The Lagos State Police Command has arrested four Police Inspectors who allegedly harassed and extorted N70,000 from a 16-year-old student, simply identified as Segun, on January 18, 2021 at NGAB Junction, Isheri, Lagos State.
The student was in a Toyota Corolla car when he was accosted by the policemen.
The picture of the policemen had thereafter gone viral on the social media.
This attracted the attention of the Complaint Response Unit of the Nigeria Police Force, Force Headquarters, Abuja, which then led to the tracking of policemen for necessary police action.
The matter was subsequently referred to the Lagos State Police Command for further action.
The Police Inspectors arrested are Emmanuel Michael, Sunday Odubiyi, Lawrence Amedu and Aroye Dickson.
A statement by the spokesman of the Lagos State Police Command, Muyiwa Adejobi, said after due interrogation, the policemen confessed to the crime and refunded the N70,000 to the student, on bond.
Adejobi said this “forms the key credible evidence/exhibit in the case”.
The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, Hakeem Odumosu, has condemned the act of the Police Inspectors, which he said is detrimental to the image of the Police Force and counterproductive to the ongoing reform agenda of the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar Adamu.
Odumosu has ordered for the orderly room trial of the Inspectors with immediate effect so as to serve as deterrent to other criminally-minded police personnel in the command and beyond.
He also warned officers and men in Lagos State that the “command will spread its tentacles in fighting against such criminal, unprofessional and disgusting act amongst police personnel in Lagos State”.
He also assured the general public of people-oriented and community-based policing styles in Lagos State, vowing that “justice will be done in Segun’s case”.