Lagos Police Commissioner Orders Removal Of DPO Over Alleged Extortion

The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Police Command, CP Idowu Owohunwa has ordered the immediate removal of the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Meiran Police Station for leadership dereliction and supervisory ineptitude.

The CP gave the order after one engineer, Ibrahim Saliu, accused some policemen attached to the station of extorting N200,000 from him. Mr Saliu claimed the officers had detained him and his brother, Olaiya Murtala, for not providing an identity card or the receipts for the iPhones found on Olaiya.

According to Saliu, the officers, alongside the station’s DPO, threatened him and his brother with jail time should they fail to provide receipts for the phones.

“The DPO took the iPhones, removed the warranty stickers, and declared that my brother and I are thieves and armed robbers,” he explained.

“The next thing I heard was the DPO giving them an order to detain us and that we would be locked up for stealing and armed robbery. We were surprised that we started begging

Saliu disclosed that he was asked to make a N500,000 payment to secure their freedom. They agreed to N200,000, paid in cash per the officers’ order.

The spokesperson of the command, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed the development in a statement on Wednesday, October 18.

“CP Idowu Owohunwa has ordered the immediate removal of DPO Meiran for leadership dereliction and supervisory ineptitude. Meanwhile, all the officers involved have been identified and are currently at the Command headquarters where their orderly room trial has commenced,” the PPRO stated.