FIJ
ThankGod Amah, a Lagos State resident, has narrated to FIJ how policemen attached to the PPL Police Station in the Ojo area of the state kidnapped his 17-year-old brother on Monday night and demanded a N50,000 ransom in the guise of bail.
Amah told FIJ on Wednesday that his brother was on his way to church for a vigil when uniformed policemen showed up and took him to their station in a van.
He said he and his mother enlisted the help of friends and family to look for him but did not learn anything until Tuesday afternoon when a friend informed them of the arrest.
“My mom discovered something was wrong when she didn’t get a message from my brother saying he had arrived at the church,” Amah told FIJ.
His mother went to the station, and the policemen demanded N50,000 to let the boy go, but Amah sought the help of a friend of his whose mother worked with a police school.
“The woman went there, but despite her presence, the police ended up collecting N10,000 from my mother,” Amah added.
“There were other boys in detention there. My brother is 17, but there were boys aged 14 and younger in those cells waiting until someone comes to pay for their release.”
MORE FRUSTRATIONS
After paying the sum in cash, the police insisted the family bring the boy back to the station on Monday to follow up on their investigation. According to Amah, they did not tell them what allegation they levelled against the teenager.
Amah called the Police Complaints Response Unit on Wednesday, but they told him to wait until Monday. FIJ then called the Ojo Police Station and the Area E command. Both stations’ phone numbers were switched off and unavailable at press time.
The Lagos State Police Command reached FIJ via X on Wednesday. The command asked FIJ to contact them via WhatsApp; FIJ did.
FIJ’s WhatsApp message was read but as of press time, the command had not responded.
THIS STORY FIRST APPEARED IN FIJ
