Crooked by Design: Of Funding, Prejudice, and The Nigeria Police Force
I originally started writing this piece from the Divisional HQ of the Nigeria Police ‘A’ Division, somewhere around Unity Road in Ilorin at midnight 2:34am on Saturday, February 22 2020.
Barely able to find any sleep on the wooden bench I was forced to spend the night on, I could finally write about the emotional trauma and ordeal that my family and I had to face from negligence, incompetence, or both from the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and Access Bank Plc.
Understanding that this is not some clout chase, I’ll try as much as possible to break down the sequence of events as they unfolded based on vivid facts, while trying my best to separate from emotions. Caveat: this is a really long read.
Day 1: Den of thieves
For my father, the ordeal began much earlier but for me, it all kicked off from 1:55pm on Wednesday, February 19 2020 when I received the following sms from him:
A few moments leading to this, I had arrived at my office in Surulere, Lagos at 1:12pm in very high spirits after successfully closing a sale with a client. I was about to settle into work when I got his sms.
Confused, my first action was to try to determine the veracity of the sms and its sender. To know my father is to know a man of integrity, boisterousness and candour.
So I dialed his number, and indeed, it was he on the other end of the line. I told him I was confused by his sms and needed some clarity. Please note that my father is learned, a 69-year old UK-trained technician and retiree of UAC of Nigeria. But even his best explanations did not help me understand any facts of the matter.
He managed to establish that he lost his ATM card in 2019 (more on this later), and immediately requested for and got a replacement from the bank, meaning old card has been blocked, right? My confusion therefore stemmed from the last part of his message. How do you use a blocked card to commit fraud?
As I sat back at my desk trying to rationalize, my brain was spinning in a multitude of directions, so I called him back.
Again he kept making a hash of the explanation and I recall snapping at him when he attempted to pass this off as some common occurrence that could happen to anyone, except that he was just unfortunate to have been caught in the web. What web? My father? A criminal? Never! I retorted that the fact that people go through this does not mean it should happen to him and I warned him not to repeat that statement again.
I asked if there was anyone highly placed I could speak with and he told me that the IPO on the case was coming from Ilorin but that no one was obliging him with any information. He continued that his ordeal started since 9am when he went to the Bank’s branch at Sango Ota (where he resides) to make a N2,000 withdrawal, only to discover that his account had been blocked and that he went into the banking hall to make a complaint with the bank officials, leading to his eventual arrest.
At this point, he managed to pass the phone to the female officer at the counter who still couldn’t provide any useful information. She only mumbled some prayer in Yoruba, something about not falling victim to a crime one knows nothing about. She passed the phone back to my dad and He let’s out that his phone was about to be taken away from him, restricting his access to make calls. His last instruction was “Get me a lawyer!”, so I ended the call.
Having run a business for as long as I have in this very treacherous clime, I retain the services of 3 distinctly capable and brilliant lawyers. Lawyer A, “The Academic Lawyer”, assists with interpretations and paper work. She doesn’t go to court. Lawyer B is strictly for stuff relating to business, let’s call him “The Corporate Lawyer”, while Lawyer C has excess energy to burn. He’s “The Litigation lawyer”. I put a call through to him immediately.
He tried to get some details from me, so I offered to do a 3-way call with dad so he could explain better, since even I was still in the dark. Dad’s phone rang 3 times consecutively without response. Fearing the worst, I informed Lawyer C of my intention to make the dreaded trip to Sango Ota to ascertain things for myself, so I could debrief him later.
Thankfully my younger brother was within range so I summoned him, showed him our dad’s sms and informed him that he’ll have to accompany me to the station. My wife came in just about same time so I briefed her as well and intimated her of my plans. By default, she had to hold the fort in my absence.
It was about 2:30pm at this point. My brother and I set out, leaving everything we were doing behind. Considering past experience on that axis, we had to rely on public transport and bikes (only within Ogun State jurisdiction). SanwoOlu’s ban was in full swing during this period.
We arrived at Sango Ota at a few minutes past 5pm and went straight to the station. I recognized my dad’s voice from behind the counter as he called out my name. He shook my hand but I was still partly frustrated, and partly blamed him for a situation I still didn’t understand.
