The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has begun to employ a new method of silencing victims of police brutality and extortion, FIJ has gathered. This involves getting them to delete social media records of the atrocities and claiming the original narration was misinformation.
On Sunday, sources told FIJ that policemen in Lagos State were instructing them to perform these acts.
FIJ spoke with Olawale Iyanda, a businessman whom the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) tortured and extorted N2 million from on Tuesday.
The video of Iyanda’s forceful arrest was shared on X on Saturday. Upon seeing it, Aminat Mayegun, FCID spokesperson, sent a message to the X account that shared it. This message read in part, “The victim has been contacted, and the investigation is actively underway. Both the POS agent and Kalu have been identified. Given the sensitivities surrounding this matter, I request that you take down your post to prevent any potential reputational damage to our country and the Nigeria Police Force.”
When FIJ asked Mayegun about the video, she said, “That’s misinformation. I have spoken with the complainant, and he promised to come on Monday.”
Meanwhile, Commander Kalu, the policeman who led the assault on Iyanda, confessed to FIJ and said he was sorry.
Mayegun was unable to show which part of the publication contained elements of misinformation. On Monday, Iyanda said the police were insisting to his lawyer that he convince the poster to delete the claim.
After much pressure, the video was deleted.
VIDEO: FCID Policemen Kidnap Lagos Businessman, Extort N2m From Him
Adekoya Samuel, an InDrive driver, told FIJ on Saturday that policemen attached to the Lagos State Command Tactical Team in Cement Bus Stop invited him for questioning, claiming a fraud suspect called his number on March 7.
Samuel said the person the police were suspecting of fraud had used the InDrive app on the said date, and he was the driver. Despite this explanation, the police seized his car and demanded N100,000 “to generate my call log on March 7 and N150,000 for KYC to generate the account details of the lady who paid me for the trip”.
On Friday, Samuel paid them N50,000, but they still did not let go of his car. He then took to X to lament. When FIJ began looking into the matter on Saturday, DSP Oluseyi Babatunde, the Deputy Public Relations Officer of the Lagos State Police Command, called Samuel and the commander in charge of the tactical team.
In his X messages to FIJ, he first says Babatunde asked him to delete his posts, but later corrects himself and says he got the instruction from the commander and a private citizen who connected him to the DPRO. They told him to claim it was misinformation.
What followed was a refund and a return of his car.
Soon, he added a post to his original complaint, claiming his initial story was misinformation and misrepresentation.
Following the incident with Mayegun and Iyanda, FIJ quizzed Simeon further to find out if it was indeed misinformation or if he was pressured to say so.
He said the commander told him to make the claim, and nothing in the story was false.
The police have often abused Section 24 of the Cybercrime Act to go after Nigerians whose posts on social media are considered misinformation or disinformation.
These posts are usually termed ‘criminal defamation’ or ‘cyberstalking’, and the accused are charged with these offences.
With the wave of police crimes being reported in the media, the Force now attempts to censor victims and distort their narratives.
The post ALERT: After Kidnapping, Extorting Nigerians, Police Urge Them to Lie About It appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.