An officer of the Nigeria Customs Service, who identified himself simply as Cyril, has accused officials of the Lagos State Task Force of causing damage to his car at Liverpool in the Apapa area of Lagos State.
Speaking to PUNCH Metro on Wednesday, Cyril said the incident happened while he was returning from his place of work on Tuesday.
He said he was driving inward the Mile 2 area and on getting to the Warehouse Road junction, he discovered that he could no longer proceed as the road was closed down with some officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority manning the point.
He however made use of the alternative route made available for motorists.
Cyril said he had barely driven some metres into the area when two commercial buses emerged from a corner and rammed into his vehicle.
According to him, it was at the point of confronting them that he realised that they were task force officials.
He said, “I was returning from work when I discovered that the Warehouse Road junction had been shut. Then, I made use of the alternative lane like other vehicles. I had just driven some metres away when I saw two commercial buses drive from a corner, heading towards me. I tried to avoid a collision and that was how they bashed my vehicle. Nobody could have suspected that they were task force officers because it happened so suddenly.
“If they were in their branded van, I would have known and stopped as one who respects the law. When they came down, I saw some wearing police uniforms and some dressed like thugs. I also tried to explain to them that the other road had been closed to motorists but they did not listen to me. They just collected my keys and gave them to one of the thugs who drove the car to their office.”
Cyril said his vehicle was thereafter taken to Alausa in the Ikeja area of the state.
He further noted that while the encounter lasted, the officials crashed into an SUV, damaging the bumper and headlamp in the process of also arresting the person.
The customs officer however lamented that the officials demanded a sum of N200,000 from him in their office at the Bolade area of the state.
“When I got to their office, they asked me to pay a fine and mentioned a sum of N200,000. I was surprised. While I agreed to pay and expected that the payment would be paid into the government’s account, they asked me to pay in cash. That was when I realised that the act must have been deliberate.
“I believe the act was a deliberate one because of the turn of events. The road was blocked, there was no other route. They arrested me on the only available route and extorted N200,000 which I believe could not even be traced by the government.”
When contacted, the spokesperson for the task force, Raheem Gbadeyanka, said it could be a case of impersonation as their officers use operational vehicles instead of commercial buses.
“Our officers don’t use commercial buses, we use our operational vehicles. Some people are impersonating us as task force officials. Also, if he did not commit any offence, he should have asked them to repair his damaged car instead of coughing up such an amount of money. Any offender is meant to be taken to court and not go ahead and pay money. We cannot be the judge in our case. We will investigate this.”
PUNCH Metro reported that commercial drivers at the Toyota Bus Stop in the Ladipo Spare Parts Market had complained of similar alleged extortion and harassment by some Lagos State task force officials in the area.
Speaking with our correspondent, the aggrieved drivers lamented that the officers specifically targeted commercial car drivers during what they described as “illegal operations” in the area.
According to the drivers, the task force officials carried a set of keys used to unlock commercial vehicles, especially those whose drivers refused to hand over their keys, saying the officials then jumped into the vehicles and drove them away.
