Social media activist Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan (VDM), has urged the Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, to investigate and dismiss a police officer captured in a viral video allegedly demanding money from a motorist while making what he described as a tribal remark.

The appeal followed a video shared on VDM’s official social media page showing a police officer stopping a motorist during a routine check and requesting his vehicle documents.

According to the footage, the driver presented his driver’s licence along with other vehicle documents, which the officer inspected before allegedly asking him to “settle” him.

The motorist, however, informed the officer that he had no money to offer.

The video further showed the officer allegedly retaining the driver’s licence while returning the remaining vehicle documents.

At one point in the recording, the officer was heard saying: “If it is another person or Igbo or other persons, I will just say go and park there.”

Reacting to the incident, VDM criticised the statement, describing it as discriminatory and unbecoming of a police officer.

“This is coming from a public servant that has been trained to see everybody as equal, to see all tribes as Nigerians. He opened his mouth to say, ‘If it is another person or Igbo or other persons, I will just say go and park there,’” VDM said.

The activist further alleged that the officer’s refusal to release the driver’s licence despite finding no issue with the vehicle documents suggested an attempt to extort the motorist.

According to him, the officer’s instruction to the driver to “go and do better thing make you dey go” implied that he expected money before allowing the motorist to continue his journey.

VDM argued that motorists who possess valid licences and complete vehicle documents should not still be subjected to alleged extortion by law enforcement officers.

“Forget your driver’s licence, just carry N200 for police checkpoints. So let’s stop getting driver’s licences and car documents. Make we just carry N200 and N500 dey waka for road, then say ‘Police, take’ at every checkpoint,” he said.

VDM argued that such conduct, if left unchecked, could encourage harassment of motorists and promote ethnic profiling by security personnel.

“The Nigerian Police stopped a man by the road and asked for money because the guy didn’t want to give him money. He said, ‘If you are Igbo, I would have detained you.’ A Nigerian Police officer? A tribalist? Calling on the Inspector General of Police to immediately investigate and dismiss those tribalists wearing the police uniform,” he said.

As of the time of filing this report, the Nigeria Police Force had not issued an official statement on the video or the allegations made by VDM.

Please don’t forget to “Allow the notification” so you will be the first to get our gist when we publish it. 
Drop your comment in the section below, and don’t forget to share the post.