The Lagos State Police Command has revealed that on Monday, National Youth Service Corps members appeared at the Command Headquarters to testify and provide further evidence in the ongoing trial of four police officers accused of extorting N1 million from them in Surulere, Lagos.
The spokesperson for the Command, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, shared this development via a post on his X account.
According to Hundeyin, the trial is progressing smoothly, and more updates will be provided in due course.
“The corps members were at the Command Headquarters today to give their testimonies and present more evidence. The trial is progressing well. Further updates will follow in due course,” Hundeyin wrote.
Hundeyin stated that the corps members were brought to the Command Headquarters by the Lagos State NYSC Director, Mrs. Christiana Salmwang, along with the Corps’ legal officer, Barrister Otosinloba Onilenla, and other officials.
“They were actually brought by the Lagos State Director of @officialnyscng, Mrs Christiana Salmwang, the Corps’ legal officer, Barrister Otosinloba Onilenla and other officials,” he said.
Last Thursday, an X user, Oluyemi Fasipe, drew attention to the alleged extortion incident, stating that the officers from the Area C Police Command in Surulere had extorted N1 million from three corps members.
Reports indicated that the corps members were stopped along the Surulere expressway, where a group of officers surrounded their vehicle for a search. An argument ensued, escalating to the point where the vehicle was taken to the Area C Police Station, where the alleged extortion occurred.
Fasipe’s post read, “Officers today, in Surulere extorted one million naira from three corps members. They were threatened with firearms, kidnapped, and taken to the Kafaru Oluwole Tinubu House, Area C Police Command of the @LagosPoliceNG where they were robbed. Their offence was the absence of a physical copy of a driver’s license.”
Fasipe, commenting on videos he shared, also claimed, “According to the victims, the officer in mufti is the one who collected the money (their boss).”
One of the corps members managed to capture part of the incident on a hidden camera, where a policeman can be heard demanding to see the driver’s license of the vehicle’s driver. In the recording, the corps member responded, “I’m renewing it,” which led to a heated argument as the officers insisted on seeing a paper version of the license.
The situation escalated further, with officers allegedly removing the vehicle’s plate number. One officer can be heard in the footage shouting, “If you do anyhow, I will molest you.”
In an audio clip obtained later, one of the corps members described how they were forced to part with large sums of money under duress. He revealed that the officers extorted N200,000 from two of them, initially demanding N10 million after searching through his phone.
“They said I should log into my NYSC portal. While trying to log in, one snatched my phone. They started going through messages and pictures. They asked me where I got the money for a car. I told them it’s my mum’s car. Then, they said I should give them N10 million,” the corps member recounted.
He continued, “I said I didn’t have, but I could afford N50,000. They refused. I begged him as he was still searching my phone. When he went through my account and saw N116,000, I told him I could give them N100,000, but he refused and said I should call people to send me money. He heard me talking to my girlfriend on the phone to send me N200,000. Fortunately, my family already knew I was with the police because I called my mummy immediately the incident occurred, and she had called my girlfriend. So, when I asked my girlfriend for N200,000, she said she didn’t have it.”
He said the officers found about N200,000 in one of his friends’ accounts and instructed him to give the corps member his ATM card to withdraw the money. In addition, another corps member was coerced into transferring Bitcoin worth $842.
Earlier, Hundeyin had confirmed that the officers involved had been identified and were being interrogated. By Friday evening, he announced that the officers had been summoned, and the internal trial had commenced.
