In the Ojota area of Lagos State, four police officers from the Ogudu Police Division reportedly extorted Emmanuel Nnawuihe, a student at Cyprus University, of N153,000.
Waffi TV gathered that, Nnawuihe was flagged down for a search by the officers while driving in the state, near the under-bridge area of Ojota. Following their search of his vehicle and mobile phone, which yielded no incriminating evidence, the officers took Nnawuihe to a secluded location under the bridge. There, they coerced him into opening his mobile banking application. A source revealed that upon discovering approximately N2 million in Nnawuihe’s bank account, the officers allegedly threatened him with harm unless he transferred the money to an account belonging to an individual not present at the scene.
Despite Nnawuihe’s insistence that he was innocent and that the money did not belong to him, the officers persisted in their threats. Fearing for his safety, Nnawuihe entered into negotiations with the officers, ultimately agreeing to transfer N153,000 to the provided account number.
The source said, “The incident happened around 3.30pm on Saturday, June 3, 2023, but Nnawuihe transferred the money around 4.08pm. What exactly happened was that the policemen stopped his vehicle around Ojota, when they did not find anything incriminating on him, they took him to a location where he was threatened to part away with the N2m found in his bank account.
“But he disagreed with them and they threatened to harm him till he agreed to pay them N153,000 after a series of negotiations. The policemen were the ones that provided the account number where the money was transferred into. It was after he transferred the money that the policemen released him.”
Following the incident, Emmanuel Nnawuihe, who was understandably angered by the extortion, reported the matter to the Lagos State Police Command and Commissioner of Police, Idowu Owohunwa. In response, the command assigned diligent police officers to locate and apprehend the accused policemen for questioning.
During the investigation, Nnawuihe was accompanied to the Ogudu Police Division, where he positively identified the officers involved. Subsequently, they were transferred to the police headquarters in Ikeja, where they were detained for further interrogation.
To support his claims, Nnawuihe provided an official statement and submitted evidence of the N153,000 transfer he made to the account specified by the accused policemen. One of our correspondents examined the receipt and discovered that the money had been transferred to an account belonging to Edidiong Anthony Ekpo.
At the time of reporting, our correspondents gathered that the money had been refunded to Nnawuihe, and the four policemen were undergoing an orderly room trial.
It was additionally discovered that while waiting for the results of the disciplinary proceedings, the Commissioner of Police instructed the prompt dismissal of CSP Celestina Kalu, the Divisional Police Officer of Ogudu Division, due to her failure to oversee her subordinates involved in the extortion carried out against Nnawuihe.
When contacted, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, the State Police Public Relations Officer, verified the occurrence and mentioned that the police command had initiated an inquiry into the matter.
He said, “The money (N153,000) has been refunded to the victim and the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, Idowu Owohunwa, has ordered a probe of the allegation against the policemen who are currently in detention. The policemen are undergoing an orderly room trial. The redeployment of DPOs is routine.”
