A man who was travelling in a private car through Edo State, South-South Nigeria, said a police officer cocked a rifle at him and threatened to shoot because he refused to give N500 bribe.
Andeyaba Ezekiel told PREMIUM TIMES he was travelling, with his cousin, in a newly purchased fairly used car that was duly cleared by the Nigeria Customs Service, when some police officers – about seven of them, without name tag – stopped them at a checkpoint on a highway in Okada town, on November 25.
Mr Ezekiel works with the Ministry of Aviation. He and his cousin were on their way from Lagos to Taraba, a journey of more than 1,000 kilometres that could take about 20 hours.
He said police officers at all the checkpoints they passed through were rather interested in extorting from them, instead of checking the car particulars – at each checkpoint, they handed either a N100 or N200 note to the officers, he said.
“When we got to that particular checkpoint, the guy (the officer) stopped us. I brought out the papers (car particulars), thinking that he wanted to look at the papers,” Mr Ezekiel said.
Mr Ezekiel said the officer stretched his hand and opened his palm, an indication that he wanted a bribe.
“I gave him N200. He said to me, ‘your money is N500,’” Mr Ezekiel told PREMIUM TIMES, adding that he had explained to the officer that he and his cousin would be left with no money by the time they arrive Taraba, if they were to give out N500 at each checkpoint.
Mr Ezekiel said their car was prevented from passing, while the officers continued to extort other motorists.
Motorists who did not pay the N500 bribe were forced to park their cars at the edge of the highway, he said.
Police officer allegedly threatens to shoot man over N500 bribe
“I feel pained by the way the Nigerian police are conducting themselves on the highway,” Mr Ezekiel said.
ByCletus Ukpong December 10, 2020 2 min read
A man who was travelling in a private car through Edo State, South-South Nigeria, said a police officer cocked a rifle at him and threatened to shoot because he refused to give N500 bribe.
Andeyaba Ezekiel told PREMIUM TIMES he was travelling, with his cousin, in a newly purchased fairly used car that was duly cleared by the Nigeria Customs Service, when some police officers – about seven of them, without name tag – stopped them at a checkpoint on a highway in Okada town, on November 25.
Mr Ezekiel works with the Ministry of Aviation. He and his cousin were on their way from Lagos to Taraba, a journey of more than 1,000 kilometres that could take about 20 hours.
He said police officers at all the checkpoints they passed through were rather interested in extorting from them, instead of checking the car particulars – at each checkpoint, they handed either a N100 or N200 note to the officers, he said.
“When we got to that particular checkpoint, the guy (the officer) stopped us. I brought out the papers (car particulars), thinking that he wanted to look at the papers,” Mr Ezekiel said.
Mr Ezekiel said the officer stretched his hand and opened his palm, an indication that he wanted a bribe.
“I gave him N200. He said to me, ‘your money is N500,’” Mr Ezekiel told PREMIUM TIMES, adding that he had explained to the officer that he and his cousin would be left with no money by the time they arrive Taraba, if they were to give out N500 at each checkpoint.
Mr Ezekiel said their car was prevented from passing, while the officers continued to extort other motorists.
Motorists who did not pay the N500 bribe were forced to park their cars at the edge of the highway, he said.
After a prolonged wait on the highway, a driver was said to have angrily told one of the officers that their action could bring about another #EndSARS protest. The officer, infuriated by the comment, was said to have cocked his rifle and threatened to shoot at the driver.
Mr Ezekiel said he tried to intervene in the altercation between the officer and the driver and ended up incurring the officer’s wrath.
“When I said it is the bad eggs in the police that give the police a bad name, the officer felt angry, he thought I was referring to him as a bad egg. He cocked his rifle too at me and threatened to shoot me. He ran his finger into my mouth,” Mr Ezekiel said.
Another officer eventually collected N200 from Mr Ezekiel and his cousin and allowed them to drive past the checkpoint, Mr Ezekiel said.
Mr Ezekiel later shared his travails on Twitter and tagged a police unit responsible for investigating such complaints from the citizens.
“Your complaints have been forwarded to the appropriate authority for necessary action. Thank you,” the unit responded on the microblogging site.
“I feel pained by the way the Nigerian police are conducting themselves on the highway.
“What the police are only interested in is the money (they get from people). When they are demanding for this money, they put their gun down, ready to collect the money. At that particular time any criminal would just shoot and do away with them. This is too bad,” Mr Ezekiel said.
