Lagos State Commissioner Of Police, Umar MankoHe had thought he was carrying out a civic responsibility trying to fight what he perceived as an abuse of office by some policemen at a checkpoint. But Gregory Ekene Muonyililo, a medical worker with a pharmaceutical company in Amuwo Odofin, Lagos, never knew he was walking into trouble.Muonyililo, acting against the backdrop of the video recording of a female corporal as she was allegedly demanding N100 bribe and a male sergeant who was also exposed for asking for N25,000 bribe, had on Monday attempted to record on tape a similar act in his locality.
As he came out of his office on his way to lunch, he had sighted some policemen on duty who were allegedly harassing a commercial motorcyclist. He thought they were trying to extort money from the motorcyclist and in a moment, he brought out his mobile phone to use it to videos the incident.
But we gathered that the policemen, who were attached to the Area E Command, were trying to arrest the yet-to-be identified commercial motorcyclist for violating the Lagos State traffic law that restricted the operations of commercial motorcyclists on 475 out of the 9,100 roads in the state.
Speaking to THISDAY, Muonyililo ‘s brother, Onyeka, said he was arrested after he attempted to video some policemen who were allegedly harassing a commercial motorcyclist.
He said: “Apparently, the policemen set up a checkpoint in front of his office yesterday (on Monday) and were harassing motorcyclists. He went outside to get something and when he saw it, he started videoing it.
“Although he should have been more discreet, he wasn’t and they saw him and became agitated. They collected his phone from him and after a few words were exchanged, left.
“They went back to their duty post with his phone and my brother went back to work. When they later came back looking for him around 4pm, he thought it was to give him back his phone but to his surprise, they told him to follow them to their station.
“From Amuwo Odofin, they took him all the way to the Special Anti-robbery Squad (SARS), Ikeja, and he was detained and slept there.”
He however said efforts were being made to ensure his release from detention, adding that the police had said they would charge him to court.
When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), debunked claims that the policemen were demanding bribe from the commercial motorcyclist.
She also debunked claims that the victim was taken to SARS, saying that he was taken to the X-Squad department of the state command for interrogation.
She said: “I don’t like it when people try to frame the police. I spoke to the man who was arrested and he never told me that the policemen were asking for bribe from the commercial motorcyclist they were trying to arrest.
“What he told me was that he did not like the way the policemen were trying to arrest the motorcyclist and we now asked him what better way should have been employed and he kept quiet.
“Since this issue of video started, people would video and then transcribe and then send it out to the public through the Internet to different social media as part of efforts to paint the police black.”
When asked if the suspect would be charged to court, she said investigations were still ongoing and the outcome of the investigations would determine what next step the police would take.
When the issue was raised with the state Commissioner of Police, Umar Manko, at an event yesterday, he said he would look into the matter once he was back to the office.
He said: “There are questions you should ask first. Was the motorcycle rider right in disobeying state government laws? Were the policemen wrong in doing their job?”
When asked if it was a crime for a citizen to take pictures of policemen on duty, Manko neither debunked or affirmed it. Rather, he asked why the suspect should take pictures of policemen who were carrying out their legal duties.
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