A fashion designer, Joseph Ejiro, has narrated his alleged abduction by members of the Nigerian Police Force from the Festac Town Police Post, where his life was threatened until he agreed to pay a ransom that would secure his release.
According to Ejiro: “The last few days have been some of the most depressing of my life. I have debated whether or not to talk about this, what the point would be other than rehashing a terrible experience
“I was kidnapped, beaten, tortured and threatened with death by members of the @PoliceNG. What does freedom mean when policemen can force you into their van, torture you, and threaten to kill you if you don’t pay ransom?
“I was at Festac to make a delivery to a client on November 21. Heading home, a police officer (wearing a police polo shirt with no name tag) blocked my path at the Second Rainbow junction and told me his
“I asked what the problem was and he said there was no problem, just to come with him. The officer led me to a police minibus parked in front of the petrol station at the Second Rainbow junction. There were seven policemen in police polo shirts waiting in the bus.
“The officers asked what was in my bag, grabbed it before I could respond, and went through it. Money, phone charger, earphones. They demanded that I unlock my phone and give it to them. I asked again what the problem was and why they needed to go through my phone. They repeated their order, crowding me in, and even though I was terrified I refused to hand them my phone until they told me why they wanted to go through my phone. The IG is constantly on television saying that such demands are illegal and ultra vires.
“The police officers pushed me into their minibus and took turns beating me. My cries of pain fell on deaf ears. They handcuffed me and made the cuffs so tight it cut off blood flow and my hands went numb. I was screaming in pain and begging them to loosen the cuffs. They refused and they forced my finger onto my fingerprint scanner and unlocked my phone.
“One of them got behind the wheel, started the bus, and they took me to their station
“Each time I made to look at the things they were putting in my hands, I was slapped and told to look up at the camera. Then, they started demanding money. 500 thousand
“The amount kept going down. From 500 thousand
“Eventually, one of them made me unlock my phone again. He opened my GTBank app on my phone, forced me to unlock the app with my fingerprint, and then they made me transfer N185
“They said this was the only way I was going to be released. Did I want to end up in prison? They had made me transfer all the money I had in my account, leaving behind just N3
“They took the N5
According to Punch Metro, Bala Elkana, the
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