Seven mobile police officers attached to the Kwara State Police Command have been accused of robbing a Kwara State Polytechnic student, Gbemileke Olayiwola, of N70,000 intended for his school fees.

The incident occurred on Tuesday at a checkpoint near Garage Offa in Ilorin. Olayiwola, who was traveling from his hometown back to school, was stopped alongside other passengers for a luggage search. Trouble began when the officers discovered a locally-made anti-malaria soap in his bag. Despite his explanations that the soap was prepared by his parents for his health, the officers immediately labeled him a "Yahoo Boy" (internet fraudster).

Olayiwola was isolated from the other commuters and taken to a police station around 5:00 pm. He told journalists that despite finding nothing incriminating on his phone, the officers became aggressive. When he refused to write a dictated statement he didn't understand, he was reportedly assaulted. "One of the officers said I was being stubborn and gave me a heavy slap on my face," Olayiwola recounted.

Under duress, the student eventually signed a statement. The officers then allegedly extorted the N70,000 meant for his tuition before releasing him. The student's uncle, Lukman Abioye, confirmed that he was the one who prepared the medicinal soap, expressing shock that a traditional remedy for illness could be used as a pretext for extortion and assault by law enforcement.

He said the statement accused him of being a fraudster and that his school was not aware of his involvement in crimes

By 6:30 pm, the officers threatened to detain him if he could not raise N300,000 for his bail.

"I told them that my school fees was not even up to N300,000. I said I only had N20,000 but they vehemently declined, saying it was too small. They said they would detain me and experience how mosquitoes bite people inside prisons.

"They then directed me to call my parents. When my pleadings fell on deaf ears, I had to disclose that I had N100,000 but it was my school fees. They then directed me to pay N70,000 instead."

With his phone seized by the officers, he was prevented from calling his parents and each time the phone rang in their hands, they rejected it, raising fears among his family members who were following up with him on the inter-state journey.

Characteristically, the officers refused to accept a direct transfer of the money purposefully to cover their track and insisted on cash payment.

There was a PoS money merchant in front of the station, so one of them accompanied the Higher National Diploma 1 student of Computer Science to the merchant to deposit the money.

After transferring the money, the officer said he would come later to collect the cash. Around 7 pm, his phone was returned to him and he left the station.

FIJ contacted the Complaint Response Unit of the state command on Thursday and the responding officer asked for details to be sent to him via WhatsApp, which was done. He had yet to respond at press time.