Delta CP orders trial of officers caught in extortion video

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The Delta State Commissioner of Police, Yemi Oyeniyi, has ordered the summary trial of two police officers captured on video allegedly extorting a member of the public inside the C Division police station in Asaba, the state capital.

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The officers, Inspector Augustine Jeremiah, AP No. 262712, and Corporal Miracle Ehirim, F/No. 519970, were ordered to face an orderly trial on Thursday.

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The directive followed the viral spread of a secret recording showing a uniformed officer standing beside a man as he completed a forced transfer of N51,500 through a point-of-sale terminal inside the station.

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State police spokesperson Bright Edafe disclosed the development in a post on X on Thursday, saying the trial would be concluded the same day and its outcome made public.

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“The Delta State Commissioner of Police, CP Yemi Oyeniyi, has ordered the summary trial of AP No: 262712 Inspector Augustine Jeremiah and F/No 519970 Cpl Miracle Ehirim captured on the embarrassing video.

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“Their orderly trial will be concluded today and the outcome will be made public. Say no to impunity,” Edafe said.

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The footage, which runs to about three minutes and 28 seconds, was posted on X on Tuesday by human rights activist Harrison Gwamnishu, who runs a rights office in Asaba.

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In the video, a man in a white T-shirt standing in a blue-walled room inside the station is seen holding two phones and completing a transfer on one of them while a uniformed officer watches beside him.

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A close-up of the phone screen shows a successful Moniepoint transfer of N51,500 to an account identified as “POS Transfer — Sunday Racheal Kewe.”

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Gwamnishu, in accompanying text, alleged that POS operators were routinely stationed inside several Delta police stations to help officers collect and process extortion payments on-site.

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He tagged the Inspector-General of Police, Tunji Disu, and the Police Complaint Response Unit in his post, and accused Edafe of covering up the practice.

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The Police Complaint Response Unit confirmed that both officers had been identified, arrested and detained, and said the IGP had directed the divisional police officer to produce them at Force Headquarters in Abuja on Monday, April 20, for further interview.

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The unit issued a complaint tracking number CRU000073.

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The Delta State Command had earlier described the conduct depicted in the video as “embarrassing.”

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