The Lagos State Police Command has arrested and detained an officer captured in a viral video over the alleged extortion of a motorist over an alleged discrepancy in the documented vehicle colour in the Idimu area of the state.
In a Monday statement, X, the official Police Complaint unit responding to a video posted by @epiccycl, disclosed that the officer has been identified and is undergoing investigation.
The statement reads, “The officer seen in the viral video as posted by @epiccycl has been identified, arrested, detained and queried. The @LagosPoliceNG will provide the full outcome of the investigation as soon as possible. The @PoliceNG under IGP @TunjiDisu1 psc(+), NPM says #NoToImpunity.”
The development followed a viral video in which a driver alleged he was stopped by a police officer despite having all documents, and was accused of a discrepancy in his vehicle’s colour.
According to a video obtained by TVC News on Wednesday, a male voice, presumed to be the driver, alleged he was initially forced to pay ₦30,000, but after repeated pleas and threats of arrest, he negotiated the amount down to ₦10,000.
He stated the incident happened directly opposite Area M Command of the Lagos State Police Command.
He said, “So guys, I was stopped by a Nigerian policeman yesterday at Idimu. If you’re familiar with that area, you’ll know where I’m talking about—it’s directly opposite Area M Command, and they have a police station, Idimu Police Station, beside it.
“So, this officer asked me for my documents, which I presented to him. After looking and checking, he called one of his colleagues and said they should check for him also, which they did. He returned the paper to him, gave another one, which he also checked and gave the paper back to him.”
He added, “After 30 minutes, he called me, and he said, ‘Yeah, what’s the colour of your car?” Which I [said], “Oga, you can see it in the document, and we can both see it—it’s ash colour, as written on the document.” He said no, that the colour of my car is not ash, that it is grey. [He asked] why would I have an ash colour written on my document, and the colour of my car is grey?
“He started chatting and saying no, he’s going to arrest me, he’s going to delay me, I’m going inside the office and all.”
“At the end of the day, he started negotiating. Yeah, he started negotiating, telling me… because I told him I have a couple of things to do, he shouldn’t just make something out of this nothing stuff. He charged me 30,000 Naira, which I told him I didn’t have. I told him I can’t just pay, he said yes, he has to arrest me and take me inside.”
“At the end of the day, I pleaded, and he said the last he can take from me is 10,000 Naira. I told him this is the only money I’ve been trying to make just for today—I went out because of this 10,000, and you want to take it away from me. He didn’t even care. So I told my boy to withdraw the money for him before he released me to go,” the voice narrated.
