…Urges the public to come forward with accurate information about extortion
By Bob MajiriOghene Etemiku
Abuja, Nigeria – Extortion of the Nigerian public at gun point by any member of the Police Force is tantamount to armed robbery, Force Headquarters Public Relations Officer, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi said on Monday on his Twitter handle.
The Police spokesman therefore urged the public to always give the facts arising from reports of extortion by the police.
Adejobi was reacting to a report made to him on twitter by one of his followers, personal @TrueGeneral1. According to @07TrueGeneral1, some police officers had extorted some money from his friend on the evening of 24 April 2022.
“They tried to get POS but there was no one around. They used transfer, you can see the name. Do something about this please. These police extort millions each day from people. This also happened few days back. These guys had to call and beg for money to pay these men.
“They collected all and gave them transport. Was there any solution? My suggestion is they should hold a meeting and organize all the police never to extort. Is that too much to ask?” @07TrueGeneral1 said.
As his response, CSP Adejobi said that the message sent to him by @07TrueGeneral1 was insufficient and lacked details.
“Whenever you send message like this, you need to give more info. No name, no location, etc. Let’s take note. This one requires more info please. For instance, who is your friend? What did he do and what does he do?
“If a policeman has gun to the point of slapping, beating, threatening to shoot in order to obtain or extort a Nigerian forcefully, it’s an act of armed robbery.”
April 16, 2022, Alltimepost.com published a report in which the Police vowed to Punish DPOs, Commanders for Misdeed of their Men. In that report, CSP Adejobi said that the police do not promote ‘vicarious liability’.
In recent times, there have been rampant cases of extortion of the public by the police, and the time to enforce move against ‘vicarious liability’ in the police force is now.
