Some officers of the Nigeria Police Force attached to Kogi State Police Command have been caught on camera after allegedly extorting money from a Nigerian travelling in one of the registered commercial vehicles.
The recorded video which has gone viral on the internet was said to have been recorded by one of the passengers unknown to the policemen.
The recorded video caught the policemen when they stopped the vehicle and started harassing the passengers and in the process, one of the officers removed his uniform as they dragged one passenger into their vehicle and took him to a nearby Automated Teller Machine (ATM) and forced him to withdraw a yet-to-be-ascertained amount of money for them.
The passenger said upon their return from the ATM, some of the passengers challenged the police officers as to why they forced the young man to withdraw money from his bank account for them but the policemen unleashed terror on them and threatened to kill them.
The passenger identified the leader of the police team as Ogu Godwin, adding that one of the policemen in the video slapped some passengers while shouting – “I will kill!”
The passenger who recorded the video was heard saying, “Look at what Nigeria police is doing to the citizens of this country. They forced one of our passengers into their vehicle to withdraw money from an ATM (Automated Teller Machine).
“All the drivers of the same registered vehicles parked and said this is not right but they came and slapped passengers who did not do anything asking why they are complaining that they (police officers) took the boy to POS.
“He said he will kill him, that blood will flow if they are not careful, that highest they will share blood.
“This is where we are – Kogi State. The officer who led the team is Ogu Godwin. He is the only officer in uniform that has a name. One of them pulled off his uniform and followed the boy (the victim) to their ATM bank.”
Reacting to the incident, the Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said the case had been referred to the X Squad, Force Criminal Investigation Department to investigate.
He added that he had asked for the report and would study it and make comments as soon as possible.
The Force PRO said, “I will soon react to this. This case was referred to X Squad Force CID to investigate. I called for the report today. I will study it and comment asap. The PPRO Kogi ought to have followed up on this case.”