. They forced him to withdraw N300, 000 from nearby POS- Activist
…claims policemen returned only N20,000 to victim
Osemwengie Ben Ogbemudia, Benin
Police operatives attached to the Edo State Government-owned security outfit, ‘Operation WABAIZINGA,’ has allegedly extorted the sum of N280,000 from one Mr. Tobechukwu Divine, at Agbede, along the Benin-Auchi-Okene Expressway in Etsako-West Local Government Area of the state.
Divine was on his way from Auchi to see his fiance (name witheld) who was on a sick bed in Warri, Delta State, when the incident occurred.
The security operatives riding in Operation WABAIZIGAN’s vehicle numbered ‘012’, had on August 15, 2019, flagged down Divine and demanded his vehicle particulars, which they went through. But the security operatives later demand that he should pay them N300,000 before they would let proceed on his journey.
A human rights activist, Comrade Bernard Osagie, who narrated the incident to our correspondent, alleged that the policemen forced Divine to withdrew the sum of N300,000 from a Point Of Sale machine at Aviele, which he then handed over to them.
Osagie alleged that the policemen later took out N20,000 out of the N300,000 and handed it over to Divine.
The activist in a post on his social media page further alleged, “Even the policemen confirmed that his papers were correct, but said that he must be a yahoo boy since he’s driving a Toyota Camry. They took him into the bush and seized his car key.
“They then asked to give them the sum of N300,000 (Three Hundred Thousand naira) or they won’t release him. They also threatened him and he was scared to argue with them since he was alone with the policemen inside the bush.
“Afraid that the policemen might harm him, he went to the nearest POS stand at Aviele and withdrew the sum of N300,000, which he gave to them, but the policemen, out of ‘pity’, gave him back the sum of N20,000.”
It was, however, gathered that the matter was reported at the Agbede Police Station, where the Divisional Police Officer promised to investigate the incident.
But from Agbede, the matter was transferred to the police headquarters in Benin City, where the operatives and the victim, our correspondent gathered, were expected to appear before the state Commissioner of Police, Danmallam Mohammed, last Tuesday. As part of the ongoing investigations into the incident, the state police boss had invited the parties involved to appear before him.
“The command tried the policemen involved on August 27, 2019, at the state headquarters in Benin, and I also have sent message to him (victim) to be there to testify. He has to be there to see the commissioner of police, and stand for his right. If he is not there, the case will fail and he’ll lose his money,” a police operative, who pleaded anonymity, told our correspondent.
But efforts by our correspondent to reach the victim for his comments were not successful as of the time of filing this report.