Again I asked him to tell me what happened. Again he lost me. Then he goes on about the few contacts he had tried to make, especially to one former DIG acquaintance and I felt rest assured that at least someone with some authority was going to come to our aid.
At this point, I had established that he didn’t lose the card under some fortuitous circumstance. Someone that was also at the vicinity of the ATM at the same time actually swapped his card and unbeknownst to him, left him with another card that wasn’t his. Still sketchy.
As I sat there across the counter, DIG calls him and I try to listen in on their conversation. My dad suddenly shared a piece of information that I didn’t have previously — the fraudster didn’t only make away with his own card but proceeded to make a withdrawal of N20,000 from my dad’s account at another bank’s machine close by. Then I heard him say to the person across the line that he didn’t report at the police station but got a replacement card. He gave the phone to me to speak to the man, whose instruction was “Just get a lawyer”. This was getting really intriguing.
After this call, I again challenged my dad that he was somehow leaving pieces of information out and he was not helping me at all. I asked how he managed to lose a whole of 20k last year to a fraudster and none of us his children knew about it. Now it’s a different case if he had a steady stream of income. A huge fraction of his expenses are borne mostly by us.
At this point, I gave up on getting any clear explanation from him and my focus was now to wield some influence to at least get him out of the station on bail but like onions that was being unwrapped layer by layer, he manages to reveal even more information, apparently there were some accompanying papers on the case that the bank officers came with, which were now in possession of the police officers at the station.
I requested to see these papers. Every officer behind the counter denied the existence of any document and started to get hostile, one of them even threatened to slap my younger brother as he spoke on the phone with someone I presume was a relative. I tried to intervene to douse the tension and let these guys know that we were only seeking peace and trying to understand why our father was being detained behind the counter but it was clear they were prejudiced. I also recalled that one of the officers made as though he was going to share the contact details of the IPO in charge from Ilorin when we arrived but suddenly backtracked.
So back to Plan A. I didn’t want to reach out to too many people, lest it became a circus and I was also wary of the people I shared the details with. It was embarrassing enough already. So I drew up a plan that basically involved 3 of my least likely sources.
While this was ongoing, I was directed to meet the “Officer-in-charge”. I went into his office, introduced myself and after some explanation, he informs me that the case was not theirs to treat and there was “nothing they could do until the officers from Ilorin come” and according to him, he spoke to them not quite long (before I got there) and they promised to be at the station the following day (Thursday).
A few moments later, I sighted him sitting just outside the station and I figured this was my cue to go more subtle. I approached him and asked if I could apply for his bail but he declined, once again stating that it wasn’t their case. He also brushed off my suggestion that there were indeed any charge sheets.
At this point, my dad gave me the phone number of the bank’s branch manager saying that he was with him in the morning and they had a quite pleasant chat as the situation unfolded and he believes he might be able to assist. I called this person, introduced myself and explained that my dad was diabetic and 2 months away from his 70th birthday, and that we had been managing him the best we could. I demanded to know why he was being detained without any clear charge.
The man showed some remorse and said he was surprised as he thought the matter would have been resolved by that time based on the information he had about the case. He confirmed that he indeed spent some time with my dad in the morning and that he didn’t believe my dad committed the crime (he managed to reveal that the sum of 140k was taken from someone else’s account in Ilorin). But again what I was left to understand was that my dad’s old card was somehow involved (cue more confusion). This was around past 7pm anyway. He told me he had left the office and that there was nothing he could do by that time. He said he usually resumes around 7am so I put that on my to-do list for the next morning.
I reverted to plan A and my 3 unlikely sources came through in surprisingly big ways. The first was a woman and one of my father’s influential acquaintances. I called her to explain the situation as best as I understood and pleaded with her to intervene. She asks what station we were at and I told her. Unfortunately not only was she far away in Abuja, she told me that she was more familiar with the Lagos command and considering this was Ogun, there was little she could do but she asked me to get the number of a high ranking officer at the station, and left me with a promise to see what she could do.
The second person promised to also get involved and by the time he came through, I was speaking with the Commissioner of the Ogun State Police Command (CP). You don’t get a higher ranking police officer within a jurisdiction than that. I was so excited when I spoke to him, the instruction was to go to the station DCO, (he even called out his name) so he could speak with him.
