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By Oguwike Nwachuku
I love to start with this pathetic story told by Wilson Nakpoberuo, a lawyer who resides and practices law in Port Harcourt.
The story helps to spike our thought to the blatant extortion, intimidation, robbery and harassment of innocent Nigerians by security agents who are supposed to shield them from dangers.
Forget that the police authorities have warned their officers and men to stop harassment of travelers this Christmas season. The warning is neither here nor there.
I invite the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, to read as reproduced here, the tale by Citizen Wilson which he recently forwarded to some of his friends, not that the alleged police culprits would be caught, but because stories of this nature serve as window for all to see the depth of wrath in the system.
The title of Wilson’s story is: Nigeria Police Force: To Protect And To Serve Or To Intimidate And To Extort?
“At about 3 pm yesterday, I got a call from an unknown number. Usually, I do not take calls from unknown numbers unless the call is persistent or a text sent.
“However, impulsively, I took the call at the first ring. It turned out my son was calling me with the number. I was excited because he was on his way from school and I thought he wanted to update me how the journey was going.
“To my greatest surprise, that was not the case. He sounded hysterical as he narrated he was being held by a team of policemen on allegation that he is a fraudster. Yes, you heard me right, a fraudster!
“A little background gist might be necessary at this point. My son is a three hundred level engineering student of Afe Babalola University, majoring in mechatronics engineering.
“Since he gained admission, three other parents and myself have always hired a vehicle to take our children to school in Ekiti when resuming, and bring them to Port Harcourt for holidays. Yesterday’s trip was one of such.
“Owing to the horrendous traffic situation as you drive into the Warri/Port Harcourt road from Sapele, caused by the deplorable state of the road, the driver made a detour into Adegbarasa bypass to access Ughelli.
“While driving on the bypass, a team of policemen stopped the vehicle for “routine” search. On sighting four young men in the vehicle, they requested to see their phones. The phone of one of the boys was down, while my son and the two others’ were up.
“Going through my son’s phone, they asked him why his Samsung profile had a different picture from the one on his Gmail account.
“He told them that they were both cartoon characters and not his picture. He has this habit of not having his picture on display in any of his social media accounts.
“The conclusion reached by the policemen was that he was fraudulent for not having his picture on his profile and by having two different cartoon characters, he was concealing his true identity.
“When my son narrated his ordeal to me, I requested him to hand over the phone to one of the police officers. He did and I introduced myself as Barrister Wilson Nakpoberuo, father to the boy alleged to be a fraudster.
“His instant retort was that I cannot intimidate him. He said my son is going to be taken to their station and I can come there for further inquiries. When I asked where their station was, he disconnected the call.
“They proceeded to remove his suitcase from the vehicle and instructed the driver to continue with the journey. Your guess is as good as mine, the state of my son by this time!
“They are in Delta State, I am in Rivers State with no clue if they are real policemen or kidnappers dressed as policemen and time being almost 4pm.
“Remembering that the gang that kidnapped Justice Chioma Nwosu-Iheme in Benin City were dressed in police uniforms, I thought it wise to relegate my lawyer persona and employ wisdom.
“Yes wisdom profiteth to direct. I asked to speak with them and this time asked the way forward? They said 150k will wipe out the suspicion. I pleaded for 30k and eventually we settled for 50k.
“I transferred 50k to my son and one of them accompanied him to withdraw the money from an ATM. Upon receipt of the 50k, they let him go but not before checking the phones of the others to see if the whole incident was recorded.
“So I ask; is the police supposed to serve and protect or to intimidate and extort? The question is rhetorical because we all know better. Will I be doing a petition to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) on the incident even when my son said he heard them mention Ekpan Police Station? No I will not.
“It will be a journey to Golgotha. A journey to nowhere. But this is the level of gangsterism in our Police Force of today. God help us in this country.”
On Monday, December 16 the IGP met with his top ranking officers to brainstorm on the usual security challenges in the country.
