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A civil rights
activist and president, Association for Good Governance, Barr. Justice Uhuegbu
has called on the federal government to quckly intervene in the alleged
unbridled criminal activities of the officials of the Nigeria Police Force and
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Imo State.
Speaking during a
press conference in Owerri on Sunday, Uhuegbu accused the officials of the two
agencies of turning the state into their cash cow where they milk residents
through intimidation and armed harassment of innocent citizens in their
criminal bid to make quick money.
Inspite of the orders
of Mr. President and the police hierarchy that police officers should stop
searching people’s phones, the policemen in Imo State have been harassing and
intimidating innocent citizens into parting with huge sums.
“I have handled a number of cases against the police and currently I have three cases I’m handling in the court which involves police intimidation and extortion. Their mode of operation is to stop and arrest innocent citizens with trumped up charges. They even compel people to go to banks to withdraw money via ATM to buy their freedom. And this is done at gunpoint”, he said.
“I have handled a
number of cases against the police and currently I have three cases I’m
handling in the court which involves police intimidation and extortion. Their
mode of operation is to stop and arrest innocent citizens with trumped up
charges. They even compel people to go to banks to withdraw money via ATM to
buy their freedom. And this is done at gunpoint”, he said.
He expressed sadness
that the police in the state have taken over the job of the courts, whereby
they usually pronounce suspects guilty without charging them to court.
“Their sole
objective of doing this is to extort huge sums of money from them”, he
said.
Uhuegbu also condemned
the activities of the officials of the EFCC in the state, saying that since
they started arresting suspected internet fraudsters, the anti-graft agency had
never prosecuted any of the suspects. He described their invasion of the state
as merely a shakedown.
“Rather, what
they do is to collect money from those boys they tag ‘Yahoo Boys’ and release
the boys into the society. So, it happens that on weekly basis, they come to
Owerri to raid students hostels and arrest innocent citizens who they also make
to pay huge sums of money before they’re released.
“So, the EFCC has
literally opened offices in students’ hostels in Owerri where they collect huge
sums of money by simply intimidating and arresting people”.
Uhuegbu, who accused
the EFCC of encouraging the cybercrime in Owerri with their mode of operation,
therefore called on the federal government to compel the officials of the EFCC
and police to always charge any suspect to court within 24 hours after arrest
as that would reduce incidences of intimidation and extortion. Grotuxiv
