Even as Nigeria bids an embarrassing farewell to Sir Mike Okiro as Inspector-General of Police and enters the Ogbonaya Onovo era, the nation continues to groan under Police extortion on roadways, particularly the Lagos-Benin expressway.
Saharareporters recently unveiled a cartel within the Police force that specializes in fleecing owners of fairly-used cars. This is one of the endless and unenviable legacies being left behind by Mike Okiro who, upon assumptionof office, promised to restore "integrity" to the police force.
It was gathered that the squad, christened “Gateway Response Squad” operates within the Ogun State flank of the Lagos-Benin highway. Okiro was once Commissioner of Police in that state, and used a parcel of land there as collateral for his scandal-plagued N661 million Lead Bank loan.
Okiro's tag Team, which, according to their victims has perfected intimidation, extortion, and other vices that are not expected of law enforcement agents, set up multiple check points within each kilometer. There, they extorted large sums of money ranging from N10,000 to N30,000 per check point, depending on the class of car impounded, irrespective of the possession of the required documents.
As each hour of the day slips by, hundreds of imported used cars purchased at exorbitant cost are trapped and the owners who suddenly become victims in the hands of the supposed policemen are threatened with seizure of their vehicles. The objective was to extract as much money as possible
The cartel specializes in laying siege on unsuspecting members of the public who for reasons of better bargains and variety, choose to shop for cars in Lagos because it easy to get used cars in the city. The policemen also offer to serve as escorts for their victims after extorting money from them to help beat other check points within the Ogun State stretch, but no sooner than money has exchanged hands than the victims are taken through a bush path and tricked into the hands of other colleagues who then embark on further extortion and intimidation.
Even when vehicle the documents are complete, the Policemen simply declare them as fake or forged in order to ensure that money changes hands, leaving their victims with no option than to succumb to the intimidation.
The tales of the victims in the face of Police extortion is worsened by the impunity with which the policemen perpetrate their act. They openly boast of having the blessings of the IG and police authorities and that they have to contend with making returns to the Police High Command while intimidating their victims to submission.
Analysts say it will be interesting to see how the new boss, IG Onovo, will respond to this challenge from within.
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content1'); });
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('comments'); });
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content2'); });