A young man identified as Thompson Ntiedo was arrested by police officers attached to the Okota Police Station on Tuesday June 23rd for taking photos of a police officer collecting bribe from a commercial motorist. The officers claimed they were carrying out instructions from the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), James Chu.
According to The Nation, the victim was detained for three hours, released on bail later around 9pm following the intervention of the police human rights officer. With his two phones seized he was forced to delete all the pictures he took.
His brother who signed his bail bond was allegedly made to part away with some cash as “appreciation”. The victim narrating his encounter said: “I was in a commercial bus when we got to the area and one of the policemen on the road was demanding that our driver bribe him. I brought out my phone and captured him and they saw me. They dragged me out of the bus and seized the phone I used to take the pictures.
They said I was under arrest but I begged that they should delete the pictures and release me but they refused. The next thing, they called the station and a patrol van appeared and they demanded that I enter because the DPO wants to see me. I was there from 6pm to 9pm.
Afterwards, they asked me to go home and report back by 9am the following day. But before I was released, I had to call one of my brothers with my second phone to come and bail me.“I got there Wednesday by 9am and waited till 2:40pm before my second phone was released. This was after the human rights officer intervened in my case and asked them to let me go.”
This incident is coming a week after the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, pleaded with Nigerians to help fight corruption in the Nigerian Police force by using smart phones to record officers who engage in corruption, bribery and bad conduct.
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