The meeting, by the way, was on (in)security during the Christmas and New Year.
In attendance were all the 36 state commissioners of police (CPs) and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), members of the IGP management team, Deputy Inspectors General of Police (DIGs), Assistant Inspectors General of Police (AIGs) and operational commanders, among others.
The agenda was on “the trends of crimes in the country, indiscriminate road checks/ extortion across the country, especially the South East corridors, return of arms and ammunition/missing arms, CPs tour of new facilities, departments briefings, general security feedback and among others.”
It was an opportunity for Adamu to speak on the roadblocks and security check points, particularly the routes from Lagos through Edo, Delta and the South East and South South parts of Nigeria.
As Adamu fielded questions from newsmen, he said the police would continue to have more presence in the South East until the security situation there improves.
His words: “It is not road block per se, but it is stop and search. The more we have the visibility of our police on the road, the more it deters crime.
“The stop and search areas you see, especially in the southern part of the country, the South East in particular, is because of our assessment of the security situation in the country.
“Where we see more security challenges, we deploy more operatives so that the security challenges there will be mitigated.
“What we have asked the AIGs and DIGs to be doing is to make sure that those officers on stop and search duty do the right thing. They don’t molest people, they don’t collect money on the road and they don’t do things that are not required.
“But they will continue to be on the road so as to give confidence to members of the public so that the criminals will not take over the highways because if you don’t see police officers on the roads, the tendency is that the criminals would take over the road and they do what they know best and we will not allow that.”
Last month, former Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Anambra State and erstwhile Managing Director of the Sun Publishing Limited, Tony Onyima posted on his Facebook wall what obviously is a scary development on the Eastern corridor of Nigeria.
Travelling by road from Lagos to Onitsha, Onyima took the pains to count the number of road blocks from Lagos to Onitsha on that axis.
His findings were scandalous and a cause for worry to any responsible government, security agencies and the citizens. His findings should bother Adamu as well.
From Onyima’s record, there were 60 checkpoints manned by either the police, Army, Customs, FRSC or a combination of both between Lagos and Onitsha, some 100 and 40 meters apart, on that day alone.
Onyima wrote: “Concerned by the increasing complaints about the pains of Nigerians plying the Lagos-Onitsha route, I decided to seize an opportunity on Wednesday, November 27, 2019 to find out the real situation.
“For complete experience, I traveled with one of the transporters at Jibowu. After an excruciating traffic along Redeemed Church corridor, we finally commenced the journey to Onitsha at 10:30am.
“By the time we arrived the Niger Bridge, I had counted 60 checkpoints. I was painstakingly taking notes and few shots. These checkpoints were manned by either soldiers, police, customs, SARS, FRSC or a combination. Below are the locations of the checkpoints to guide your next trip to Onitsha.”
