From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
Liberty Kelechi Isaac, in the company of two other friends, was travelling from Ughelli, Delta State to Owerri in Imo State on Monday, August 26th when he had a nightmarish experience with officers of the Nigeria Police at a checkpoint at Odi, Kolokuma/ Opokuma Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
After his vehicle was searched and the particulars checked with nothing to hold against him or his friends, the police reportedly demanded they cross to the other side of the road, where a sordid drama ensued.
“They demanded my phone but I refused to give them. I told them of the IGP’s directive that no citizen should give policemen his or her phone. I also told them that if they have anything against us they should take us to the police station. Immediately I said that, they started beating me and branded me a terrorist.
“At a point, the beating became too much, I was handcuffed and some of them started shooting and threatening to kill us. They accused us of being bad boys. The pressure was much and I handed over the phone to them. The first place the officer I handed my phone to went to was my messages and he saw an alert of a transaction that I did. He saw the balance which was N10.7 million. He shouted: “Na dem, na dem,” Liberty said in a viral video.
Liberty said he was forced to the back of the police car and sandwiched between two police officers who, he said, were continuously beating him until he began negotiating for his release.
He stated that the policemen insisted on getting N6 million, but he said he explained to them that the N10.7million was for his younger brother whom he was helping with a project.
“I now said there is another account, FCMB, which has a N3million balance and said that is my own and that I can give them N500,000. They refused and continued the beating. I raised it to N1.5m but they did not stop the beating. At that point, I feared for my life and told them I would give them N3 million. That was when they agreed to stop the beating,” he said.
Liberty said he was given back his phone and he reportedly transferred the money to two separate accounts provided by the police officers. The police, he alleged, took him and his friends to Ahoada before releasing them.
But that was not the end of the drama. Liberty, upon getting to Owerri, decided to fight the grave injustice that had been meted out to him and ensure the bad police officers were fished out.
“When the incident happened, I now remembered who I am. I am an activist who has been involved in student and youth struggles. I also realized that in the police force, there are good eggs and bad ones, so if one keeps quiet when such things happen, it aids the bad eggs in continuing their evil deeds. So, I know the only way I would get justice is when I cry out and it gets to the right authorities, the good ones would fish out the bad eggs. That is exactly what has happened, ‘’ he told Saturday Sun.
Liberty contacted a lawyer in Warri, Mr. Ebilade Obiri, a former legal adviser of the Ijaw Youth Council, who fired a petition to the office of the AIG Zone 16. After preliminary investigations,, police officers of Zone 16 were fingered as being behind the incident,
The AIG, Paul Alifa Omata was said to have directed the immediate investigation and arrest of the officers. On the night of Tuesday, September 3, three of the police officers who were involved were arrested.
“Yes, the complainant, Liberty reported the incident and the Nigeria Police swung into action. The erring officers have been arrested. Four of them were involved but three of them were arrested. The last suspect would also be arrested soon. They are being taken to Force Headquarters in Abuja where they would face orderly room trial, dismissal, and prosecution for their action’’ a top police officer at Zone 16 said.
Commenting on the arrest of the police officers, Liberty said beyond the arrest, he wants justice served so that bad police officers planning similar action would think twice.
“Information from the AIG office was that the officers were arrested and taken to Abuja. The money has been recovered from them. But the police are waiting for an order from the IG office on whether they are giving me the money here or I should go to Abuja to collect it.
“I feel bad over the whole issue. I have been hearing things like this, but this is the first time it happened to me. I am still in shock and going through trauma over the incident. I thank God for the way the AIG and his men swiftly went into action. I commend the AIG, Zone 16.
“But one thing I want from them is that I need justice. Beyond the fact that they have recovered the money, I want justice,” he said.
Obiri, in an interview, said the matter would be followed through to ensure that the police officers pay for the crime they have committed.
“We have already come a long way on this case. The police officers have been arrested and they have been taken to Abuja for disciplinary measures. We are going to follow it through. What they did was an act of armed robbery. When you carry a gun and at gunpoint, you make someone part with his hard-earned resources, it is armed robbery. It does not matter where it is coming from whether from uniform men or not. The guns given to these police officers are provided with taxpayers’ money, meant to protect the citizens of Nigeria. This is the same guns they now use to rob the citizens. It is reprehensible and cannot be tolerated. We are calling on the IG that he should leave no stone unturned to ensure justice prevails.
Atrocities of Zone 16 officers
The case of Liberty has made more residents of Bayelsa State speak up on the atrocious activities of some police officers from Zone 16.
Some of the people who took to social media to narrate their experience alleged that aside from the highway, where travellers have been subjected to dehumanizing actions by Zone 16 policemen, people are made to part with money on the streets of Yenagoa by Zone 16 police officers virtually every day.
“The Zone 16 police seems to be notorious. They patrol the Isaac Boro Expressway extorting money from people and doing forceful online bank transfers, especially at night’’ said a resident of Yenagoa.
Another resident, Theo warned that if nothing is done to check these illegal activities of the police officers, it will get out of hand and lead to chaos.
A journalist, Tife Owolabi stated that the regime of extortion has been long entrenched in the state, noting that the Zone 16 police officers seem to have been drawn into the extortion racket.
