The Nigeria Police Force has summoned another divisional police officer (DPO) and an investigating police officer (IPO) serving in Imo State for questioning over an alleged demand of N100,000 bribe from a 15-year-old rape victim.
How it happened
A woman, in a video clip uploaded on X on Saturday, said her sister, the victim, informed her via a phone call that an unidentified man invaded their family house and raped her while their siblings were attending a masquerade ceremony in an unnamed community in Imo State.
The man, she said, was armed with a knife which he used to force the victim to submit.
The woman said the victim and other siblings were in the village for the Christmas celebration, but that the victim chose to stay back alone when others left for the masquerade ceremony in the community.
“The person who had the forceful entry on her, threatened her, said a lot of things…holding a knife,” she said.
She then claimed that officers at the police facility near Imo State Government House in Owerri demanded N100,000 from the victim and her family members who visited the facility to report the incident.
“Immediately, they went to the police station to lay a complaint (about the rape incident). On getting to the station, police (officers) told them that to be able to write their statement, they had to pay the sum of N100,000,” she narrated.
Police summon
Reacting to the allegations in the now-viral video clip on Saturday, the Police Complaint Response Unit announced that the DPO of the facility and the IPO have been summoned for questioning over the incident.
“The Divisional Police Officer, GRA @ImoPoliceNG and the IPO (investigating police officer) have been summoned and will be in police Force Headquarters Abuja for questioning concerning this complaint by next week, thank you for contacting NPF-CRU,” the police posted in response to the allegations in the clip.
The post did not disclose the identities of the DPO and the IPO involved in the case.
The latest development came hours after Joseph Udoh, the DPO of GRA Police Station in Asaba, Delta State, was summoned by the police in response to a public outcry over allegations that Mr Udoh, a chief superintendent of police, allegedly intimidated and extorted a citizen who helped a dying stranger.
The police chief has now been removed from office over the incident.
Police brutality and extortion in Nigeria
Meanwhile, cases of police brutality, extortion and other unprofessional activities in Nigeria have continued despite sanctions by police authorities, such as dismissal from service.
In 2024, for instance, the police in Imo State ordered an orderly room trial of four officers seen in a viral video clip extorting motorists in the state.
In August of the same year, police operatives in Bayelsa State extorted N3 million from a Nigerian man at gunpoint the same year.
The officers were subsequently arrested after the victim petitioned police authorities.
The police operatives later returned the N3 million to the victim, about three weeks later.