From Lagos to Ore:
1. Ilisan – Police checkpoint just in front of Babcock University
2. Ilisan 2 – Another police check less than 300 meters after Babcock
3. Ijebu Ode toll gate – Customs
4. Ijebu Ife – Police
5. Ijebu Itele – Customs, FRSC and Army
6. Ijebu Itele 2 – Police and FRSC
7. Ijebu Itele 3 – Police
8. Ajebandele – Police
9. Ajebandele 2 – Police
10. Ajebandele 3 – Police and FRSC
11. Ajebandele 4 – Army, Police
12. Ajebandele 5; less than 100 meters – Police
13. Ajebandele 6; less than 40 meters – Police
14. Ajebandele 7 – Police
15. Ajebandele 8 – Police
16. Ajebandele 9 – Police
17. Akinfosile – Police
18. Omotosho – Army
19. Omotosho 2 – Police
20. Obatedo – Police
21. Orilewo – Police
22. Orilewo 2 – Customs
23. Orilewo 3 – Police
24. Orilewo 4 – Police
From Ore to Benin:
1. Ore 1 – Police
2. Ore 2 – Customs and Police
3. Ofosu – Army
4. Ofosu 2 – Police
5. Ofosu 3 – FRSC and Police
6. Ugbogui Town – Police
7. Okada – Customs and Police
8. Okada 2 – Police
9. Okada 3 – SARS
10. Okada 4 – Police
11. Okada 5 – Police
12. Okada 6 – SARS
13. Okada 7 – Army
14. Okada 8 – SARS
15. Okada 9 – SARS
16. Okada 10 – Police
17. Okada 11 – Police
18. Okada 12 – Police
19. Iwinosa – SARS
20. Benin toll gate – Customs, FRSC, SARS
21. Benin By-Pass – Police
22. Benin By-Pass 2 – SARS
23. Benin By-Pass 3 – Army
24. Ugoneki – Police
25. Ugoneki 2 – Police
26. Abudu – Customs
27. Abudu 2 – Army
28. Omumu-Agbor – Army, FRSC, Police and Customs
29. Agbor – Police
30. Ekwuoma – Police
31. Issele Uku – SARS
32. Issele Uku 2 – Police
33. Akwa Ukwu – Customs and Army
34. Ogwashi – Customs
35. Okpanam – Customs and Police
36. Onitsha Bridge head – Mopol
“You can imagine what will happen in the next two weeks when my brothers and sisters begin their Christmas migration,” Onyima wrote.
The two weeks into Christmas are already here and Onyima’s brothers and sisters have started heading home in droves for the ceremonies, but they have bitter tales to tell.
Apart from the roads that are not in good shape, no thanks to leadership deficit, Onyima’s kinsmen and others plying the Lagos/Ore/Benin/Asaba/Onitsha road are complaining bitterly about shameless extortion, intimidation, harassment and other forms of abuse by the security agencies who are supposed to provide succour and guarantee a hitch-free trip.
As I write, the road blocks have doubled from the 60 Onyima witnessed when he made his trip in November and they no longer depict what the IGP casually told reporters – stop and search – if the experiences of those who traveled recently are anything to go by.
While some have decided to share their experiences, others are keeping them top secret believing that God, the architect of the universe, will intervene at the appointed time.
Prior November when Onyima embarked on his trip there was no indication Adamu raised the alarm that security situation was at a pitiable state in that part of the country.
National crime statistics from the police did not also indicate that the country was at the mercy of criminals on the Lagos/Ore/Benin/ Asaba/ Onitsha/Port Harcourt route so as to enable Nigerians take necessary precautions.
As against the recent alarm Adamu raised to justify the number of policemen he had deployed on the Lagos/Ore/Benin/Asaba/Onitsha road, in September this year, after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, he told reporters that violent crimes and security breaches recorded across Nigeria have “tremendously” reduced in the last quarter of the year.
Adamu’s words: “We just finished a security meeting and we have noticed within this quarter (last quarter of 2019) that the security situation in the country is stable.
“We saw that there is a tremendous decrease in the kidnapping, banditry, armed robbery and even acts of cultism.”
In the months preceding December, there was also no indication the crime situation went up nationwide as for the Adamu-led police to do the needful as would be expected of a responsible police chief.
If there was upswing rate in crime across Nigeria, Adamu would have been justified flooding, not just the Lagos/Ore/Benin/Asaba/Onitsha axis with checkpoints as he has recently done, but by doing same across the country.
Besides, before the meeting with Buhari where Adamu said crimes of all sorts had decreased, there were fewer checkpoints on the route under examination hence his logic the idea was because of the prevalence of crimes and criminality on that route could not be justified. Who then is fooling who?
Pronto, the reason for the many checkpoints on the eastern corridor is simply to create a criminal opportunity for Adamu’s boys to extort money from returnees for the Christmas and New Year festivities. I will explain shortly.
Last week, the Executive Director of Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC) Okechukwu Nwanguma, wrote Adamu.
