Policewoman Teams Up With Fake Rivers Task Force Officers to Extort Doctor
DrAllisonofph, an X (formerly Twitter) user, has recounted how a Rivers State police officer, with connivance from members of the now-dissolved task force, harassed him and extorted N30,000 from him and his assistant on Tuesday.
In a series of tweets on X on Wednesday, the X user stated that he had parked his car on East West Road awaiting a mechanic coming to help fix a fault.
He said that after some 15 minutes on the spot, three task force officers came knocking at his window and insisted that he wind his glass down. He said he asked them why he should follow their orders but they continued knocking at his window.
He wound down, stepped out and asked the men what was going on, but they told him he was parked at the very spot where a kidnapping had just occurred. While he talked to the officers, a white minibus with a police lady inside was parked behind his car.
“They then asked me to get into my car and [said] they were going to take me to their office. One of them pushed me out of the driver’s door and forced himself into my car. I decided to go with them because of the policewoman, hoping they would take me to a police station,” DrAllinsonofph wrote on X.
Later on, he said, another officer asked him where he hails from, to which he responded, Bonny Local Government Area. After he answered, the officer said that they were brothers, and thus he would beg his colleagues to let him go, but at a price.
He said the officers’ first request was that he pay N300,000, but when he asked them about the crime he had committed, they dismissed his question and insisted that he pay the said amount because a kidnapping had occurred on the spot where he was parked.
All the while, one of them was driving his car, one was sitting in the passenger seat in front, and one was at the back with DrAllinsonofph, while his assistant and the fully dressed policewoman were in the mini-bus following his car.
Out of fear for his life, DrAllisonofph began to negotiate with the men, who now asked him to pay N200,000, although he told them he had no such money. The police officers then took his phone and checked his bank account, only to find N19,000.
“They insisted I borrow some money from someone and give it to them. They then drove me from Obirikwere Flyover down to Garrison. I pleaded with them to stop, but they refused. While in the car, they asked my assistant to withdraw all the funds in her account. She asked to alight, but they initially refused,” he said.
After his assistant alighted, some random stranger saw what was happening and asked her what the matter was, which she explained.
“The people started yelling that they were frauds and that the current government had dissolved the task force. At this point, I was confused, so I asked them for their ID card again, but rather one of them started fighting with the guy that raised the alarm there,” he said.
“I turned off my car, took my key and gave it to my assistant. Then I walked to the police officer and asked her for her identity card, but she walked away. I took my phone out of my pocket to video what was going on, and the policewoman hit and smashed my phone to the ground.
“Then she held my clothes and injured me by my neck. They also injured the guy who raised the alarm. They even flattened one of my tyres and tried removing my car battery. When they saw I was recording, they all left inside a minibus.
“This was even after one of them, accompanied by the police lady from the minibus, had taken the N11,000 withdrawal from my PA and N19,000 from my account, making a total of N30,000.”
When FIJ called Grace Iringe-Koko, the Rivers State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), for comments on the matter, she asked this reporter to send her the link to the X user’s complaint.