The Osun State Police Command, on Tuesday, said the policemen involved in the extortion of N20,000 from an admission seeker, Sodiq Oladebo, in the state, had been identified and were undergoing a probe of their action.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Yemisi Opalola, confirmed the development in a post using the command’s Twitter handle, @OsunPPRO.
The post read, “I want to update you about the case of extortion on the Ilesa Expressway. The policemen have been identified and are presently undergoing a disciplinary process. I assure you that they will be dealt with decisively. The money collected had been returned to the victim.”
The victim, Oladebo, in an interview with our correspondent on Tuesday, commended the police for their swift intervention on the matter.
“I didn’t know they would refund the money. I was surprised everything went well. I sent my account number to the Osun PPRO. She was the one that told me I would be refunded. About 30 minutes later, I received an alert. I was happy the money was refunded. I will go and buy my Interim Joint Matriculation Board form on Monday. The PPRO really did well. She told me the officers are now in Abuja,” Oladebo said.
Recall that on Monday, it was reported that Oladebo, while travelling from Osun State to Benin, Edo State, on Saturday, was extorted by some policemen along the Ilesha Expressway.
Oladebo said the incident happened after a Sienna vehicle in which he was travelling alongside others was stopped by the policemen.
He asserted that the policemen demanded N100,000 from him but he later paid N20,000 after he said he couldn’t afford the initial amount.
The victim explained that the N20,000 was part of the money he was to use to purchase an IJMB form to process his admission into a university.