Turned out that the said DCO was the same officer in charge I had been hounding all along. I heaved a sigh as I realized I was actually going back to his office but I figured it was worth the try. I greeted him for the umpteenth time, he looks up as I told him that the CP wants to speak with him. He then bellows “I thought I already told you this isn’t our case, why are you embarrassing me?”. I apologize to him and he allows me to make the call. I handed the phone over to him. He exchanged pleasantries with the CP and proceeded to inform him that he had already explained to me that it’s not their case blah blah. He hands the phone back and CP relays the exact same information back to me. No dice, case closed!
In the end, all 3 “unlikely sources” failed to get my dad off despite their best efforts, the first 2 actually. The woman spoke with my dad for over 20 mins and tried to compel the DPO to release him based on recognition of who she was (the wife of a highly placed official of the present administration). I was told that he actually contemplated it and even asked if my father had property but eventually decide against it. A wild goose chase.
At this point, I decided against involving the 3rd person’s contact, who turned out to be an influential member of one of the royal families of Sango Ota. This was a few minutes to 9pm. I later spoke to him and he acknowledged his willingness to come stand in as a surety for my dad, but the “complications” of the case however made it forfeit.
Having exhausted all options, I instructed my younger brother to go back home to Lagos, get my wife to pack a bag and bring back to me the following day, while I found a hotel nearby to retire to in anticipation of an early start the next day.
Day 2: To catch a thief
I arrived at the station at a little past 8am on Thursday, February 20 2020, but changed my mind just as I walked in. I figured it was best to make the bank my first port of call since the police won’t provide me with any more information.
I went to the bank’s closest branch I could find and was told that there was nobody bearing the name of the officer and was directed to another branch.
I called him and he confirmed he was indeed at the other branch, so I found my way there and I went into the banking hall, where I was directed to the officer.
He offered me a seat and we spend the next 45 mins getting familiar. He told me how my dad narrated his medical condition and how his kids provide support for him. He also managed to shed some light on what actually transpired. And so for the first time, I understood the case:
- On the 20th of November 2019, my dad stopped to use an ATM at Idiroko (also in Ogun State). On getting there, he met a queue and waited his turn.
- After trying to make withdrawal twice, a young man came from behind, grumbled that the machine wasn’t working, and somehow offered to assist my dad (you know how they seem to know which machine works and which doesn’t). The fraudster eventually returned my dad’s card, declaring that the machine wasn’t working but unbeknownst to my dad, his card had been swapped for another one.
- Upon realization, he marched into the banking hall to lodge a complaint, requesting for a replacement and an automatic blocking of the card.
- While this process was in place, He received an alert that the sum of N20,000 had been deducted from his account, leaving him with a balance of N11,159.81.
- He raised an alarm and the withdrawal was traced to another Bank’s ATM within close proximity. A new card was issued and the previous card was blocked, while they collected the strange card that was swapped with his, claiming he didn’t need it any longer.
- He then went to make a complaint at the Bank from whose ATM his money was withdrawn from, thinking this would help in retrieving his 20k. The only promise he got was that the footage of the fraudster would be shared with his own Bank, as they don’t share such information with customers. With this assurance, he simply accepted his loss in good faith but nursing the hope of an eventual reversal.
- Fast forward to the 19th of February 2020 (Day 1 of my journal), he went to his bank’s branch close to Sango Ota around 9am to make the withdrawal.
- After trying without success, he received an sms notification that his account “was not eligible”, asking him to contact the rep, so he went into the banking hall to lodge a complaint.
- The situation was escalated to the Branch Manager, who informed his legal unit and my dad was subsequently handed over to the bank’s CSO (Chief Security Officer) who took him in an official vehicle to the Nigeria Police Force Divisional Headquarters, Sango Ota, Ogun State.
- So what was the issue? Someone else was defrauded of the sum of 140k somewhere in Ilorin via the same tactic and possibly by the same person. The challenge was that the fraudster this time dropped my dad’s old card with the unsuspecting victim.
- The victim then goes to the police to file a complaint, leading to the transmission of a signal to block the holder’s account and apprehend anyone that comes to make withdrawals from the account.
- The CSO arrived at Sango Ota Police station with my dad at 1:30pm hence the message I received from him at 1:55pm, to await the IPO (Police Inspector) from Ilorin based on the signal that had been transmitted from the Divisional Headquarters, Division A, Ilorin through a police report addressed to the Bank’s Branch Manager, Taiwo Road, Ilorin and a Bankers’ order filled at the Magistrate Court.
