Policemen push down a nursing mother from a moving bike

A nursing mother and her son were injured in an
accident caused by attempt by a policeman to extort
N100 from a commercial motorcyclist, Okadaman, in
Ondo town, Ondo State.
Eyewitness account said trouble started when a team
of anti-crime police officers attached to one of the
police stations in the town allegedly mounted a road
block in one of the major roads.

Vanguard learned that one of the officers, in an
attempt to stop the Okada rider, pulled down the boy
and mother, while the motorcycle was in motion.
Mother and child were rushed to the hospital, while
commercial motorcycle operators staged a peaceful
protest to show their displeasure over alleged
incessant extortion by policemen in the town.
Vanguard gathered that the protest, which started at
about 9:30a.m. was led by leaders of the association.
They reportedly protested to all the three divisional
police stations in the town. Spokesman of Okadamen,
Timilehon Akinrolabu, condemned the attitude of the
policemen, who he said were in the habit of extortion
at illegal road block in strategic locations in the town.
He said:




“We decided to embark on the peaceful protest
to tell the police that we are tired with the way
they extort money from our members. “This is
common when the month is about to end as
they would be looking for their monthly
contributions, at times they usually used their
patrol vehicles to raid our parks and arrest our
members over flimsy excuses.”
However, the state police command has, however,
denied the allegation of extortion by its officers. A top
police officer in Ondo town said that Okada riders
who were arrested had no identification numbers on
the motorcycles. Speaking in confidence, the officer
added that the directive was to guide against crime in
the state.

“The police in this town are not enforcing the
law at all; they are extorting money from our
members, demanding N100 and N50. “Another
aspect of the story is that when the Okadamen
get go their stations, each have to cough out
between N1,500 and N2,000 for bail.”

He explained that they were at the police stations to
show their displeasure over the development, just as
he called on the relevant authorities to intervene.