police officers who alighted from the vehicle asked him to hop in.

“I did not attempt to argue with them because they were armed. Two other danfo buses were behind the shuttle, and they belonged to the police officers. They searched me, but did not find anything incriminating, yet they did not let me go,” Olayinka told FIJ.

“The police officers drove to Chevyview estate and began to arrest people indiscriminately. Many people were arrested, even people in front of their houses. They entered Chevyview at about 12 am, and their two danfo buses were filled with people from the estate.

“When we got to the police station, the officers tried to put all of us in the cell, but many people protested. I didn’t, because I don’t argue with police officers with guns.”

His father later paid a N20,000 bail to get him out.

Lagos Police Frame Student for Cultism, Extort N405,000 From Him

DECEMBER 24, ADENIJI, LAGOS

Yeiyah Samuel, a student at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), recounted how police officers attached to Adeniji Police Station in Lekki, Lagos, assaulted him and extorted ₦405,000 from him.

On Tuesday, Samuel and three other people, one man and two ladies, were headed to a beach in Lekki at about 11 p.m. when armed police officers stopped their private car at CMS Bus Stop.

“An officer had pointed his gun at us and cocked it even before they began to search us. As they searched the car, they began to ask us who we were and what we did,” Samuel told FIJ.

“When I entered the shuttle, I met two men and a woman. The driver drove the seven of us to the police station. At the station, they went through our phones but found no exhibit in them, yet they framed us for cultism.

“They collected everything with us, locked me and the other men in the cell and freed our female friends. If anyone tried to talk, they’d slap them. In the cell, the folks we met stripped us and began to beat us. We slept there.”

At dawn, the police collected N405,000 from him and N640,000 from others arrested.

Police Arrest Teenager in Lagos, Extort N20,000 From Him — ‘for Committing No Crime’

DECEMBER 26, ALAKIJA, LAGOS

Temitope Peters, a teenager seeking entry into a tertiary institution, was heading to Oyingbo, Lagos, for a seminar when police officers attached to the Satellite Division Police Station in the Alakija area of the state arrested him.

Peters, who was on a commercial bus, said the police officers stopped the vehicle and asked all the young men to get off the vehicle. This was around 11 am.

“They arrested me and one other guy from the vehicle. We were told to enter their own van. They specifically stopped the bus I boarded and other buses because they wanted to extort young people,” Peters told FIJ.

After the arrest, the officers drove everyone they had arrested to their police station. According to Peters, they took all of them to a corner at the police station and searched their phones.

“They did not see anything that could implicate us on the phone. Then they asked that we pay them. I particularly did not want to, but the officers said they would level false allegations against me,” he said.

The officers provided an account number and he transferred N20,000 immediately.

Policemen Extort N415,000 From Admission Seeker in Lagos

DECEMBER 26, ANTHONY, LAGOS

Policemen attached to a checkpoint at Anthony Bus-Stop, Lagos, extorted N415,000 from Harrison Itedjere.

Itedjere, who is seeking admission to Coventry University, England, was returning from a service apartment in the Lekki area of Lagos to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport on December 6, when he was stopped by policemen.

He told FIJ that he initially suspected the armed officers were not policemen until they showed him a bulletproof vest with the Nigerian police emblem on it.

He said, ‘They demanded I send them N1 million, but I told them it was a proof of funds my dad put in my account before I came to pay my Coventry tuition at the embassy. My account does transfer that much at once, and I even had to go to the bank with the embassy attendant to make the school fee payment.

“After much argument, they called a POS operator and asked me to withdraw to my limit. They ended up collecting N415,000.”

In Lagos, Police Arrest Passengers Who ‘Committed No Crime’, Take N50,000 Bail

DECEMBER 27, CHEVRON, LAGOS

Elochukwu Odigie, a student at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), has narrated how police officers attached to Adeniji Police Station extorted N50,000 from him and his friends following a wrongful arrest.

On Friday, Odigie and three of his friends, two men and a lady, were on an Uber ride around Chevron Bus Stop at about 10 pm when some policemen ordered their driver to park for a search.

“An officer asked us to bring our phones. He told us that if he found nothing incriminating on them, he would return them. But as we handed our phones to him, he put them in his pocket,” Odigie told FIJ.

“When we asked why he put the phones in his pocket, he said the specialist to check the phone was on his way.”

They were later taken to the Adeniji Police Station where the officers dumped them in the cell, and some inmates welcomed them with beating.

“I offered N20,000, but they rejected it. One officer said their police station was not a N20,000 type of police station. He stated that I should add to what I had offered,” he said.

“Due to what we experienced in the cell, my friends and I offered N50,000, and they reluctantly agreed. They took me outside to use a POS nearby, where I withdrew N50,000 and handed it to them,” he said.

For Possessing Crypto App, Lagos Police Extort N40,000 From Student After Detaining Him.

DECEMBER 28, FESTAC, LAGOS

Policemen attached to the Festac Divisional Headquarters, Lagos, on Monday, extorted Samuel Okunuga, a student, for possessing a cryptocurrency application on his phone.

Three officers collected N40,000 from Okunuga after detaining him behind the station’s counter for two hours.

“I was coming from Ojo, so I boarded a motorcycle to beat the traffic gridlock en route Mile 2, but when I got to Alakija, the cops arrested me and demanded that they search my bag and phone,” Okunuga told FIJ.

Upon gaining illegal access to his device, the police officers discovered a cryptocurrency trading app on his device and branded him a criminal.

With no charges or accusations made against him, the police dismissed Okunuga and made do with their loot.

Abuja Police ‘Kidnap’ Relationship Coach, Brother, Tag Them IPOB

DECEMBER 29, UTAKO, ABUJA

Solomon Buchi, a renowned relationship coach, has detailed how police officers in Abuja assaulted and extorted N550,000 from him and his younger brother at gunpoint.

Buchi said he and his brother were in a Bolt ride heading to their apartment in Utako, Abuja, at about 9 pm on Tuesday when some armed police officers around Wuse 2 double-crossed their car, brought their guns out, and asked them to enter a vehicle different from the usual police vehicles.

Afterwards, the officers handcuffed them and squeezed them into the boot of their car. Buchi asked them to give him water to use for his medications as he was ill before the officers began to quiz him.

Seeing that he had N617,000 in his account, the officers asked how he could afford such an amount. At this point, the officers had taken Buchi and his brother to the outskirts of Abuja in what he later said was a two-hour drive.

When they went through his younger brother’s phone, they figured he traded in cryptocurrency and began to call him an internet fraudster.

“Long story short, they took our ATMs and withdrew N500,000 out of the N617,000 that I had in my account. They withdrew my younger brother’s N50,000. I begged them that it was my upkeep money for my stay, but they went physical on me, slapped me and asked me to use the remaining N117,000 for myself,” Buchi tweeted.

When FIJ contacted Frank Mba, Force spokesman, he said: “They could be police officers operating as rogues. They could also be criminals claiming to be police officers.

In all previous incidencTS cited by FIJ, the police were mute when contacted for comments.