As far as the bank officials and police were concerned, they were simply “doing their job” (a local parlance for incompetence), but to what end?
Before I left the bank, I managed to obtain copies of the charge sheet and immediately forwarded to my lawyer.
After waiting outside the station for what seemed like an eternity throughout the day, Dad sent me an sms that the DCO told him that the Ilorin people were now to be expected the following day (Friday) claiming that “they just perfected their papers”, meaning another 24 hours spent detained without charge.
At this point, I briefed my lawyers to counter-sue everyone involved on the case for negligence because I didn’t understand why this type of treatment was being mete out to a poor old man.
Day 3: Police is your friend
On Friday, February 21 2020, my younger brother and I set out early on two different missions from the hotel. He went to the General Hospital in Agege were our dad was a patient to get his medical report while I accompanied my lawyer’s rep to the High Court in Ota to file the case against the respondents.
The officers from Ilorin eventually arrived around 2pm and I met up with them at the station. My dad got emotional when I informed him that I was coming with them, saying he was worried about my business (my office had remained shut still). So I explained that I was more worried for his safety, letting him know that I couldn’t leave him alone in the prevailing circumstance.
We set out from Sango Ota at 2:30pm via public transport (the police officers covered my dad’s fares while I paid for mine) and eventually arrived Ilorin at 11:36pm, just before midnight.
Day 4: Bail is free
We arrived at the station on Saturday, February 22 2020 by 12:10am midnight and his statement was taken immediately.
The officers refused to allow me take him to a hotel and once again, he was put behind the counter, while I sought refuge on a bench in the adjoining open office. I couldn’t sleep, and I’m sure he didn’t either.
We were told that the complainant would be coming later in the morning and then we’ll know the way forward.
I got up by 6:00 am, said my prayers and went out to get morning supplies for dad and I.
Dad had made arrangement with one of his family members based in Ilorin, who sent a lawyer from his office. The lawyer dutifully arrives at 8:30am. He was briefed on the case and we negotiated his fees, after which he asked me to accompany him to his chambers so he could commence the process of filing for dad’s bail via a letter with myself as a surety.
By this time, I was adequately exhausted but I managed to find my way back to the station after getting something to eat.
All officers on the case started arriving one after the other, including the DPO. Then the wait was on for the complainant to show up.
The complainant arrived at 12:02pm and the facts of case were reviewed with him. He immediately took umbrage once he realised that we had gotten a lawyer for dad, declaring that he wanted to get his own lawyer as well, and claiming that he was ready to spend all he had to pursue the matter further.
The police officers became antagonistic of dad’s lawyer, claiming they didn’t like how he spoke to the complainant and that we all should “go out to resolve the issue”.
What hurt me most was when the complainant acknowledged it wasn’t dad that he saw at the ATM and he doesn’t even expect dad to be going to use the machine at his age but that it could be any of us, his kids, that defrauded him. With the knowledge that we’re responsible for his monthly upkeep and that none of us 4 children live with him in Ogun State, I glared at him, too tired to talk.
When this approach didn’t yield any compromise, we were asked to wait for the DPO who had gone out to attend to some pressing matters.
The DCO in charge summoned everyone into her office around 1:04pm to reestablish the facts of the case.
After asking both parties to state their case, she asked for dad’s statement of account to confirm his claim of the 20k deduction and subsequent charge for ATM card reissue, both of which were thankfully captured.
Apparently the complainant was defrauded on the 17th of January, meaning it took a whole of 4 weeks to bring the “suspect” forward. Yet it was a previous victim that was apprehended. This is proof that the culprit outsmarted the whole Nigeria Police Force. Embarrassing to say the least.
She asked to know where dad lived in Ilorin, and dad informs her that he only spent some of childhood there but doesn’t reside there. She then complicates the case further by first trying to pin the crime on dad, suggesting that dad probably didn’t block his old card for it to have been used for fraud — a clear indication that the DCO in charge did not even understand the facts of the case. Anyway, she marched all of us to the DPO who had now returned to his office. The time was 1:48pm.
