A police officer has been caught allegedly extorting motorists by demanding either ₦5,000 or five (5) litres of fuel if they fail to present proof of Electronic Central Motor Registry (ECMR) registration.
The officer who wore the camouflage police uniform and hung a rifle was seen in a viral video currently circulating online.
He was filmed by an X (formerly Twitter) user Teniola (@Teeniiola), who shared the footage on Sunday.
The video showed the officer stopping travelers on the Benin Bypass and demanding to see their ECMR documents.
Following complaints by Nigerians that the police were using the ECMR registration to extort vehicle owners, the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, suspended the enforcement of ECMR for vehicle owners in the country in July 2024.
In the footage, one of those waved down by the police was heard saying that the enforcement of ECMR has been suspended and therefore illegal, but the cop stood his ground saying, “You can make a call now,” referring to the traveler’s suggestion to report the incident.
There were others he stopped standing by who asked him what they should do. He allegedly demanded five litres of fuel, adding, “We’ll go and buy it, that’s 5k.”
“You want 5k from each of us abi?” one of the travelers asked, as the officer was seen instructing another to bring three litres of fuel.
The spokesperson of the Delta State Police Command, SP Edafe Bright has condemned the conduct in a post on X.
“My God. Thanks for recording this. Little by little, all the moles will be taken out of the system,” he wrote.
“All these Policemen bringing shame to us, one by one, they will be sent out of the organisation. Maybe when they become jobless, they will go into content creation. This is embarrassing and the force is on it.”
