Social media activist, Martins Vincent Otse, also known as VeryDarkMan, VDM, has called on the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to investigate and dismiss a police officer captured in a viral video allegedly demanding money from a motorist and making tribal slur.
The call followed a video posted on VDM’s official social media page, which showed a police officer stopping a motorist for a routine check and requesting his vehicle documents.
According to the video, the motorist presented his driver’s licence and other vehicle documents, which the officer examined before allegedly asking him to “settle” him.
The motorist, however, told the officer he had no money to give him.
The video showed the officer allegedly withholding the driver’s licence despite returning the remaining vehicle documents to the motorist.
At one point in the footage, the officer was heard saying: “If it is another person or Igbo or other persons, I will just say go and park there.”
Reacting to the incident, VDM condemned the remark, describing it as discriminatory and inconsistent with the responsibilities of a police officer.
“This is coming from a public servant that has been trained to see everybody as equal, to see all tribes as Nigerians. He opened his mouth to say, ‘If it is another person or Igbo or other persons, I will just say go and park there,’” VDM said.
The activist also alleged that the officer’s refusal to release the driver’s licence despite finding no fault with the vehicle documents suggested an attempt to extort the motorist.
According to him, the officer’s instruction to the driver to “go and do better thing make you dey go” implied a demand for money before he could be allowed to continue his journey.
VDM argued that motorists who complied with licensing requirements should not still be subjected to alleged extortion by police officers.
“Forget your driver’s licence, just carry N200 for police checkpoints. So let’s stop getting driver’s licences and car documents. Make we just carry N200 and N500 dey waka for road, then say ‘Police, take’ at every checkpoint,” he said.
VDM argued that such conduct, if left unchecked, could encourage harassment of motorists and promote ethnic profiling by security personnel.
“The Nigerian Police stopped a man by the road and asked for money because the guy didn’t want to give him money. He said, ‘If you are Igbo, I would have detained you.’ A Nigerian Police officer? A tribalist? Calling on the Inspector General of Police to immediately investigate and dismiss those tribalists wearing the police uniform,” he said.
As of the time of filing this report, the Nigeria Police Force had not issued an official statement on the video or the allegations made by VDM.
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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