In a striking case of accidental overreach that has shone a harsh spotlight on systemic police corruption in Nigeria, four local police officers are now facing internal disciplinary action after targeting the wrong victim for an illegal extortion racket: the leader of one of the West African nation’s leading anti-graft watchdogs.
Musa Aliyu, who heads Nigeria’s Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), has publicly alleged that the officers stopped his vehicle on a busy road in the country’s capital Abuja this past Saturday, before coercing him into withdrawing 53,000 naira — equivalent to roughly £45 or $38 — from an adjacent ATM. The confrontation unfolded after the officers abandoned their official assigned posts to set up an unauthorised roadblock for the purpose of extracting illegal payments from passing motorists, according to Nigeria’s Police Commissioner Ahmed Sanusi.
The disciplinary process now underway could result in the immediate dismissal of all four officers from the national police force. While cases of illegal police extortion are widely reported across Nigeria, few ever result in formal prosecution or public disciplinary action, making this incident an unusual deviation from the norm.
Aliyu’s official report of the encounter to police leadership prompted what Sanusi described as an intelligence-led operation that quickly led to the arrest of the alleged ringleader, followed by the apprehension of the three other involved officers. In a detailed recounting of the incident to BBC Hausa, Aliyu walked through the step-by-step encounter that unfolded after the officers flagged him down.
“When I stopped, a policeman came to my car door. I wound down the window, and he told me to open my car, so I did,” Aliyu told the outlet. After the officer entered the vehicle, he demanded Aliyu’s driver’s license, then claimed the anti-corruption chief had violated local traffic rules and threatened to take him to court. When Aliyu agreed to go to court, the officer pivoted to extortion, claiming a court fine would cost 52,000 naira and suggesting Aliyu would prefer to pay a bribe to avoid wasting his time as a senior public figure.
Aliyu initially offered to transfer the funds to the officer’s personal bank account, a proposal the officer rejected out of fear the transaction would leave a traceable financial record. The anti-corruption chief was then forced to accompany the officer to a nearby cash machine to withdraw the full sum in cash.
Nigeria’s national police leadership has issued a harsh condemnation of the officers’ alleged conduct, issuing a clear warning that systemic abuses of power will no longer be tolerated within the force. “You have to choose: either a policeman or a thief,” Sanusi said in a statement following the arrests. “You cannot be both. If you fail to choose, your actions will determine where you belong.”
This report includes additional contributions from journalist Badariyya Kalarawi.