Benjamin Ogunbodede
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Sahara Reporters,
television and film producer, Benjamin Ogunbodede, has narrated how
some police officers in Lagos followed him to the ATM machine to collect
a N10,000 bribe on July 16th.
According to Benjamin, he was on his way home last Friday, July
15th when he picked up a lady who was going his way. As he approached
his destination, he drove into a checkpoint mounted by some mobile
police officers and was puled over, and asked to hand over his drivers
license which he gave to them.
They also asked for him to open his boot which he did. Seeing that
he had nothing incriminating on him, the next question was his
connection with the lady in his car. He said she was just someone he
offered a lift. The officers then accused him of kidnapping and human
trafficking. "I told them I was just giving her a lift since I was going in the same direction," he said
Not impressed with his explanation, the police officers ordered him
to get into his car and drive to the Ajuwon Police Station, while the
woman was asked to get into their patrol van.
His plea that he should be allowed to call a family member fell on
deaf ears as they seized his phone and other belongings. At the station,
a police officer searched through his laptop and phone and found
nothing incriminating. In their investigation, they found out his car
had a different plate number
"I explained that the former owner wanted to have his number
plate back since it was registered in his name, so I had to make a
change of ownership, got a police report and a new number plate. That
also did not impress them," he said
The police officers afterwards accused him of adultery, alleging
that the lady whom he gave a lift said she was a s*x worker and he was
taking her to his place and will be paid N8,000 for her services.
Ogunbodede said he challenged them to bring the lady to him to
repeat the allegation in his presence. He told them he is unmarried and
could not have committed adultery. The police officers then told him to
forget all his explanations and just "settle them" or he will be locked up.
“Guy, leave story and settle us or you will be here longer than you can ever imagine,” Ogunbodede quoted them as saying.
They forced him to write a statement. He asked what the settlement
they desired was and they responded N50,000. He slept in their cell and
in the morning of Saturday, July 16th, he told them he could only pay
N10,000. The excited police officers then delegated one of them to
follow him to the bank where he withdrew N10,000 from an ATM at
Ajuwon/Akute- Alagbole in Lagos.
"That done, I filled their bail form, and all my properties
were released to me. The officers on duty made sure I didn’t get the
Divisional Police Officer’s contact details posted on the walls of the
station," he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment