By Salim Yunusa
The Kogi State Police Command has commenced investigations into a trending video where Police personnel attached to Adogo Division, while on patrol duty along Adogo-Okene road, reportedly extorted the sum of Twenty-Five Thousand Naira (N25,000) from a traveller while another was physically assaulted by one of the men in uniform.
This was contained in a statement signed by DSP William Ovye Aya, the Police Public Relations Officer, for the Commissioner of Police, Kogi State Command.
The Commissioner of Police, Kogi State Police Command, CP Idrisu Dauda Dabban, psc (+), fdc, while condemning the incident, noted that the Police officers have been identified and detained at the State Criminal Investigations Department. The officers are: ASP Isah Barnabas, Inspector Ifediegwu Godwin, Sgt Emmanuel Ochima and CPL Umameh Mathias who physically assaulted one of the travellers. The Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) has been issued an official query while the three (3) other junior officers are currently undergoing orderly room trial (Police internal disciplinary actions).
The CP further noted that the Command is doing its best to establish contact with the victims.
He assured that any of the officers found wanting in the investigations would be dealt with accordingly.
The development comes after a video showing the assault had now gone viral.
The video shows the moment an armed police officer slapped a passenger travelling in a commercial bus.
In the video, a man explains that a team of police officers stopped a commercial bus to carry out a search.
During their search, they found a laptop with a man who said he was a student and used the laptop for his assignments. The man claimed the officers did not believe the student and demanded a bribe of N25, 000.
In the same vein, the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, has ordered an immediate investigation into the alleged assault by a police officer against a young man in Kogi State.
This was made known in a statement issued on Saturday by the Force’s spokesman, Frank Mba.
The IGP reportedly directed the Commissioner of Police, Idris Dauda to launch an investigation to ensure justice is served.
“The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, psc (+), NPM, fdc has ordered the Commissioner of Police, Kogi State Command to immediately carry out discrete investigations into the incident depicted in the attached trending video from a location believed to be in Kogi State.
”The IGP calls for calm, noting that at the end of the investigations, justice will be done to the victim of the incident and police personnel found guilty, brought to book.”
