Police deny N1m bail bribery accusation in Abia

The Abia State Police Command has denied a social media claim that its operatives attached to Aba Area Command demanded N100,000 each from 10 suspects as bail.

This was disclosed in a statement made available to our correspondent by Abia State Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Maureen Chinaka, on Tuesday.

The command revealed that the allegation was made by a social media blogger who claimed that one of the officers requested N100,000 as bail from each of the suspects.

The statement partly read, “The Abia State Police Command has been inundated with a trending allegation circulating online by a social media blogger, accusing an officer in Aba of extorting ₦100,000 each as bail from 10 arrested suspects on 04/10/2024.

“Preliminary investigation revealed that on 03/10/2024, the Aba Area Command received a complaint through a written petition from the management of Life Stock Feed PLC Aba.

” The petition alleged that several staff members had misappropriated a substantial amount of money and made away with some production materials from the company. Based on this complaint, some suspects from the company connected with the crime were arrested for investigation.”

The statement further revealed that the complainant in the viral social media post is one Samuel Okoye who came to secure the bail of three of the suspects and has refused to honour police invitation after the extortion claim.

It added, “Mr Samuel Okoye, the complainant in the viral post, came to secure bail for 3 of the arrested suspects. The IPO refused to grant bail, insisting that the investigation was still ongoing. Mr Okoye was reportedly infuriated and was said to have threatened to ‘deal with’ the IPO.

“The Command has since invited Mr Samuel Okoye, but he has refused to honour the invitation stating that his allegations were made in anger against the IPO and that he has decided to let go.

“However, one of the arrested suspects confessed that some of his colleagues were in the habit of defrauding the company. The suspect claimed he advised them to desist from such fraudulent acts but never reported them to the company management.”

The command frowned at the defamatory statement and pledged to kick against any unprofessional conduct by its officers while encouraging the public to verify the accuracy of information before making posts.

“While the command will not tolerate any form of unprofessional conduct or corruption among its officers, any defamatory act to tarnish the image of the force will not be accepted.

“The public is hereby advised to verify the accuracy of information before making posts and any defamatory post against the command will be met with appropriate legal action,” the statement concluded.