Men of the Nigeria Police force have allegedly invaded a mosque where they arrested several worshippers and demanded for ransom for their release.
The Divisional Police Officer in Charge of the Pen Cinema Police Division in Lagos, H.E. Nwabuisi is being accused of carrying out frequent raids in the area, arresting innocent people off the street and demanding ransom before setting them free.
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Nwabuisi, allegedly led his men to Alimi Ogunyemi Street, in the Ifako Ijaiye area, and subsequently arrested several Muslim faithfuls who had just finished the evening prayers at the mosque around 8pm on Wednesday evening.
That same evening the Nwabusi and his police team raided clubs and kidnapped people from the streets alongside the Mosque worshippers in their custody.
Done with its night of raiding and kidnapping, the Police team subsequently took their victims to the Pen Cinema Police Station by 12am where 37 of them were forced to part with ransom for their freedom.
According to one of the victims Sheriff Aranjure, the men of the Nigeria Police force called the victims out from the cell one by one and demanded a ransom of N15,000 bribe from each person to regain their freedom.
The victim revealed that he regained his freedom when his elder brother was able to bargain to have two others besides himself released for N30,000.
“Our mosque is in front of our house. We had just observed Ishai (8pm prayers) and were in front of the mosque when the policemen from the Pen Cinema Police Station appeared. They had a task force van, a Black Maria and four other vehicles.
Before they got to the house, they had arrested some people. When they got to the front of the mosque, they stopped a motorcycle rider and arrested him and his passenger.
The man that led the team was the DPO of the Pen Cinema Police Division. The name on his tag is H.E. Nwabuisi. He came to where we were and asked what we were doing outside. We told him that we were in front of our house and we had just finished praying in the mosque.
He ordered some of the policemen to take us into the Black Maria. We asked what we did wrong. When I tried to resist, the DPO dragged me by the shirt and tore my clothes. They took three of us into the Black Maria,” he said.
The victim further revealed that men of the Nigeria Police also abducted several other people on the street including 15-year-old Ahmed Ogunyemi, who had been asked to buy drugs from a kiosk as well as 50 year old Isiaka Adams.
Narrating his experience in the hands of the Nigeria Police officers, Sheriff said further;
“After they raided other places, we were taken to the Area G Command and put in a cell. They went out to conduct more raids. Around 15 minutes to 12am, they came back with new people. They put all of us in the Black Maria and took us to the Pen Cinema Police Station. We were about 37 people that they arrested. When we got to the station, they asked us to write our names. They started calling us out one by one, asking if we wanted to bail ourselves.”
Sheriff’s brother, Ibrahim, who allegedly paid N30,000 for the bail, said he was lucky to have escape being abducted himself;
“Aside from Sheriff, I was the one who sent the 15-year-old boy they arrested on an errand to buy drugs for me because I was ill. So, when I saw what had happened, I followed them in a tricycle. We trailed them as they went to Area G. But from my observation, it appeared the area commander did not know anything about the raid.
When they got to their station, I saw one of them, called Bigi, a police sergeant. He asked me what the problem was and I told him what had happened. He went to meet the DPO and negotiated on our behalf. They collected N30,000 for the three of them. Bigi said it was important that we secured their bail that night because they would take them to court the following day. For fear that our people could be arraigned for what they knew nothing about we had to look for the money that night.
In my presence, he gave the DPO the money and they spoke briefly. The owner of the bar where some other people were arrested also paid some money to the policemen,” he said.
Ibrahim lamented the high rate of corruption ongoing at the Pen Cinema Police station and urged Nigeria Police authorities to call the DPO to order and sanction erring officers.
He alleged that Nigeria Police officers from that station always conduct raids at night and kidnap innocent people for ransom from the streets, bars and clubs and sometimes places of worship.
He reiterated his willingness to testify against the Police DPO if a case was brought against him by the authorities.
Reacting to the allegations, the state Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Chike Oti, confirmed that there was indeed a raid in the area, but denied that the DPO extorted money from those arrested.
“It is a blatant lie. There was indeed a raid on black spots in the area. This was after a tip-off that the Awawa Boys and some other cults planned to engage in a gang war. The DPO swung into action and a lot of the cult members were arrested. This is in keeping with our commitment to always keep Lagos residents safe and the state crime-free,” he said.
He however later added that the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Edgal Imohimi had ordered an investigation into the allegation.