The Nigeria Immigration Service has disclosed that it has begun investigations into the alleged extortion of a United States-based Nigerian professor, Moyo Okediji, by men of the service, News About Nigeria reports.
The lecturer had earlier recounted, via his Facebook page, his ordeal at the hands of the immigration officers at the Seme border.
According to him, he had been accosted by the officers, who were many in numbers. He said he was invited to their shed, and his hand luggage was collected, including all the money he brought from the US.
They had also demanded that he settle them after a search was conducted on him.
He stated that he gave the officers $40 before he was allowed to go but later discovered $500 was missing from his luggage after he was released.
Okediji, who is a Professor of Arts and History at the University of Texas, United States, further noted that the issue escalated and he would have been a dead man, but for the intervention of a crowd of young Igbo men who saved him from the hands of the Nigeria Police attached to the FESTAC Mile Two station.
He also said that he had a smooth journey going through Ghana, Togo, and Benin Republic, until he stepped into Nigeria, lamenting that the country needs to do better and put a stop to the harassment being carried out by officers.
Confirming the incident, the spokesperson for the Nigerian Immigration Service disclosed that an investigation into the incident was ongoing.
On the other hand, the Divisional Police Officer, FESTAC, Balogun Gboyega, urged the victim to make a formal report so that he could officially identify the suspected officers who allegedly harassed him.
