Nifemi Ilesanmi, a hairstylist in Ijaiye area of Lagos State, has narrated how a policeman harassed her friend for owning an iPhone.

Ilesanmi told FIJ that the incident happened on Wednesday when she and her friend were trying to board a tricycle, popularly called ‘Keke Marwa’.

“I was with my friend when the incident happened,” she said.

“We were at the bus stop, looking for a ‘Keke’ that would take us to our destination, when one policeman came to my friend and demanded to know what he had in his bag. My friend told him that he had his phone charger and power bank inside it. The policeman then asked to check it,” said Ilesanmi.

“After searching the bag, the policeman then shifted his attention to my friend’s phone, asking him to unlock it.”

Ilesanmi said it was at this point that the police officer accused her friend of being a cyber fraudster.

“The officer said: ‘You be yahoo. If you no be yahoo, why you dey use iPhone?’” Ilesanmi said.

“When the officer made this allegation, we tried explaining to him that my friend isn’t a ‘Yahoo Boy’. We also told him that he is a tiler and showed him his identity card. But the officer would continue shouting.”

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According to Ilesanmi, as the exchange wore on, the police officer assaulted her friend.

“Before we knew it, the officer slapped my friend. The people around us tried persuading him to leave us alone but he refused,” said Ilesanmi.

“After a while, a shopping complex owner, who is quite popular in the neighbourhood, eventually intervened and persuaded the policeman to leave us alone. She also explained to him that my friend was not a ‘Yahoo Boy’, stating that he had once worked for her. That was when he allowed us to go.”

Apart from the ugly experience she narrated, the stylist also revealed that policemen in the area are in the habit of extorting motorists, especially the tricycle operators. 

“I have a shop at the bus stop. I usually see their dubious acts. Whenever the tricycle drivers want to take passengers to their destinations, the policemen would suddenly appear from nowhere and demand money from them,” she said.

READ ALSO: Despite Arresting Phone Thief, Lagos Policeman Extorts N45,000 From Innocent Man

“Most times, whenever the operators refuse to dance to their tune, they would arrest them and accuse them of grievous offenses. At the end of the day, the drivers would end up giving them all the money they had made all day.”

FIJ made several calls to Benjamin Hundeyin, the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, but he did not answer them. He had also not replied to an SMS sent to him at press time.