Nigeria Police Suspend Assistant Superintendent, ‘Return N834K Extorted From Public’

An Assistant Superintendent of Police, Bayo Obadiah, attached to the Area Command, Ikorodu, Lagos State, has been suspended over allegations of extortion while 16 other policemen were sanctioned for professional misconduct.

This was made known in a police bulletin issued on Monday which served as a report covering the police activities between July and September 2017.

‎The bulletin said the Public Complaint Rapid Response Unit, PCRRU, also recovered and returned N834,000 being monies extorted from the public.


It added that as‎ a result of targeted campaigns across the country, two terror suspects were apprehended following the PCRRU face-to-face confidence building with citizens in Akoko Area of Ondo State.

The bulletin said that part of the money recovered include ₦100,000 previously extorted from a woman in Kano State, who reportedly got her money after she contacted the PCRRU.

”A total number of 764 complaints were recorded in the Q3 2017. With Lagos State Command topping the state ranking table (in percentage terms) with 180 (23.56), followed by Rivers State with 102 (13.35) and FCT-Abuja 87 (11.39). Sokoto and Plateau State Commands recorded no complaint in the period under review,” the unit said.

The bulletin noted that in all, phone call was the most preferred channel by members of the public for lodging complaints with 447 (58.5), WhatsApp 203 (26.57), Twitter 19 (2.49), Facebook 6 (0.71), SMS 3 (0.39), BBM 1 (0.13) and others (Written Petition, Media Publications etc.) 29 (3.80).

The police bulletin further added that several massive sensitisation campaigns were carried out in selected states, while helicopter airdrops were carried out in Kano and Kaduna States, face-to-face dissemination were carried out in Borno and Ondo States by PCRRU agents.

The statement said most of these were achievable with the collaboration and support received from partners ”which has provided for a notable increase in rate of engagement between PCRRU and members of the public in Q3 2017 (i.e. July – September) than in the same period in 2016.

The release added that efforts are ongoing to upgrade the PCRRU call centre so as to improve the efficiency of the unit.