By Tekena Amieyeofori
Four officers of the Nigeria Police Force have been arrested and taken into custody by the Federal Capital Territory Command after they allegedly forced the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, Dr Musa Aliyu (SAN), to pay N53,000 during an unlawful stop-and-search in Abuja.
The FCT Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Sanusi, made this known on Monday while addressing the press in Abuja. He described the officers as criminals who are unfit for police work.
According to the CP, the officers deserted their official duty posts to set up an unauthorised checkpoint around Banex in Wuse. It was there that they stopped the ICPC chairman and demanded money, without realising who he was.
He explained that the ICPC boss was compelled to make a N53,000 withdrawal through a POS agent, including the service charges, after which the officers divided the cash amongst themselves.
“I must say here too that we have about four policemen in custody as we speak who successfully extorted somebody of high importance, unknown to them that this person is a highly placed person in society. In clear terms, they extorted the Chairman of the ICPC.
“They extorted him of N53,000. They took him to a POS, he withdrew the money, paid the charges and they shared the money among themselves,” he said.
Sanusi said investigations showed the men had abandoned their assigned stations and formed a group that operated the illegal checkpoint to extort road users.
“They are a gang of criminals who left various divisions, clustered together, moved to Wuse Banex and created a checkpoint where they perpetrated this act before fleeing,” he said.
“We got all of them. We are going to make sure they are severely punished. Those that are going to be dismissed will definitely be dismissed,” he added.
The commissioner also restated the Inspector-General of Police’s ban on random phone checks by officers on patrol.
He told residents to reject any demand by police to search their phones by the roadside and to report such cases immediately via the police emergency numbers.
“You cannot stop anybody on the road and ask the person to bring out his phone for search. If any policeman stops you and asks to search your phone, don’t agree. Call the police emergency lines and we will ask them why,” Sanusi said.
He urged the public to report cases of extortion and other acts of misconduct by police officers, assuring that those found culpable would be identified and punished.
“We will still enforce the IG’s directive. Some of them are on the task because they are criminally minded. They want to perpetrate such acts. If we get them, they will face disciplinary actions and will be made to face the consequences,” Sanusi said.