Police Officers Extort N1M From Student At Gunpoint In Edo

A Nigerian student, Clement Ehinomen, has narrated how some police officers at gunpoint extorted over ₦1 million from him last Saturday in Benin City, the Edo State capital.

Ehinomen, 24, narrated to Nigerian online newspaper, Premium Times, how about four armed police officers inside an unmarked bus used their vehicle to block his car – a Mercedes Benz GLK – in the middle of the road, before forcing him and a male relative out of the car.

The officers, in addition to being in an unmarked vehicle, were also not wearing police uniforms.

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Ehinomen then recounted how the officers proceeded to take him and his relation to a lonely police facility in the outskirts of Benin City where they were detained in a cell before forcing him to call friends and relatives to wire money into his bank account so he could hand it over to them.

Ehinomen described how he called a friend who transferred ₦1 million to his account, while two others transferred ₦50,000 and ₦14,000, respectively.

“They said they would not receive the money in their account, so they took me to a POS to withdraw all the money. When I was withdrawing the money, the person (the POS operator) asked me why I was withdrawing a huge amount of money. “The police (officers) saw me talking to the person, they came out from their vehicle and started slapping me,” Ehinomen told Premium Times.

“They collected the money from me, took me to the police station and released me and my brother.”

Ehinomen, not knowing who to report the incident to, took to Twitter to share his ordeal, and was lucky to attract the intervention of individuals and groups, including Segun Awosanya, a human rights activist, popularly known as Segalink.

He subsequently got a call from the spokesperson of the police in Edo State, Bello Katongs, and by Monday, Ehinomen had gotten his money back. He even uploaded on twitter a photo showing wads of naira notes on a table.

“We thank God. I have received my money and the officers have been detained. I saw them,” he wrote.

The police are yet to reveal the identity of the criminal officers.

GUARDIAN