In a statement released on October 14, 2023, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, the spokesperson for the Nigeria Police, unequivocally declared that any law enforcement officer who engages in the unjust extortion of innocent Nigerian citizens should be categorically considered as an armed robber.
Adejobi made this assertion through an official communication channel on Saturday, responding to an individual’s social media post, which decried the alleged arbitrary arrest and detention of residents in his estate by the police. The complainant posted evidence of a financial transaction indicating that a significant sum of money had been forcibly collected from them. The user recounted, “So the policemen came to my estate yesterday evening around 7 PM and packed all the men in the estate. We all slept in the cell last night for no reason. When we were called for ‘Questioning,’ which was more or less a dictation, they said, ‘You Dey do Yahoo.’ I denied it because I don’t even know how Yahoo works.”
He went on to describe a coerced statement-writing process where individuals were pressured to admit to being either cultists or armed robbers. Refusing to provide statements without the presence of legal representation, they were forced to spend the night in custody. The following morning, an exorbitant sum of over 500,000 Naira was allegedly extorted from them.
Addressing this issue, a social media user tagged the Force PRO and implored him to take action, stating, “As PRO of Nigeria Police Force, do something to this dirty stuff your mates always do every day. Police are your friend indeed.”
In response, Adejobi stated, “Any armed policeman or security operative who forcefully extorts an innocent Nigerian is as good as an armed robber. Extortion is never part of any agency’s mandate, either armed or not. We condemn such, and even the IGP has made it clear.
