Elemoro residents call for removal Of DPO, other officers over extortion
By Ifeoma Ikem
The residents of Elemoro community Ajah area in Lagos State have called for the removal of the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) and other officers in the area over extortion, intimidation and truncating of cases brought to the division.
According to information from the community gathered by Sahara reporters, the residents are helpless and cannot get justice because the officers frustrate and truncate cases of victims of criminal activities once they gets to the police division.
They told our correspondent that their children are living in fear and trauma as the security officers incharge of rape cases, sexual harassment and child molestation cannot help them get justice but rather continue to truncated matter in favour of those who want ruin the life of their children.
According to one of the victim’ mother, ‘we are traumatized, we are tired of the officers in this station, they too are parents who are suppose to be feeling what we are feeling also so that when cases of such are reported they would not hesitate to investigate and move into action.
“Imagine, my daughter was harassed and molested by someone who pretended to be a friend, the IPO deliberately referred us to a hospital that does not work on Saturdays for medical examination.
“The next thing she did was to start giving us flimsy excuses and negotiating because of her selfish interest.
“We need all these bad officers to be removed from the station”, she begged.
In another incident, our correspondent also gathered that a middle aged man, name withheld was arrested on Friday, February 10, around 10.30pm while relaxing at a popular restaurant after the close of work.
“The man was relaxing with his co tenant when the OC legal and his team who claimed that they were on routen patrol stormed the restaurant, arrested everyone and detained them over the night and later collected the total sum of fourty two thousand naira from them (N42.000.00) for bail.
Our correspondent gathered from a mandate reporter of Advocate for Children and Valuable Persons Network (ACVPN) a non governmental organisation (NGO) that the NGO called on the station officer but he denied knowing anything about the matter .
Meanwhile, 10minutes later the same officer called back admitting that he led the team around 1am and made arrest of some criminal suspects from the restaurant.
Reports had it that the victims were brutalize in the cell while asking for what offence they committed.
The next morning, the man and his co-tenant were asked to bail themselves with N42.000 through a Point Of Sale (POS) operator’s account details in the premises.
When Sahara reporters correspondent called the DPO, he said that it was the community who wrote petition to the station that the popular restaurant is where armed robbers and thugs meet before they carry out any operations.
Surprisingly, the DPO later invited the victim on February 14 which happens to be the victim’s birthday, handed him an envelop containing N20.000 with a bottle of wine and sang happy birthday song to him.
Our correspondent equally learnt that a case of sexual harassment involving a minor which the IPO had negotiated so that the perpetrators family can settle the victim with N100.000 without proper Investigation.
The community is lamenting that sexual abuses and rapes are high because the police has refused to handle or transfer the matters to where officers who are trained to carry out such duties diligently are.
