Task force officials extort N35,000 from motorist on Lagos-Ibadan expressway

<p>A motorist, Stanley Chukwuedo, has lamented after some men claiming to be task force officials of the Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State allegedly extorted him of N35,000.</p>, <p>Chukwuedo, who spoke with PUNCH Metro on Tuesday, said the incident happened on Friday when he took a diversion around the Kara bridge on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway so that he could proceed en route to the Omole area of Lagos.</p>, <p>He said three men jumped out of nowhere and entered his car as they challenged him for taking the route.</p>, <p>Chukwuedo said, “On Friday, I was going to work from Ibafo. When I got to Kara Bridge on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, there was traffic, as usual. At the end of that bridge, I was diverting.</p>, <p>“Some touts just came out and said I was not supposed to follow that route. I asked them why, and they said I should follow only one lane instead of two. They said they would seize my car, and that I should follow them to one place and that if they found out I had not been warned before, I would be released, and if otherwise, I would pay a fine.</p>, <p>“They directed me till we got to their office at Ojodu. When we got there, another man joined them and they became four. It was like a fight. They didn’t take me inside the office. They said I should pay N150,000 for taking the wrong way. One of them checked my car and said I had not been warned before. Then they asked me to bring N50,000 because I looked like a gentleman. Later they said I should bring N35,000. They threatened to deflate my tyres and that I would be paying N5000 every day till I settle them.”</p>, <p>Chukwuedo said the men who claimed to be taskforce officials called a Point of Sale operator and he was made to pay N35,700 with N700 being the PoS charge.</p>, <p>“It was a Palm Pay account. My concern is how would a government be using Palm Pay as a revenue account. They said they work for Ifo LGA,” he said.</p>, <p>When requested, he added that the men issued him a receipt that had Ifo LGA on it and they indicated that he pai