IGP Hails Cop For Rejecting N4m Bribe

Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, has commended SP Rilwan Kasumu and his team in the Area K, Marogbo of the Lagos State Police Command for rejecting a N4m bribe offered to them.

Gatekeepers News reports that the policemen were offered the bribe while investigating a case of alleged drug peddling and unlawful possession of ammunition against a suspected drug peddler, Esther Newman Obiekezie, f, 42 years, aka Candy, of No 6, Mojirade Street, Ilogbo Lagos, on February 6.

The officers subsequently arrested Esther Akete and Oke Okebalam who attempted to bribe the police for the suspected drug peddler’s release.

The Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday.

The statement read, “The Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, has commended the officer in charge of the Police Tactical Team attached to Area K, Marogbo, Lagos State Command, SP Rilwan Kasumu, and team, for rejecting N4m bribe while investigating a case of drug peddling and unlawful possession of ammunition.

“The team had arrested one Esther Newman Obiekezie, f, 42 years, aka Candy, of No 6, Mojirade Street, Ilogbo Lagos, on February 6, 2024, at her base where she sells drugs called ICE, and recovered a large quantity of the substance and some AK47 live ammunition from her.

“In the course of the investigation, the duo of Esther Akete, f, 43, and Oke Okebalam, m, 49 years, of Ajamgbadi Lagos, came to the station in Ijanikin to solicit the release of the drug peddler, Esther, and offered N4m and pleaded that the police should stop disrupting the illegal business (drug peddling) of Esther, henceforth.”

The Force Spokesman said the police officer who frowned on the offer seized the cash and marked it exhibit and arrested the duo for further investigation and prosecution.

In January, the Kaduna State Police Command rejected N1m bribe from a suspected kidnapper, Bello Mohammed.

The command’s Public Relations Officer, ASP Mansir Hassan, in a statement in Kaduna on Thursday said its operatives attached to the Tafa Divisional Headquarters recovered N2.3m as share of the ransom collected from the victims.

Hassan said the suspect from Zamafara State offered N1m bribe to the DPO to stop further investigation on the matter but was turned down by the officer.

In a related development, the Commissioner of Police in Anambra State, Aderemi Adeoye, in August 2023, rewarded a female officer, Charity Oyor with N250,000 for rejecting a bribe offered by a suspected armoured cable thief in the state.

Oyor, an inspector, served at the Onitsha Main Market Police Division in Onitsha North Local Government Area of the state.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Tochukwu Ikenga, in a statement said Oyor was on a traffic duty in the market on when she saw a moving shuttle bus carrying six heavy bundles of armoured cables suspected to have been stolen.