A Nigerian man has recounted his harrowing ordeal at the hands of men of the Nigeria Police Force in Benin City, Edo State, alleging that he was kidnapped, brutalised, and extorted by five armed officers.
He alleged that the police accused him of being wealthy because he is married to an American woman.
In a video, the distraught victim, who appeared visibly shaken with his wife beside him in tears, described how the incident unfolded when he boarded public transport after work at about 8pm two days earlier.
According to him, he was stopped by the officers around Sapele Road, close to Adesuwa Junction, Benin City, and was forced into their patrol vehicle after they spotted his wife’s picture on his phone profile and confirmed she was American.
“They asked me who was on my profile picture. I told them it was my wife. They asked if she was American, and I said yes. Immediately, they handcuffed me. My hand is still numb till now,” he said.
He narrated that the officers blindfolded and drove him to an unknown location on the outskirts of the city, threatening to kill him unless he transferred N1million to them.
“They handcuffed me behind my back, beat me up, slapped me and kept asking me to transfer money. They told me if I didn’t give them N1 million, they would waste me. They went through my chats, forced me to open my bank apps. The little money I had, they collected. For hours they kept me hostage.”
The man revealed that the ordeal lasted from 8 p.m. until around 1 a.m., as the officers kept stopping other motorists and extorting money from them.
At one point, they stopped a young man driving a Mercedes GLE and allegedly forced him to transfer N500,000 before releasing him. They also intercepted another man with a girlfriend, accusing him of having money to take women out while threatening to detain him.
“These were not policemen, they are criminals in uniform. Five of them with rifles, no name tags, no badge numbers. They just prey on innocent Nigerians, stopping vehicles and extorting huge sums. They took my phone, my power bank, my charger, my earpiece, and all the cash I had. They dumped me in a lonely place at night to die.”
The man said his wife was devastated and spent the night crying at home, not knowing his whereabouts, as the officers prevented him from receiving her calls.
He described how after they realised he could not provide the large sums they demanded, they abandoned him in a deserted area around Oluku, along the Lagos-Benin expressway, where he was forced to sleep outside until morning before finding his way back.
“They said they would kill me. I begged them. I prayed all through that night. God saved my life. They dumped me somewhere around 1 a.m. I had to do a welcome back for my SIM and get another phone. They stole my iPhone and everything I had.”
He added that the officers were part of a supposed “special squad” in Edo State, but he insisted they behaved more like kidnappers than law enforcement agents.
“They are not protecting us, they are stealing from us. They kidnapped me, they tortured me, and they stole from me. My wife is now afraid of staying in Nigeria. She is thinking of leaving for America because of this. This is the second time the police have done this to me for no crime committed.”
The victim appealed to Nigerians to share his testimony widely so that the authorities, particularly the Inspector General of Police and the Edo State Police Command, would be forced to investigate and bring the culprits to justice.
He warned that countless Nigerians may have already been killed in similar encounters, with many unable to tell their stories.
“If I had N15 million with me that night, they would have taken it and killed me. They have probably killed many people before. These are kidnappers in police uniforms. People should know what is happening in Edo State.”
