Probe begins as Rivers policemen extort N40,000 from passengers

13 June 2023: Rivers policemen allegedly extort N40,000 passengers A Twitter user simply referre fd to as @LifeOfNapaul has accused some policemen in Rivers State of extorting N40,000 from him and three other individuals.

In a series of tweets on Sunday evening, the victim described his ordeal as following: “I boarded a public vehicle to a destination in Port Harcourt when the police stopped the vehicle and started searching for incriminating evidence with me and three other passengers.”

Noticing that the cops saw as nothing implicating, the casualty said the police officers requested N50,000 from them, adding that he close by the other three casualties left behind N10,000 each before they were permitted to proceed with the excursion.

“I’m so tired and mentally exhausted because this has been occurring,” he wrote in his post. I was bundled like a criminal the last time I went to the police station because I use an iPhone.

“Today (Sunday), en route to PH by means of public vehicle, in no place, we were told to leave, I was looked, my WhatsApp visits were opened individually, every application was looked and they don’t tracked down anything.

“Bruh, these guys told us in the middle of nowhere that they wouldn’t let us go until we “served” them. There were only four guys in the Sienna, and the other people were women. The driver was told to leave, but I kept pleading with him to stay.

The victim claimed that the encounter lasted for more than an hour and that he was handcuffed when he attempted to negotiate peacefully with the police.

“Bro, I’m not a criminal, they said I’m a suspect, I kept asking ‘how?'” he wrote. I was so enraged at that point. We paid 10k each for being Nigerian youths, despite the officers’ request for N50,000. The fact that these fictitious officers were counting the extortion proceeds in front of us is funny.

“I searched Facebook and discovered that she lives in Abuja. The account number I sent the money to was the account number of a woman. I didn’t get their names, the Hilux they utilized wasn’t the authority Nigeria Police Hilux and it had no plate number.”

The victim included a photo of one of the police officers allegedly involved in the extortion in the post.

The Rivers State Police Command responded by tweeting under the handle @RiversPoliceNG and stating that the state Commissioner of Police, Nwonyi Emeka, had condemned the officers’ actions.

“The Chief of Police we have in Streams State Order has no capacity to bear such dishonorable demonstrations, the official will be distinguished and face disciplinary measures while your cash will be discounted,” the police expressed.