Some police officers deployed to curb kidnapping along the now-dreaded highway Ife-Ibadan, South-West Nigeria, were spotted extorting motorists on Monday.
The policemen stationed at the outskirt of Ibadan, Ikire, Gbongan and Ile-Ife demanded bribe from the driver of the vehicle conveying this reporter and 17 other passengers on Monday evening.
Some of the motorists who spoke with reporters earlier affirmed the officers ‘ usual extortion, adding that these have now increased with the extra roadblocks positioned along the highway.
While police officers in the suburbs of Ibadan and Ikire were discreetly collecting the naira notes without asking the driver, Gbongan and Ile-Ife did not.
A Gbongan officer, with the Akosoba A inscription on his uniform, collected from the driver a 100-naira note and gave a fifty-naira change.
A policeman in Ile-Ife, who appeared in a camouflage, also instructed the driver to park for a question but changed his mind after a fifty-naira note had been slipped into his hands.
More police officers were deployed along Ife-Ibadan highway to check widespread kidnapping cases.
In April, an Ibadan-based lawyer, Musibau Adetunbi, and his driver were kidnapped along the Ibadan-Ife expressway.
In May, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, lecturer in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery and Traumatology, was kidnapped and finally released after paying a ransom of five million naira.
In June, suspected armed herders also assaulted travelers along the Ife-Ibadan expressway, killing civil servant Adenipekun Ademiju.
As reported by Punch Newspaper, Mr Ademiju was said to have boarded a car in Osu town going to Ibadan when he and other travelers were assaulted along the expressway at the Ikire community.
With the emergence of social media, in latest years, many police officers have been caught on camera soliciting bribes at roadblocks.
Although in the previous several Inspector General Police have banned roadblocks, they persist some of the easiest ways for these policemen to extort motorists.
A sergeant was dismissed in 2013 after a viral video showed him soliciting bribes from motorists in Lagos.
Four policemen were dismissed in June 2017 for extorting a citizen in Ijebu Ode Area Command, the same jurisdiction that reporters caught Mr Afolabi on camera.
Two police officers were captured on camera in May 2018 extorting motorists along Ijebu Ode-Ibadan Road in Ogun State.
When the multimedia proof of the misconduct of the policemen was forwarded to Abayomi Shogunle, head of police complaints unit in Abuja, he pledged to act on them and guarantee investigation of the issue and punishment of the culprits.
However, months after the complaint was made and a tracking number issued, the police have yet to take any definite action.
Police spokesperson, Frank Mba, asked to see the latest video clip before commenting. He did not react more than 24 hours after the video had been sent to him.