By George Mgbeleke

Pro-democracy and civil rights advocacy group HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has reminded the newly appointed Inspector-General of Police Mr. Tunde Disu to focus his administrative and official attention more on curbing, eradicating and punishing endemic corruption and eradicating all traces of deeply-rooted lust for bribes by officers working directly under the office of the Inspector-General of Police in Abuja or in one of the specialised crime fighting units in the Force Headquarters in Abuja.

In a statement signed and made available to Journalists by National Coordinator of HURIWA ,Comrade Emmanuel Nnadozie Onwubiko, the group alleged that the immediate past Inspector-General of Police Kayode Egbetokun willingly permitted the expansion of the frontiers of corruption and bribery amongst the police operatives and officers just as there were allegations that the then IGP took no actions to punish and eradicate the widespread irregularities and practices of demand for bribes by police officers from Nigerians seeking for police assistance to resolve crimes in which they are victims. The police under the past dispensation of Egbetokun even charged complainants for filing their complaints in police stations and virtually 85% of police stations are not equipped with crime fighting functional vehicles just as victims of crimes are openly told to pay for fueling the few dysfunctional and rickety vehicles available at the badly maintained police stations across Nigeria. The police till now remains a cesspool of corruption and bribery.

Besides, HURIWA has listed Anambra, Enugu as the most attractive and fertile grounds whereby hundreds of bribes induced illegal, arbitrary and unconstitutional arrests and detentions of mostly innocent businessmen, women, estate developers and land owners in communities, are roped in into phantom charges based on choreographed petitions normally and usually originated by civilian acolytes and partners in crimes of top ranking Police officers working especially in the Force CID, SIU amongst other strategic units connected directly under the offices of the IGP or the DIG who is next in command in the order of seniority in the Nigeria Police Force(NPF) . These corrupt top police offices used the non-police partners to collect bribes from members of the public who are arrested on such unsubstantiated charges cooked up by the police.

“In the last one year, by our estimation, we in HURIWA have been notified of over 100 of such unlawful arrests in which these victims of human rights violations are extorted of huge sums of money before been released on the so-called bail. HURIWA is informing the IGP that innocent and not so innocent persons are intercepted by the police, detained over several days and weeks before they are persuaded by the detaining Police officers to bribe them of several millions of Naira. FromAnambra state alone, the Force Headquarters makes nearly a billion Naira yearly from Bribes forced and extorted from persons who are arbitrarily arrested and detained under mostly nebulous, unsubstantiated and entirely false and altogether phantom charges cooked up by police officers masquerading as Investigating Police Officers and their supervisors who act as ‘bank managers’ for the sharing of these proceeds of criminality.

The IGP is challenged to set up secret committees drawn up from good spirited and professionally minded Police officers who are in the majority in the NPF and mix up these secret panels with tested and trusted civilian individuals working in the NGO community that monitors Police activities so these secret committees can unravel these sets of verifiable allegations that we are raising here, name, shame and presebt the culprits in uniform for lawful prosecution.

“We are available to help out because we know and hear about these acts of corruption by police officers of some of the highest ranks in the Force today. HURIWA is also urging the new IGP to investigate senior police officers who are linked to unexplained assets. These serving officers can be found out if deeper investigations are carried out so they are tasked to prove how they legitimately acquire these exotic housing and vehicular assets. These are some ways for the new IGP to clean up the augean stable and make great legacies for himself and this president that graciously gave him the high profile Job of the IGP even when he is not the most qualified amongst his contemporaries and seniors.”

HURIWA asked the IGP to investigate the report that a senior police officer attached to the Special Investigation Unit (SIU), Abuja, Abiodun Adekunle Fasasi has been alleged to have extorted a sum of N5million from a businessman, Desmond Ediagbonya, as payment for bail.

HURIWA cited a report in an online publication stayed that the medium reportedly obtained receipts detailing how payments were made to the coffers of policemen and their proxies who extorted Ediagbonya, who is als a property agent.

Sources informed the medium based in New York, USA on Friday that the officer, Fasasi, was accused of orchestrating the extortion alongside a colleague after a controversial encounter at the victim’s residence in the Lokogoma area of Abuja.

According to the victim, the incident began on January 24, 2026, when Fasasi and another officer, dressed in mufti, stormed their victim’s apartment claiming to have a search warrant which they allegedly failed to present.

The victim, Desmond, noted that he refused to open the door because the officers neither showed a valid warrant nor identified themselves. He said his suspicion was heightened by recent cases of kidnappings in the estate carried out under similar pretences.

“I was alone at home, so I called my sister and a friend, switched on my camera and spoke to them through the window,” he said.

Angered by his refusal, the officers reportedly towed away a car belonging to his sister from the compound.

Two days later, on January 26, Desmond visited the SIU office alongside his cousin, Destiny Godlife Odion, and a friend, where they located the officers using the video evidence he had recorded earlier.

However, upon sighting them, Fasasi allegedly ordered the detention of Odion at the SIU facility, while Desmond was taken to Asokoro and held incommunicado, with no access to visitors.

Sources told this investigative and highly regarded online medium that the officer subsequently threatened the detainees with multiple “trumped-up charges,” including cybercrime, drug peddling, tax evasion, money laundering, violation of privacy, and even allegations of homosexuality.

Despite reportedly searching through Desmond’s phone and gaining access to his financial records, no incriminating evidence was found During their detention, Fasasi allegedly warned those seeking their release not to involve a lawyer or escalate the matter, a move the victims later described as a deliberate attempt to avoid scrutiny.

The officer initially demanded N10million for their bail but later reduced the amount to N5million after negotiations. SaharaReporters obtained receipts showing that the payment was made in several tranches before the detainees were released on February 3, 2026.

HURIWA lamented that a minority but powerful few amongst the officers and ordinary ranked operatives of the Nigeria Police Force have become like armed robbers misusing their powers and privileged positions to Rob unsuspecting members of the Nigerian society. The IGP must wipe off this cankerworm of bribery and corruption in the NPF which remains a major menace destroying public trust in the police and undermining crime fighting strategic actions of the police.