Ololade Adeyanju/
Another young victim of the increasing cases of abduction and extortion by rogue policemen in Lagos has narrated his experience.
The young man shared his experience today in a Twitter post via the handle, @adedeji_qoyyum.
Read his account below:
So I thought I wouldn’t do this but after seeing how promptly @toniastro issues with SARS operatives is being handled, I thought not to die in silence and voice out my ordeals with them.
On the 23rd of August, just last month, it was a Friday. I have just secured a job with Ofood and I planned on going back to my place in Oshogbo to pack some of my clothes and stuffs so I can fully resume work.
I got to Ojota, highlighted from the Danfo I took from Onipanu and just as I was about entering the park, a Sienna car parked right in my front and a policeman dressed in mufti held me and asked me if I didn’t hear him calling me. I said I didn’t hear him and the other one dressed in his uniform asked me what was in my bag. I told him it was just my laptop and my credentials, then he asked me to unlock my phones: I just bought my Samsung Galaxy A70 that say and my old Infinix Zero 3 was also with me.
I did as asked and immediately he started checking all my chats, emails and the moment he saw a payoneer payment, he asked me to enter the car and that was when it dawned on me that this was big time trouble. I explained to him that I work as a freelancer on fiverr and that payoneer is the means of me withdrawing my funds, but all of my explanations fell on deaf ears and this wasn’t even an issue till he saw my account balance and one of them was like: ‘dis one na agba awo yahoo boi’.
I was almost crying that I’m not into yahoo yahoo, that I write articles and ebooks for people on fiverr but they neverlistened and while we were still in the car before we got to the station at Ogudu, the one driving said if I don’t pay 500,000naira I wont be going anywhere. I showed him all my credentials and I explained amidst tears that I just got a job and the money in my account was what I was able to save from service as I just finished serving in Osun state and also from my freelancing on fiverr.
When we got to the station, they took me into a room just beside the main reception and asked me to write a statement after which they threatened to take my picture and publish it in the dailies as a fraudster.
I pleaded and pleaded until one of them said that out of the 280,000 in my account, I should go and withdraw 200,000 for him. I agreed because I have heard series of cases of these people arresting innocents like me and later locking themup for other offences. I stepped out and one of them followed me outside and stopped a bike man to carry me to the nearest atm for me to withdraw.
The bike man took me to the Zenith bank very close to the station, I got there, I have never been confused like that in my entirelife. Money I have been saving for more than six months about to disappear in a matter of minutes for doing nothing wrong???
I explained myself to the bike man and pleased with him to allow me make use of his phone to make a call as they’ve collected my phones and my laptop is also with them. He agreed, I called a friend of mine and all that he could tell me was I just try talk to them and give them what they want because if I should sleep in their cell, I wouldn’t get released till Monday which most likely would not end up well.
After a while, I told the bike guy to go, I paid him off and I was thinking about going home to a family friend’s place whose dad could come talk to them, as his place is just at Ikorodu. As I was wandering around to get a bus, I saw one of them again and he was like, was I trying to run away from them? I told him the atm wasn’t dispensing and immediately he started threatening me that it was because he was treating me with respect, that now if he starts treating me like a criminal, that’s would comply.
He stopped another bike and took me back to the station where I got the slap of my life. One of them who cared to listen that the money was for me to get an apartment in Lagos said I should go and withdraw 100k for them and if not I was going to spend the weekend with them and my picture would be taken and published in the newspapers.
This time one of them followed me and I was able to withdraw 80,000 for them, because of withdrawal limit at the atm and he requested that I make a transfer of the remaining 20k. I asked for their account numbers and they all refused saying that I should follow them and transfer the money to one paga agent not far from the station and that guy would give them the cash later.
In all, 100,000 was collected from me for being a freelancer. Money meant for me to get an accommodation, now I can’t even afford to get a room not to talk of a self-con.
Here is the screenshot of my bank statement showing the withdrawal and the transfer transactions:
Please help and all concerned Nigerians. I know it took me a while to voice out but I didn’t know who to call on for help. I’m just an ordinary Nigerian but seeing @toniastro make use of Twitter made me believe that my voice could be heard as well.
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