In the letter, Nwanguma said RULAAC had been receiving disturbing information and complaints about harassment and extortion by police and other law enforcement agents of people traveling to the Eastern part of Nigeria for Christmas.
Nwanguma said the crimes were being committed around the Benin axis, particularly, the Benin By-pass.
He said: “Some of the victims have made audio recordings narrating their ugly experiences; others have made posts on social media, while others have called to complain and seek interventions. These crimes are committed at checkpoints where commercial vehicles are stopped at random and the occupants ordered to come down for search of their bodies and luggage.
“The mostly targeted are people who just returned from outside the country. We have received complaints from- or about – some travelers who were taken to ATM points and forced to withdraw money from their accounts and hand over to the police officers before they are left to go. Some are also allegedly forced to effect transfers using POS.”
The case of one Dennise, a Nigerian returnee from Netherlands as told by RULAC is most heart rending.
Dennise had reported that he just returned to Nigeria for holidays and had a nasty encounter with the police.
“Dennise said that on 8th of December, he was on his way, traveling from Lagos to the East, when he was stopped along Benin Road by a team of security operatives who claimed to be Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) operatives. He said the operatives extorted N500,000 from him via bank transfer. He posted the transaction information, which showed that the transfer was made through a First Bank POS with the name of the beneficiary given as Chukwuemeka Unah Ewan,” Nwanguma wrote.
Nwanguma added: “Edo State is notorious for these criminal activities by Police Officers under its command. Edo State Police Command should borrow a leaf from Lagos. With the increasing cases and reports of harassment and extortion of citizens traveling to the East, especially along the Benin axis, RULAAC hereby calls on the IGP to make a clear statement warning police officers to desist from posing threats to the rights of citizens to free movement and safety on the roads.
“The IGP is called upon to put in place appropriate measures to protect citizens and to monitor police officers on patrol along major high ways with a view to apprehending those who abuse their powers.”
The IGP has no option than to heed the call of Nigerians to do the needful.
What is happening on Lagos-Benin-Asaba-Onitsha road with widespread citizens’ reports about the shameless and criminal acts of security forces on the road against citizens who are traveling home for Christmas holidays is both despicable and scandalous.
Adamu cannot claim he has not heard about such contemptible tales involving the same police he said are on the road to protect the citizens. Which citizens? What manner of protection is a precursor of extortion and harassment?
Many travelers are demanding that a state of emergency be declared on the Lagos-Benin-Asaba-Onitsha road because of the alleged activities of Adamu’s criminally-minded cops.
On the alleged money the police extorted from Dennise one @Segalink wrote on his twitter handle: “We hereby declare a state of emergency on Lagos/Benin Expressway as armed @PoliceNG SARS and other tactical squads have been reported to have laid siege on the road abducting, harassing and robbing road users at gun point for money. We hereby call on the authorities to act.”
The time for the government, and particularly the police authorities, to quickly halt abuse of human rights on the roads and stop looking in the wrong places for non-existent agent provocateurs is now.
If the checkpoints, nay stop and search points as the IGP calls them have now turned to avenues for security agents to arbitrarily extort money from motorists and passengers plying the ever busy Lagos to Benin to Onitsha roads, then they are of no use.
Yes, the police can point to the few bad eggs in their midst or say in every 12 there must be a Judas. Let the police high command fish out the so-called Judases or better still, throw away the rotten eggs that are bringing the name of the institution into disrepute.
Today, Nigerians are not finding things easy at all. Many are barely surviving as hardship and poverty have dealt a deadly blow on them.
Those who find time and courage to travel with all the stress that the bad roads cause them should be commended and encouraged.
Innocent travelers should not be made to pay the prize for rudderless leadership as those responsible for taking decisions in the country hardly travel by road because they see it as death traps.
Adamu and his army of extortionist cops should not compound the woes of already famished and vulnerable Nigerians.