EXCLUSIVE: How police officers lurk around street corners to arrest, detain, extort innocent Lagosians from 10pm

Investigations by NewsClick Nigeria has revealed how officers of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) from different divisions across the state embark on illegal raids to arrest, harass, detain and extort innocent Lagosians from as early as 10pm.

Our investigations further revealed that victims of these illegal raids are mostly those returning from work after a tedious day at their respective places of work.

NewsClick Nigeria reports that Lagos, by virtue of its metropolitan nature is mostly referred to in many quarters as a busy state that seldom sleeps. From endless lines of cars stuck in traffic jams, hawkers selling wares, the noisiness on the streets resulting from hooting buses and temperamental bus drivers, to its hot and humid atmosphere, the city is literarily on one form of activity or the other from dusk till dawn.

An average Lagosian particularly those living on the Mainland and working on the Island leave home daily (Monday to Friday) as early as 4:00-4:30am to beat traffic and only start returning from 10pm because of same traffic. While this appears weird, however, most Lagosians have become accustomed to this lifestyle but, police officers across the state are not having it.

For context, Lagos, due to the water bodies surrounding it is informally divided into two parts. The Lagos Mainland and Lagos Island. The Island consists of major eyebrow places like Lekki, Victoria Island (V.I) and Ikoyi. It is also the commercial nerve centre of the state while the Mainland consists of other Local Government Areas that sums of the state.

 

I returned from work, relaxed and was arrested on my way to get food – Young banker  

Michael (pseudo name) is a young banker with one of the top banks in Lagos. He resides in Bariga, a suburb in Lagos. On Friday, 12th of April, Michael went to office on Victoria Island like every other day and returned home by 10:15pm. Feeling tired, he relaxed briefly on the couch and woke up some few minutes later to get food from his favourite vendor not too far from his house in Ilaje, Bariga. He didn’t return home that night after his encounter with officers from the Ilaje Police Division.

‘I got to my vendor’s place and unfortunately she didn’t have what I wanted. I resorted to getting snacks and was on my way back home when some police officers in a mini bus (popularly called Korope) summoned me. Knowing that I had nothing incriminating on me, I responded to their call. Before I even approached their vehicle,  the area boys working with them started attacking me. They dealt with me so badly that one of them also got injured from hurting me. My face was swollen so bad that I missed my steps and the police officers just watched in excitement. They later bundled me inside the vehicle and were asking where I was coming from at that time. I explained my daily work routine to them and even offered my phone for search if that would satisfy them.’

Narrating his ordeal further to NewsClick Nigeria Michael said: ‘My pleas fell on deaf hears. All they said was I wasn’t supposed to be outside at that time. Mind you there was no official announcement for curfew or movement restriction. In fact the area was still bobbling at the time of my arrest. They moved me to their van and arrested 15 other people in my presence. This included a single-father who also came to get food for his son. We were later put in a cell at the Ilaje Police Station and denied access to place a call to anyone. We paid N15,000 each to secure our release the following day.’

After paying for his release, Michael went for medical checkup to ascertain the extent of damage to his body from his encounter with the area boys on the day of the arrest. The result proved he was assaulted with some damage to his eyes. He was placed on drugs for five days to relive the pain.

See results below:

NewsClick Nigeria journalist escapes arrest by whiskers 

A NewsClick Nigeria journalist escaped being put behind bars on Friday, 26th April while returning from work. According to him, his saving grace was his lost wallet which delayed him for over two hours at the popular Iyana-Ipaja Bus Stop. If he had appeared at his bus stop five minutes earlier than he did that fateful night, he would have also been arrested.

‘I escaped this indiscriminate arrests on Friday, April 26. I was coming from work and on alighting from the vehicle at Iyana-Ipaja, I discovered I had lost my wallet. The time was around 7pm. I waited for like two hours more hoping the driver would return and possibly keep the wallet for me but I couldn’t find him. I later left and had to transfer to a POS agent to get money to take me home as all my cash, ATMs and IDs were in that lost wallet. However, on getting to Igando Phase 1 where I live, I discovered that there was no single commercial motor bicycle (Okada) in sight that could take me home. That was like the first time that is happening in years that I have lived in that area. The entire bus stop was deserted. On walking further down the lonely road, I saw an area friend who told me I would have been arrested if I had come five minutes earlier as police officers just finished raiding. According to him, they arrested over 30 innocent people, mostly those returning from work. He said he was among those that luckily escaped being arrested that night.’

Efforts by NewsClick Nigeria to reach the Police Public Relations Officer, Lagos State Command, SP Benjamin Hundeyin was unsuccessful as at the time of filing this report. Officers from the Ilaje and Igando Police Stations did not also respond to calls on their phones.