4 Police officers who extorted ICPC Chairman arrested
The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command has arrested four police officers for forcing the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Dr. Musa Aliyu (SAN), to part with N53,000 at an illegal checkpoint in Abuja.
The officers, who had no idea they were dealing with the nation’s anti-corruption chief, reportedly compelled Aliyu to withdraw the money from a Point of Sale (POS) operator before sharing the proceeds among themselves.
FCT Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Sanusi, disclosed the incident on Monday while briefing journalists in Abuja.
“They extorted the Chairman of the ICPC of N53,000. They took him to a POS, he withdrew the money, paid the charges and they shared the money among themselves,” Sanusi said.
Describing the officers as criminals, the CP said:
“They are a gang of criminals who left various divisions, clustered together, moved to Wuse Banex and created a checkpoint where they perpetrated this act.”
According to Sanusi, the officers abandoned their official duty posts and converged around the Banex area of Wuse, where they mounted an unauthorised stop-and-search checkpoint to extort motorists. The ICPC chairman became one of their victims after they stopped him and demanded money.
Following complaints, the command declared the suspects wanted before arresting the alleged gang leader, whose confession led detectives to the remaining three officers.
“We got all of them. We are going to make sure they are severely punished. Those that are going to be dismissed will definitely be dismissed,” Sanusi vowed.
The police boss reiterated that officers have no authority to stop members of the public and search their mobile phones during patrols, stressing that such practices remain prohibited under the directives of the Inspector-General of Police.
“You cannot stop anybody on the road and ask the person to bring out his phone for search. If any policeman stops you and asks to search your phone, don’t agree. Call the police emergency lines and we will ask them why,” he said.
Sanusi assured FCT residents that the command would continue to identify, investigate and punish officers involved in extortion, illegal checkpoints and other forms of misconduct, insisting that corrupt personnel would not be tolerated within the force.
