A policeman (name unknown) says investigative journalist, Fisayo Soyombo should have paid them (officers on duty) 20000 naira, after meeting them at a checkpoint early on Thursday morning.
According to Soyombo, he was driving around Obanikoro axis on Ikorodu road after 1am, when he encountered the policemen who he said behaved like robbers.
The award winning investigative journalist said the officers banged his Car and pointed guns at him, forcing him to open the door.
“The policemen that operated around the Obanikoro end on Ikorodu Road minutes after 1am today were behaving like bandits.
“They parked right on the express lane. One banged my car repeatedly, screaming “open your door” while pointing a gun at me.
“For a moment I thought they were armed robbers disguising with police uniforms,” he said.
Soyombo said the officer upon entering his Car screamed “Curfew”. He added that when he displayed his identify card for him to see, he alighted immediately, while touting at him to pay them 20000 naira.
“And when I showed him my ID as a journalist, he disembarked in disappointment, shouting “as you jam us for road like this, if you drop 20,000 e no bad”.
“The clean-up needed in the Police is massive. Take away their uniforms and there was nothing in their conduct that marked them any different from armed robbers,” he said.
The Precision NG reports that incidents of abuse and extra judicial killings are common among the Nigerian police personnel, which successive governments in the country have not been able to address.
Just last week in Lagos, a family man, Jelili Bakare was killed by a police officer after the former declined an order by him to be searched.
The man’s refusal to allow the police officer searched him, led to him being shot dead.
In October, 2020, there was widespread protests among Nigerian youths tagged #EndSARSnow which was aimed at putting an end to police brutality.
The President and the Inspector General of Police promised to reform the men of the police force, but recent happenings after the #EndSARS protests show that no lesson has been learnt.
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