The Force Public Relations Officer (PRO), Olumuyiwa Adejobi, has reiterated that driving an unregistered vehicle on any Nigerian road or highway is a criminal offense punishable by law.
Adejobi made this statement via X (formerly Twitter) while responding to a user with the handle @hookahsmokerNevertheless, who alleged that police officers in Ogun State extorted N200,000 from him at a police station.
The user explained that his car, a Lexus 350, was unregistered because he purchased it on December 31, 2024. He claimed he was stopped by the police last week and illegally extorted.
He wrote, “I do not want to give wrong information, but I think I know these people. They’re probably SWAT from ABK. They stopped me on the road last Thursday, took my car—a Lexus 350 that I had just gotten on December 31—and asked me why I hadn’t registered it. They collected a whopping 200k and didn’t even take me to their boss’s office. They did the illegal extortion inside the station without their boss knowing. I have evidence.”
Reacting to the post, Adejobi expressed dissatisfaction with the user’s failure to meet with the station commander before parting with such a large sum.
“You were at the station and paid 200k without seeing the commander?? With all our warnings? This wasn’t even on the road. This idea of not exhausting all means to curb this menace of extortion is not encouraging. You could have met with the commander before any further discussion,” Adejobi stated.
He emphasized the legal requirement to register vehicles: “However, let me remind you again that driving an unregistered car on any of our roads or highways is an offense. They did well to address your unregistered car, but it’s not acceptable that they extorted you. This is unprofessional. They could have taken you to court and moved on.”
Adejobi assured that the matter would be revisited and urged the user to contact the Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO).
“You will need to speak to the PPRO Ogun @OgunPoliceNG; she will take it up. Let’s always do the right thing and fight against illegality. Thank you,” he concluded.
Source: The Vanguard
