A motorist, Stanley Chukwuedo, has lamented after some men claiming to be task force officials of the Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State allegedly extorted him of N35,000.
Chukwuedo, who spoke with PUNCH Metro on Tuesday, said the incident happened on Friday when he took a diversion around the Kara bridge on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway so that he could proceed en route to the Omole area of Lagos.
He said three men jumped out of nowhere and entered his car as they challenged him for taking the route.
Chukwuedo said, “On Friday, I was going to work from Ibafo. When I got to Kara Bridge on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, there was traffic, as usual. At the end of that bridge, I was diverting.
“Some touts just came out and said I was not supposed to follow that route. I asked them why, and they said I should follow only one lane instead of two. They said they would seize my car, and that I should follow them to one place and that if they found out I had not been warned before, I would be released, and if otherwise, I would pay a fine.
“They directed me till we got to their office at Ojodu. When we got there, another man joined them and they became four. It was like a fight. They didn’t take me inside the office. They said I should pay N150,000 for taking the wrong way. One of them checked my car and said I had not been warned before. Then they asked me to bring N50,000 because I looked like a gentleman. Later they said I should bring N35,000. They threatened to deflate my tyres and that I would be paying N5000 every day till I settle them.”
Chukwuedo said the men who claimed to be taskforce officials called a Point of Sale operator and he was made to pay N35,700 with N700 being the PoS charge.
“It was a Palm Pay account. My concern is how would a government be using Palm Pay as a revenue account. They said they work for Ifo LGA,” he said.
When requested, he added that the men issued him a receipt that had Ifo LGA on it and they indicated that he paid for a “one-way offence.”
But Chukwuedo said he did not drive against traffic.
PUNCH Metro reports that Chukwuedo’s ordeal is similar to that of Bamidele Famose, a businessman, who was made to pay N67,000 after he was accosted around the Berger area on July 5, 2023, by acclaimed task force officials.
He was also taken to the Ojodu office where he was allegedly extorted.
Contacted on Tuesday, the chairperson, Ifo Local Government Area, Kikelomo Delano, said the men were not working for the LGA.
Delano said, “I have heard about this matter and we have worked on it. We found out that some people are working there that are not from the local government.
“They don’t take them to the local government office. Sometimes, they enter the council and extort them outside and not in the office. I have told some people, if they see them, they should accost them and ask them for the name they are using to do that work so that we will be able to trace them.”
Delano asked for the receipt given to the victim for a follow-up.
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