Turns out the DPO was the only sensible person at the station. He informed us that he had received a call from the Commissioner of Police in Ilorin as early as 6am that morning on the matter, ostensibly influenced by my 1st “unlikely source” (remember her?). He then dissected the case and even suggested strategies to his team to not only apprehend this particular culprit but other potential ATM fraudsters, while declaring that dad could not be kept further at their station, and should be granted access to bail.
The only bone I have to pick with him was that he signed the order to arrest “the suspect” without ensuring that his officers had conducted ALL necessary investigations, the first of which should have been a request to the bank in Ilorin where the crime was perpetrated to provide them footage of the culprit.
Also, even if I accept that dad should be treated as a suspect considering his ATM card was retrieved from the crime scene, the other issue was how long it took to come forward to establish the charges against him.
When he eventually arrived as a suspect, the next step should be facial recognition, asking the complainant to identify him and to be double sure, compare him with the footage of the person at ATM (if available). None of this was done. Instead, they flagged dad and treated him not only as a suspect but as a criminal (I had to intervene twice at both stations to prevent them from locking him up in the cell). The fact he didn’t report the crime that was committed against him was used several times to berate him.
At 2:39pm, the police refused the lawyer’s request to have me stand as surety, insisting that the person must be resident in Ilorin. So I put a call through to my “unlikely source” and she promised to do something once again.
The complainant reluctantly withdrew the case at 3:37pm, after the officers explained the implications of proceeding to him. I should add that, my dad, typically the pacifier, had engaged him privately in between seeing the DPO, and after his “initial gra gra”, he soft pedaled and asked “What can we do for him”. I was shocked at his effrontery. I told him there was ABSOLUTELY NOTHING I could do, explaining that we had spent more than he claimed to have lost on the matter and besides, giving him anything could be taken for culpability in the crime in the first place.
We were suddenly summoned again by the DCO and the next act was a focus on me to clarify why I told the complainant that I had spent more than he had lost, so I gave them an idea of the expenses I had been making since Wednesday from Sango Ota up till that point and the lawyer corroborated sort of, by including that even he wasn’t working for free.
It was at this point that I understood the reason for this particular summon. The police were complicit because they acknowledged that it was the complainant that facilitated their trip to and fro to pick up the suspect (possibly explains the reason my dad was delayed at Sango Ota). They were simply trying to justify to the complainant that his “mobilization fee” was judiciously utilized and said expenses from me didn’t cover them.
Two men of influence walked into the station at 3:42pm to stand for my dad, on the instructions of our “unlikely source”. I knew she had influence and I was glad we had her on our side.
After completing the necessary paper work, the men stayed outside with dad, saying that they would not leave until we step out of the station. Few minutes later, the IPO summons me to demand 20k as charge for dad’s bail!
At all police stations across the country, you’ll see a giant sign that indicates that “BAIL IS FREE”. At any rate, I wasn’t ready to accommodate any further expense especially towards an incompetent and crooked organization such as the NPF.
My dad and I were ready to play the waiting game until the surety intervened to ask how much I could part with. Told him 5k since I realised I had 7k left in my wallet. He went in to have a word with her and subsequently came outside with her, collected the money from me and handed it over to her.
Dad was then asked to go clear himself at the counter. Next, I was summoned by the counter officer. She asked me to pay 2k. I just wanted to leave at this point, so I pleaded with her to accept 1k as what I had left was barely adequate for our trip back to Lagos. She accepted and we finally walked out of the station at 4:02pm, heading straight to the bus park. The DPO called my dad to check up on him before the bus left the park and to verify that we didn’t pay any monies to the complainant. He fell short of apologizing to him for the inconvenience. We didn’t arrive at my place in Lagos until 1:20am on Sunday 23rd of February, thus completing 88 harrowing hours of trauma, despair and redemption!
This whole episode left me with more questions than answers:
1.) To begin with, why did it take so long for the officers from Ilorin to show up to commence the case?
2.) Why couldn’t the officers at Sango Ota take up the matter on their behalf? I was told that by the interpretation of the law, the maximum a suspect should spend upon arrest is 24 hours. Anything beyond that and you must press charges but there was my dad, 72 hours behind the counter and still kept in the dark as to what his offense is. A huge denial of his fundamental human rights.
