A Lagos-based artiste, Prince Johnson, has accused some policemen attached to the Igando Police Station of allegedly assaulting and extorting him.
PUNCH Metro learnt that Johnson was on his way to a movie set on Saturday, August 16, 2020, when he was accosted by four policemen and ordered to park his vehicle.
Johnson alleged that the policemen labelled him an Internet fraudster after searching his phone and car without finding anything incriminating.
The victim told our correspondent that the cops later took him to the station, where he was asked to pay N50,000 to secure his freedom.
He said, “I was going to shoot a movie on Saturday when we were stopped by the police. I thought it was going to be the usual stop-and-search, but I didn’t know the officers had other intentions. One of them instructed his colleague to search the vehicle, which he did and found nothing.
“After not finding anything incriminating in my car, one of the cops asked me to hand over my phone, which I did. The next thing was that two officers entered my car and asked my driver to take us to their station. On our way to the station, one of the officers asked for my name and my occupation, I told them everything and I even tried to give him my ID card, but he refused to take it and told me to respect myself.
“The officer told me that I knew what I should do and that I should do it now. I didn’t understand what he was saying and I told him to explain what he meant. He just said okay and said nothing more until we got to the station.”
He added, “When we got to the station, my phone was given to another officer, who checked it and found nothing on it. The officers started calling me a fraudster and said I was being stubborn and that if I wanted to leave the station, I should cooperate with them and pay N50,000.
“When I told the cops that I didn’t have such amount in my account, they started beating me. They didn’t stop beating me until one of the officers suggested that I should go to the ATM to withdraw N10,000. I told them that I had only N8,000 in my account. One of the officers gave me an account number to send the money into, which I did. They asked me to wait until they could confirm the transaction before my phone was released to me.”
When contacted by PUNCH Metro, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Bala Elkana, said he was not aware of the incident and urged the victim to call him to explain all that happened so that investigation would be carried out immediately.
“I am not aware that such happened; I am hearing it from you for the first time. Please encourage the victim to call me and brief me on what happened so that investigation can be carried out immediately,” Elkana stated.
