Nigerian music producer, Qazebeatz shared how he was unlawfully stopped, delayed, searched, and harassed by the police in Lekki phase one.
According to him, he was on his way back from a concert when he was stopped and accused of fraud because he was not cooperating.
He tried explaining his occupation to the officer but he was harassed and made to pay the sum of 150k naira instead.
He took the micro-blogging platform to demand justice because this was not his first time experiencing such a tragedy.
In his words;
“Good evening sir @BenHundeyin,I hope this meets you well? on the 29th October 2022, I went for a concert at Lekki phase one.
The concert ended about 10:30 PM and l had to drop off some friends at the hotel then headed home.
On my way home, on Admiralty Way I was stopped by police
They asked to search me and I complied, even though I was in a hurry to get home before it was 12am. The officer was being aggressive with his words. And I asked him to not talk to me in that manner and he took it for a challenge.Other police officers arrived in two cars charging towards me saying I was challenging a police officer I disagreed then he began insulting me and reached for my phone immediately and asked me to open it, instructed 4 armed officers to get into my car and asked me to follow.
I asked “for what”? They accused me of fraud calling me a yahoo boy with no evidence to justify their accusations. They finally got me to the police station in Ikoyi and sent me behind the desk and threatened to lock me up.
They asked me to give them half of what was in my account. In their own words, “50-50”. I told them I needed the money and cannot give it. I’m a music producer and I made this money legit.They said I was playing with my life so they put me back in the car and drove off again at this point the office was speaking to the other officer in the passenger seat in Hausa language. I understand a bit of Hausa so I could understand what they were saying.
He said this boy has nothing on him but let’s just take the money and let him go. So he requested 200K and I told him it was my rent money so he later settled for 150k. Prior to this I had hidden my ATM cards under the carpet and told him I have no ATM cards.
They said I was lying, searched my car for the cards but they couldn’t find it so they were left with the option of doing a transfer… which is what 1 wanted so I could have evidence. So he made a call after about 30 minutes for an account number to be sent to him.
They made me wait until they got confirmation that money had dropped. When they got confirmation they gave me my car keys and let me go. I said nothing and just drove off. This was at 2am or there about. Apparently they had checked my account balance earlier because they had my phone. They even asked me to open my bank app. The only way they’d let me go is if I gave them money and they meant it. I gave them because I just needed to be out of there… it was morning already.
This is the second time this has happened to me. The first was in 2020 and I’ve had to live with the trauma since only for it to repeat itself in 2022. I have the receipt of the transaction from that night and I demand justice please. Thank you sir.”
