Date: 2019-04-02

Permit me to express my disgust at the criminal conduct of some bad eggs in the service of the Kwara State Command of the Nigeria Police in Ilorin. Policemen on patrol within Ilorin township constantly harass university students found in possession of I-phones and wrongfully accuse them of indulging in Internet fraud. Sometimes, they threaten to shoot or detain these innocent students and force them to part with their cash, even when nothing incriminating was found on them.

These criminals in disguise usually target students who look well-fed and put on fine dresses for harassment, intimidation, threats and extortion. A few instances of their odious activities suffice: Three weeks ago, my children, who are undergraduates of the University of Ilorin, were returning to school when their vehicle was flagged down by a team of policemen attached to Operation Harmony at Eiyenkorin. My son's mobile phone was seized by the policemen. They searched his pockets, found the sum of N5,000 and without his consent, removed N2,000 and ordered him to go. My son refused to go and insisted on getting his money. At this point, the driver of the vehicle conveying him to school, my daughter and other passengers in the vehicle prevailed on my son to let them (the policemen) have the money. My son called to inform me about the incident later.

Again, on March 16, 2019, another son of mine studying in Kwara State University was heading to Ilorin when another Police patrol team stopped their vehicle and ordered all male passengers, who turned to be students, to come out of the vehicle. After searching the young men, these criminals in police uniforms insisted that the students must give them money.

The most annoying part of it was that they forced my son, who had no cash on him to transfer N2,000 to a bank account belonging to one of the extortionists. While this was going on, the policemen prevented my son from making a phone call to me. After they were allowed to move on, he called and narrated his ordeal in the hands of those security men who are paid to protect the lives and property of law-abiding Nigerians. When I called a certain senior police officer in Ilorin, what he told me was that my children should have resisted the thieving policemen since they were innocent.

Adeyemi,

08033796