3.) Why was it so difficult to secure bail for an ailing 70-year old senior citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria? Even despite the intervention of at least 2 people of influence?
4.) Why was the complainant not stated on the case document? What’s the point of protecting a person that doesn’t mind inconveniencing a 70-year old man to that extent?
5.) How many times do we now have to go to the Nigeria Police to report when we know that the Police’s claim to be a friend is nothing but an empty promise. You might end up being coerced to part with some cash.
So many questions for the Nigerian Police but the bank’s negligence was the most surprising due to their lack of professionalism. It was also clear that they don’t have a clear cut process of how to handle these type of situations, beyond the typical escalation to police.
1.) What did they do with the swapped card they collected from my dad? On hindsight, maybe notifying the police at the point could have implicated the owner of said card, who is possibly another victim.
2.) Despite the alarm raised within their banking premises by my father in November, why didn’t the bank suggest to him to file a report, since we now know that simply being issued a new card does not protect you from stolen identity?
3.) Finally, with all the success being recorded with reforms across the banking industry, isn’t it surprising that the first crime perpetrated on my dad’s account was probably not incidented and the promise to share fraudster’s footage with his own bank didn’t happen? If it did, what steps have my dad’s bank taken since then to apprehend the culprit? So because my dad didn’t file a report, his own 20k doesn’t count? Shouldn’t this be where the Police should have been notified in the first place?
If it was so easy to place a signal on my dad’s account to have him picked up as a suspect for fraud, then surely it should be just as easy to indicate all the steps taken since the owner of the account complained about theft on his account. Perhaps this would have helped the police apprehend the thief on the prowl and not treat the victim shabbily in the manner that they had since Day 1.
On this evidence, I can confirm that the Nigeria Police Force is simply not ready. They’re ill-equipped, lack basic training and comprehension, are terribly starved of the required resources to function efficiently.
In my opinion, a situation where the complainant that filed a case has to pay not just to file but to also mobilize the officers to bring in a suspect is flawed. This act already provides a clear basis of bias towards the complainant.
To conclude, my dad was detained against his fundamental rights on an issue that he knew absolutely nothing about, without access to the comfort and freedom he’s used to. He was naturally upbeat but I witnessed him break down twice, suggesting he was traumatized and in his condition, with limited access to his drugs, his life was under threat and his situation could have gotten worse. Not understating the strain this caused for our family. My younger brother and I are entrepreneurs and employers of labor in our own rights but for 4 days, both our businesses had to be shut because we had to be with him physically throughout this ordeal while the rest of our family members were kept on the edge.
After all is said and done, lessons learnt. I encourage everyone to remain vigilant while using the ATM. Also, considering the erring nature of the NPF, I recommend filing a report EVERY TIME you have to. In fact that’s why we must, because their flawed and unintelligent process prevents them from doing their jobs efficiently and thoroughly most times, instead they’ll be on the look out for easy targets or the fastest way out.
I remain positive and would do everything legally and humanly possible to seek redress for my dad. Hopefully the outcome would help everyone involved to adjust to modern realities of running such people-wide enterprise, while addressing the glaring flaws in their processes and taking advantage of design in overall workflow management to achieve meritorious efficiency.
Update: Despite receiving the court summons the Nigeria Police Force failed to attend the first hearing in March, and instead decided to employ underhanded tactics including blackmail and bullying to get themselves off the hook. The case was subsequently adjourned till April, except that the Coronavirus lockdown halted the proceedings. As we patiently waited for the reopening of the courts after the lockdown, the NPF started a campaign to harass my dad’s surety, threatening him to compel my dad to withdraw the case against them. The man, obviously under duress, reached out to our “unlikely source” (being the facilitator) and she in turn, compels us to withdraw the case. In her words: “no one starts a battle with the Government and expects to win.” The situation already caused a strain on her long existing relationship with my dad and it was the first time I regretted involving her. The case was subsequently withdrawn in July after a lot of pressure. It is the reason I’m finally able to publish my experience.
The implication is that the NPF would probably move on to its next victim. This is how they miss or deliberately leave out little details and end up prosecuting innocent people, especially if he or she were to be underprivileged or alienated from their fundamental rights.
Kindly circulate to your friends and family members especially the vulnerable ones (young and aged). Police is definitely not your friend!
Thank you.
