- Danlami was first stopped by a local vigilante group, who called the police officers when he tried to explain
- The police officers forcefully detained him and treated him aggressively
Yusuf Danlami, a motorcyclist in Sokoto town, has shared his experience of being physically assaulted and extorted by officers from the Nigeria Police Force attached to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID).
According to Sahara Reporters, the incident took place on a Friday night around 11pm when he was taking his friend to a nearby location in his area. Initially, he was stopped by members of a local vigilante group called Salami. Despite trying to explain to one of the vigilante members he knew, they did not listen to him and instead called the police officers.
The police officers forcefully took him to their vehicle and handed him over to their boss. Danlami attempted to explain his situation to the police boss, whose identity he could not confirm. However, instead of listening, the officer threw him to the ground and forcibly put him into the waiting vehicle.
They then took him to the SCID, where they stripped him of his belongings and placed him in a cell, after which, they demand for N10,000 before he could be released but later collected N6,000.
He said, “Yesterday night around 11pm, I was going to drop off my friend close to my area and on our way, we met a Salami vigilante group. They stopped us but when they noticed I was the one, they let us go.
“We met another Salami group and they stopped us too and I know one of them – Zakariya, and I told him that I just wanted to drop off my friend, but he refused and said that he doesn’t know me. He asked who I was and changed the whole issue.
“He then called the police escort who were with them who came and without asking me who I am or what was happening, they forcefully dragged me out of my bike. In that process, they burnt my bike’s silencer.
“They pushed me to where their leader was and as I wanted to speak with him, he forcefully pushed me to the ground, opened the door of their vehicle and forced me into the vehicle.
“They took me to their office at the State CID, I spoke with one of my friends on the phone and after my friend spoke with one of the officers, he asked his boys to put me behind the counter. I tried to speak with him to explain what happened to him but he refused to listen.
“The officer removed everything I had on me and pushed me into a cell. He asked me to switch off my phone and collected all the money I had. As I kept on talking to him, he called their boss who brought me and my friend to the station.
“At first, they demanded N10,000 but later collected N6,000 from me before releasing my property to me and letting me go.”
The Sokoto State Police Command has yet to react to the incident.