Police Officer Extorts N1.8 Million From Youth In Delta, Goes Into Hiding

By Daniel Dafe
A police officer in Delta State attached to the Zone 5, Base 5, Special Protective Unit with his place of assignment at Kembic Hotel, DSC, Mofor, Udu, Sergeant Nelson Oyigbe, has allegedly extorted the sum of One Million, Eight Hundred Thousand Naira (1,800, 000) from a youth, Precious Idisi, in Warri, Delta State.

According to our findings, the said sum was part of the sum of Two Million Naira (2, 000000) the elder brother overseas sent to the victim to take care of the burial of a family member.

Speaking to journalists on the development, the President of Urhobo Progress Union, UPU, Youthwing, Comrade Efemena Umukoro, said that he is forced to push the matter to the press because it is becoming a regular occurrence in the state, saying that some junior officers are out to sabotage the good work of Delta Commissioner of Police, CP Hafiz Inuwa and the AIG, Zone 5, AIG Paul Yakadi.

His words: “I am of the ideology that when a man has done wrong he should be told his wrong and not gossiped because he will be the one to correct his wrong and become a better person in the society.

“I am not used to going on the social media to disclose issues every time I retrieve money from the police or defend the right of an Urhobo youth.

“But, there is a saying that silence in the midst of oppression is taking side with the oppressor. It is sad that security agents in Nigeria no longer have respect for fundamental human rights.

“Few days ago, one of my constituents called me from Germany. He is a member of UPU youthwing in the Diaspora. He appealed to me that they have a burial ceremony in their family and that since the COVID-19 lockdown, it has not been easy with the family and he decided to send Two Million naira to his younger brother to take care of the burial sum.”

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According to Umukoro, “the said younger brother was on his way to report to their family that their brother has sent money for the burial when some men kidnapped him at PTI road and asked the family to pay 1.8 million naira ransom.”

He continued: “Immediately this was reported, we swung into action. I called the police monitoring team and Asaba and the CP was involved. Then, I also decided to contact the Director General, Conference for the Actualization of Human Rights, Barrister Maaxwell Ogedegbe.

“We did our own findings; we assisted the police and arrested the POS agent and at the end of the arrest of the POS agent we proceeded to the police station.

“With our own tracking, we were able to locate where the police was at Kembic Hotel. We got there with a senior officer, a DSP, the DCO 1 of Ebrumede Police Station. When we arrived, the DCO 1 started familiarizing with the said police man. The directive of the descent DPO of Ebrumede was to go and arrest him and bring him to the station.

“The DCO 1 went there to do his own bid. He pleaded with us to tender justice with mercy and settle the case in the hotel without the involvement of the DPO. We objected to this request.

“The DCO 1 then took the police man to a corner that he wanted to discuss with him and then allowed the police man run away. He abandoned his police service rifle and took to his heels. With all hot chase we could not get him.

“It is so painful and sad that when the Nigeria police senior officers are doing everything to restructure and rebrand the Nigeria Police Force, the junior officers are taking their time to destroy the work of the senior officers.”

Furthermore, he noted that the CP is the brain behind the calmness that activists have displayed so far despite these provocations.

“Why the CP is fighting hard to get an integrity name for the police, the junior officers are misbehaving,” he opined.

He recalled how many raised an eyebrow when 62 officers were transferred from the state recently, adding that they can now see the reasons why they were transferred.

He appealed to the CP to also look into the activities of the rank and file.

“Junior officers that have stayed for up to six years in a division should be transferred. If the senior officers can be transferred, junior officers should also face the same action.

“Many policemen use their uniforms and guns to carry out dubious activities in the state. As a human rights activist, we cannot take it away from the CP that he has been doing a good job, but we want him to beam his searchlight on all divisional outposts and police officers.”

Umukoro recounted the ordeal his mechanic and younger brother suffered in the hands of a police team on their way to Edo State to fix his car for the monthly car maintenance.

He said: “Some policemen held them hostage at Aduwawa and labeled them as internet fraudsters. I called the team on phone to explain that the man there is a mechanic and that I am the President of Urhobo youths. The policemen told me: ‘Who you help?

“Immediately, I put a call to the AIG and those policemen were arrested. Thereafter, my brother and the mechanic were released. The AIG was strict on civility to members of the public. It is sad that while the AIG Zone 5 and the CP Delta are working round the clock to ensure a sane society, the younger policemen are sabotaging their efforts.

“Those policemen were kept for on-the-room trial. The next day several calls came in and I had no choice and had to painfully call the AIG and begged on their behalf because after error comes correction, knowing that these police officers can still be useful to the nation.

“I did not say this to the media. I wanted to keep quiet. But keeping quiet has given them the impetus to continually arrest, intimidate and embarrass Nigerian youths.

“While I call on Nigerian youths to be law abiding and flee from crime and criminality, I call on the police to treat the youths with respect. We are leaders of tomorrow. Not all youths are criminals or thieves. We deserve to be respected.”

Speaking further, he disclosed that the CP has ordered for a full blown investigation and assured them that the suspect will be arrested and the money retrieved.