Sulaimon Salisu/
Three policemen have been dismissed in Lagos after they were found to have extorted N200, 000 from young men wrongfully arrested as Internet fraudsters known as Yahoo Boys.
According to the authorities, the policemen attached to Area ‘N’ Command Ijede-Ikorodu under the Lagos State Command were dismissed from the service for carrying out illegal arrests and extortion.
A statement from the police identified them as: “(i) AP.No 136005 Inspr. Okelue Nkemeonye, (ii) F/No. 355897 Sgt. Braimoh Sunday and (iii) F/No. 359928 Sgt. Yusuf Olukoga.”
Their dismissal followed an Orderly Room trial at the Zone ‘2’ Command Headquarters, Onikan, Lagos in which the men were found guilty by the Adjudicating Officer on two charges of offence against discipline as provided for in the Police Act and Regulations.
The statement says a complaint against the policemen was received at the Public Complaint Rapid Response Unit (PCRRU) led by ACP Abayomi Shogunle on June 21, 2017, via a WhatsApp number 0805 700 0003.
It is hereby published unedited:
“My name is (withheld), I went to the bank this morning to deposit money to a Company’s account (name withheld) but there was no network so i deposited the money into my personal account to do the transfer to the account later. When I came out of the bank, a car packed full of some SARS policemen wearing black cloth with anti-robbery squad written at the back. I was told to enter the vehicle with a gun pointed at me. They collected my mobile phone and asked me what I do for a living. I told them that I had just finish my youth service and I am leaving with my brother and I pointed my brother shop for them to stop by and see him because he was the one that sent me to the bank. They refused to wait and they did not allow me to pick my calls and call out. I received an alert on my phone with the money I went to deposit, they search my phone on seeing the alert, they started roping that am a yahoo boy telling me that I would pay them 1Million, one of them slapped me, they drove us around places in Ikorodu, ijede, gberigbe, ibeshe, igbe, ikpakodo, itaelewa, agric and first gate harassing people, moving them in the car and collecting huge amount from them. They collected N50, 000.00 from me but I notice that each junctions that we reached people were hailing there leader by his nickname (OJ. Ojewunmi). And one by name Austin slapped me. They picked me up around 9am and dropped me 6pm in the evening after collecting money from me. They even use my account to collect money from the guys that I met in the car and used my ATM to withdraw from them.”
Upon the receipt of the complaint, a case with Tracking Number #PCRRU637624 was registered and acknowledgment of complaint sent to the complainant. PCRRU Investigation team was dispatched to Ikorodu where all the dismissed policemen including Obadia who led the team were apprehended.
Preliminary investigation reveals that all the allegations contained in the WhatsApp message actually happened.
The four police officers who were armed on the day of the incident were found to have falsely paraded themselves as operatives of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) despite not being posted to SARS by police authorities.
Investigation also revealed that the officers extorted a total sum of N200,000 from the young men who they tagged “Yahoo Yahoo Boys”. The money was forced from them via N90,000 ATM withdrawal and N110,000 mobile bank money transfer to a third party account provided by the policemen. All the extorted N200,000 was recovered by the PCRRU Investigators.
All the arrested officers, witnesses and recovered exhibits including the N200,000 cash and printed bank statement of account were handed over to the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Zone ‘2’ Lagos for further detailed investigation and necessary disciplinary measures. The approval of the punishment of dismissal from service as recommended by the Adjudicating officer is part of the outcome of the disciplinary measures.
The statement further says: “In the case of ASP Bayo Obadiah who led the team of the infamous men on this unacceptable conduct, an Official Query was issued to him by the AIG Zone ‘2’ Lagos; both his reply and query has been forwarded to the office of the Force Secretary, Force Headquarters, Abuja from where it would proceed to the Police Service Commission as required by Police Regulations.
The statement adds that the Inspector General of Police, IGP Ibrahim K. Idris, has commended the complainant for coming forward to report the incident to PCRRU.
The IGP has also said that all allegations of professional misconduct reported against any police officer would be treated in line with relevant laws and in keeping to the “Change Begins With Me Campaign” of the Federal Government.
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