According to the report, the policemen took the student to a nearby bush, collected his phone and told him to open his bank app on his mobile phone.
Five policemen have been arrested for allegedly extorting a student identified simply as Ibrahim of his school fees.
The incident occurred along Old Ogbomoso Road in Oyo State, southwest Nigeria.
A Twitter user @SavvyRinu on Tuesday posted how the student was extorted by some policemen.
The student was said to be on his way to Lagos when he was confronted by the policemen. He was ordered to disembark from the vehicle, while other passengers were asked to continue with their journey.
According to the report, the policemen took the student to a nearby bush, collected his phone and told him to open his bank app on his mobile phone. After seeing that he had some money in his account, they took him to a Point of Sale (POS) operator to withdraw the money.
The student, however, said his tuition was forcibly taken from his account, noting that N90,000 was withdrawn out of N93,000 in his account.
The post read, “People help me, I was extorted illegally yesterday on my way coming to Lagos and was calling the police pro and commissioner, all picked and kept saying wrong number. But I called a former pro, he said it is their number and that is how they do.
“Please ma, help me, this is my school fees as a sum of 90k out of 93k found in my account. I pray you see this so I can explain how it happened. Was driven to the bush and threatened. Please save me. I pray you see this.
“The most painful part (is that) I told them this is my school fees and they extorted N90k out of the N93k in my accounts. Was just driven to the bush, they told the other passenger they are taking me to the office but I will join them at the popular Amala joint in Oyo that they should wait for me.
“On our way, they passed different routes and in their car, they kept telling me I should call anyone I know to send me money. I told them no one, it’s kinda hard this time, immediately, one of them collected my phone and told me to open my bank (app) and I did.
“And was taken to PoS which I think it’s their PoS cause when I sent the money, they did not receive (an) alert. Once I told him nah awodi police, he said haa, eyini and he gave me the cash immediately. I can send you the driver’s number to confirm these people have no mercy. (I) was pleading, crying in their car. Still, they extorted me. They left 3k for me.”
However, the spokesperson for the state police command, Adewale Osifeso on Thursday said the policemen involved in the extortion have been arrested, noting an investigation was ongoing.
Osifeso said, “We have arrested and detained five policemen and we are waiting for Ibrahim to come and identify the policemen that allegedly did what he said they did to him out of those detained, and for him to also help us initiate the prosecution procedure against those guys through an orderly room trial.”
“The money extorted from him has been recovered; we traced the operator and the endpoint of the account where the money was lodged. All that happened today,” he added.