It urged the police authorities to arrest and prosecute all the police officers at FESTAC Police Division involved in the alleged harassment and intimidation.
A pro-democracy and human rights advocacy group, the Take-It-Back Movement (TIB), Lagos State chapter has asked the Lagos State Command of the Nigeria Police Force to conduct an immediate investigation into the alleged harassment of a Nigerian-American Professor, Moyo Okediji.
It urged the police authorities to arrest and prosecute all the police officers at FESTAC Police Division involved in the alleged harassment and intimidation.
SaharaReporters earlier reported that Okediji who is a Professor of Art History at the University of Texas, Austine, recounted how some Nigerian immigration officers at Seme border allegedly robbed him of $500 and took his hand luggage with all the money that he brought from the US while returning to Nigeria.
Okediji further alleged that some police officers attached to the FESTAC Mile 2 Station, Lagos State could have killed him on Tuesday after his encounter with the immigration officers, but for the timely intervention of some young men.
Okediji, who took to his Facebook account to recount his ordeal at the hands of the immigration and police officers on Tuesday said that without the intervention of a crowd of young Igbo men who saved him from the claws of the police personnel attached to the FESTAC Mile 2 station, he could have been a dead man.
Reacting to the incident, TIB described the action of the police officers as unprofessional, saying, “It is so disheartening that our Nigerian police force is not representing us positively in the face of the outside world and it is a shame on them and Nigerians at large.”
In a statement issued by its Lagos State Coordinator, Adekunle Adeyemi Taofeek, TIB said, “Professor Moyo Okediji’s offence is visiting his home country after spending years in the diaspora but fell victim of circumstance, he was first robbed of $500 by men of the Nigerian immigration attached to Seme border after willingly giving out the sum of $40.
“Getting to Lagos, he met another misfortune in the hands of the Nigerian police but with the intervention of Igbo youths within the area, he was able to scale through.
“Nigerian police have every right to stop and search citizens but in the process of searching, if they find anything incriminating, they should make an arrest and if it is otherwise, they should apologize and let the person continue his/her journey.
“This is contrary according to the Nigerian police code of conduct. In the case of Professor Moyo Okediji in the hands of the Nigerian police attached to Festac, he was searched, and nothing incriminating was found on him but his American and Nigerian passport, his identity card and some cash in dollars, yet Nigerian police are making arrest even after finding out his real identity. He’s an elderly man, a professor at that.
“This is misconduct on the part of the Nigerian police and we at the Take It Back movement frown on it and also charge the newly appointed Lagos State Commissioner of Police CP Adegoke Mustapha Fayoade to fish out all culprits and they should be dealt with accordingly.
“It is no longer news that policemen attached to Festac are a thorn in the flesh and are known for their corrupt and unprofessional act of extorting innocent Nigerians. Nigerian police are meant to protect us and not to intimidate us.
“We have received several complaints on the shenanigans of Festac police and we urge the newly appointed commissioner of police to see to it and put an end to the daylight robbery.
“We also urge and charge the police service commission and National Assembly to pass a bill to mandate the use of body cameras to be worn by every serving Nigerian policeman, this will curb their excesses and also minimize their excessive use of force, illegal arrest and extortion.
“Nigerians are no longer safe in the hands of those that are being paid to protect us.”