The Lagos State Police Command has summoned four officers to explain their alleged involvement in the extortion of N1 million from several National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members.
The incident was brought to light by a Twitter user, Olúyẹmí Fásípè, tweeting as #YemieFash, in a post shared on Thursday.
According to Fásípè, the officers threatened the corps members and took them to Kafaru Oluwole Tinubu House, Area C Police Command, where they were allegedly extorted.
The issue reportedly arose when one of the corps members failed to produce a hard copy of his driver’s licence.
In a video circulating online, a driver can be seen presenting vehicle documents to one of the officers, who then asks, “Where is your driver’s licence?” The driver responds, “I’m renewing it.” When he could not provide the renewal documents in hard copy, a man in plain clothes, who wasn’t immediately identifiable as a police officer, was seen removing the vehicle’s number plate, leading to a heated argument.
The corps members were then taken to the police station, where an officer ordered them to refrain from using their phones, warning that they would be required to write statements at the station if they did.
One officer allegedly claimed it was an offence of “impersonation” for corps members to wear only the NYSC cap without the full uniform.
Fásípè’s tweet read: “Dear #BenHundeyin, your officers in Surulere today extorted one million naira from three corps members.
They were threatened with firearms, kidnapped, and taken to Kafaru Oluwole Tinubu House, Area C Police Command of the #LagosPoliceNG, where they were robbed. Their offence was not having a physical copy of a driver’s licence.
This is evil!“According to the victims, the officer in plain clothes was the one who took the money (their boss). Ben, #BenHundeyin, here are the transaction receipts and a voice note from one of the victims explaining how the rogue officers extorted money from the corps members.”
In response, the Lagos State Police spokesperson, Benjamin Hundeyin, tweeting as #BenHundeyin, confirmed on Friday that the officers involved had been summoned and their trial had begun.
He encouraged the victims to visit the Complaint Response Unit at the state headquarters to provide testimony for the ongoing investigation.The officers’ actions have sparked widespread outrage on social media.