The Commissioner of Police in Lagos State has removed the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Meiran over an allegation of extortion of about ₦202,000 (two hundred and two thousand naira) from a phone dealer, simply identified as Ibrahim Saliu.
Three policemen who reportedly extorted the phone dealer have also been identified, arrested, and transferred to the state command headquarters for trial.
The DPO was removed from his duty post for leadership dereliction and supervisory ineptitude.
The image maker in charge of the state police command, Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed the removal of the DPO and the arrest of the erring police officers.
Hundeyin, in a post on his Twitter handle, said, “Meanwhile, all the officers involved have been identified and are currently at the Command headquarters where their orderly room trial has commenced.”
The phone dealer stated that trouble started when the policemen detained him and his brother, Olaiya Murtala, for not providing an identity card or the receipts for the iPhones found with his brother.
Saliu said, “I’m an engineer, and I sell phones. On Saturday morning, I gave my brother five iPhones and keys to open the shop while I went to withdraw money from the bank and would join him later.”
He added, “About two hours later, he called that some policemen on patrol had collected the phones from him and had taken him to the station.”
“When I got there, the DPO asked me to produce my ID and the receipts for the phones. I told him I didn’t have them. I told him I sell phones, but he didn’t believe me.”
He added, “The DPO took the iPhones, removed the warranty stickers on them, and declared that my brother and I are thieves and armed robbers.”
“The next thing I heard was the DPO giving them an order to detain us and that we should be locked up for stealing and armed robbery. We were surprised, and we started begging.”
According to him, “One of the policemen led him to a nearby POS operator, where he withdrew ₦182,000 in addition to the ₦20,000 he had on him and handed it over to the policemen, after which they were released.”
Hundeyin told the Nigerian Tribune that “removing the DPO isn’t a disciplinary action. He will also face disciplinary action.”
