Students Want Police Boss Removed Over Harrassment
Original article located here : https://leadership.ng/...ved-over-harrassment
Students of Ambrose Alli University Ekpoma in Edo State have called on the federal government and the Inspector-General of Police, Suleiman Abba, to immediately investigate and sack the divisional police officer (DPO), Mr Shuaibu Audu, attached to Esan West local government area of the state.
The call was made during the week by students of the university who made corruption allegations against the DPO over illegal arrest, harassment of students and extortion of money by policemen under his supervision. The complaint of the students is that they cannot walk freely on the road with their laptops and phones without policemen harassing them to be internet fraudsters.
Investigation revealed that when caught with laptops and browsing phones by policemen in Ekpoma, the policemen will first go through the conversation history of the student the yahoo mail and Facebook, then print all the conversations as evidence against the individual.
then threatens to charge him to court for internet scam; from that point, they have to start bargaining for their freedom.
A student and motorcycle rider, Mark Odion who spoke with LEADERSHIP Weekend said, “the way and manner policemen harass and arrest students in this town, the IG of Police needs to come to our rescue. The police station here has become a business centre where giving and taking of bribe has become the order of the day.”
Odion further stated that students around the town hardly walk freely around the road carrying bags that either contain their school items like laptops, ipads, books or phones without a policeman arresting that person and accusing him of internet frauds. He said sometimes, these policemen would force them to login into their Facebook, claiming to be on investigative mission.
Another student, a Public Administration student, Rose Okere said, “the way these policemen operate around students’ hostels that are living off campus is too bad and is really causing them fear. Sometimes they carry out their operations at the middle of the night when students are either sleeping or studying for their examinations, somehow you would think if it’s robbers operating.”
Rose added that, “whether or not the student is a yahoo or internet fraudster, the fundamental human right should not be abused for any reason by the policemen. The little money given to them by their parents for their upkeep is not enough for them, let alone giving to a policeman who is been paid by the government.”