According to the sources, for instance, the police authority at the command headquarters in Ado Ekiti pasted the names of personnel to go for a detective course in Enugu State, purposely to extort them.
Sources in the Ekiti State Police Command have accused the command of extorting N30,000 each from inspectors and rank and file for a detective course they are not ready for.
According to the sources, for instance, the police authority at the command headquarters in Ado Ekiti pasted the names of personnel to go for a detective course in Enugu State, purposely to extort them.
They accused the command of intentionally doing it knowing there were no provisions made for the funding of the course or allowances for personnel by the police force, and that the officers were not ready for it because of the economic situation of the country.
One of the sources said, "There is huge corruption in the Nigeria Police Force, Ekiti State Command presently. It is the extortion of N30,000 from rank and file who are not ready to go for a detective course in Enugu state.
"The gimmick is that at the command headquarters in Ado Ekiti, they will paste some names for detective course in Enugu, purposely to extort them because they know no one is ready for any course now because of the economic situation of the country and besides, no allowance for the course and the police would not fund you to go.
"Corruption is rocking the command. Anytime the police administration needed money, they would just publish the names of some officers – inspectors and rank and file – to go for a police detective course in Enugu without funding from the police. They expect the officers and rank and file to spend their meagre salary and leave them with the option to bribe with N30,000 not to go.”
"Just last week, a good number of inspectors and rank and file were crying; some even had to borrow the N30,000 to give to them and this has been the method of extortion in the Ekiti state command.
"These are policemen extorting policemen in Ekiti state," another officer said.
Efforts to get the administrative department of the command on the phone failed.
However, when contacted, the Ekiti State Police Public Relations Officer, Abutu Sunday, denied the allegation, saying that all the personnel of the command have been scheduled to attend the course in batches and that the course is free.
He said the allegation must have been “crookedly cooked” by those who are in the business of tarnishing the image of the Nigeria Police Force.
“Our findings show that there was and there is nothing like that in the command. All the personnel of the command have been scheduled to attend the course in batches. The list of the first batch has been submitted to Force Headquarters and the other batches will follow subsequently.
“The allegation must have been crookedly cooked by those who are in the business of tarnishing the image of the Nigeria Police Force. The course/retraining is to be attended by all personnel and it is free of charge.
“Meanwhile, the command implores anyone or those who feel victimized monetarily or otherwise to approach the authority for immediate disciplinary action,” the police spokesperson said in a text message sent to SaharaReporters.