The Nigeria Immigration Service is currently investigating the reported extortion incident involving United States-based Nigerian Professor Moyo Okediji.
Recall that on Tuesday, Okediji shared on Facebook how he gave $40 to immigration officers at the Seme border, who had demanded payment after conducting a search on him.
He later realized that $500 was missing from his luggage after being released by the officers.
Additionally, he recounted facing harassment by suspected Nigeria Police officers in the FESTAC area of Lagos, further complicating his ordeal.
He wrote, “Without the intervention of a crowd of young Igbo men who saved me from the hands of the Nigeria Police attached to the FESTAC Mile Two station, I would be a dead man today (Tuesday).
“I arrived Lagos today (on Tuesday). I came in through Ghana and decided to enter Nigeria by road so I could see the lagoon landscape, riding a Jeep that I hired to drive me down. Everything went well in Ghana, Togo, Benin Republic, until I stepped into Nigeria. The first immigration checkpoint that we encountered was at the Seme border, on the Nigeria side.
“One of the immigration officers took a look at me, and said, ‘Come down, oga.’ To cut a long story short, they robbed me of $500. There were many of them, and they invited me to their shed. They took my hand luggage, with all the money that I brought from the US.”
He mentioned that the officials’ reason for searching his luggage was to check for contraband.
“They asked for my Nigeria passport. I told them it had expired and I was in Nigeria to renew it. They said it was an offence for me to enter the country with an expired passport. I apologised. But they wanted none of that. They said I had to ‘settle’ them. They had my wallet containing the money I brought to spend in Nigeria.
“They saw two twenty-dollar notes and said I needed to give them these notes, otherwise they would seize all the money in the wallet, and take me to their office to make a statement. I had heard stories of visitors to the country ending up dead when the police invited them to their offices to clear some issues. So, I eagerly gave them the forty dollars. They gave me back my things. But when I counted my money later, $500 was missing,” he said.
The don narrated that when he further got to the FESTAC Mile Two motor park, “three gun-toting police officers appeared.”
“They (the policemen) asked for identifications. I gave them my driving licence, the university-issued ID card, my US passport and my Nigeria passport. They took them from me. By that time, about 10 police officers had descended upon me.”
“Before you could say ‘Ki lo de?’ (what happened?), the police officers searched me thoroughly.
He mentioned being “rescued” by approximately 100 Igbo boys at the park, which prompted the policemen to eventually let him go.
The spokesperson for the NIS, Dotun Aridegbe, stated that they are currently investigating the situation.
Meanwhile, Balogun Gboyega, the Divisional Police Officer of FESTAC, urged the lecturer to come forward and file a report to properly identify the alleged officers who harassed him.
Gboyega said, “The following day (of the incident), you (the lecturer) can take the pain to see the DPO or the Area Commander to make a case and identify these boys, for which we will do an identification parade of every one of them. Every one of them (officers) denied it because there was no complaint.”
Gboyega emphasized that while policemen have the authority to conduct searches, it should not involve intimidating, harassing, or embarrassing individuals.
“The man feels that police officers harassed him, he can come and make a complaint,” the DPO added.
He revealed that the police were unable to ascertain whether the officers belonged to the Area Command or the division due to the lack of evidence presented to them at that point.
“Only he (the lecturer) can identify those who did it,” he said, “if he can come, let’s do an identification parade for these people.”
