A Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) official, who is being investigated for alleged extortion of N100,000, has absconded, according to the FRSC.
The FRSC spokesperson, Olusegun Ogungbemide, disclosed this to PREMIUM TIMES on Friday.
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Alleged extortion
PREMIUM TIMES reported in June that a Nigerian journalist, Agba Jalingo, in a Facebook post, accused officials of the corps in Calabar, Cross River State, of extorting money from a driver for not wearing a seatbelt.
“This Road Safety team also arrested a vehicle yesterday in Calabar and extorted N100k from the driver for not wearing a seat belt.
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“The money was extorted through the private account of one Zeal Nkere Richard before the vehicle was released. That’s the vehicle they used,” he wrote, with a picture of the FRSC patrol vehicle and an Opay payment receipt as evidence.
The then-sector commander of the FRSC in the state told PREMIUM TIMES that the command had begun an investigation into the allegation.
Citing this newspaper’s report, the Corps Marshal, Shehu Mohammed, ordered an immediate transfer of the case and recall of the officials to FRSC headquarters in Abuja for a thorough investigation.
“As an organisation that upholds standards at all times, we have procedures to check indiscipline, corruption, and patrol misconduct.
“If found guilty, the operatives will face severe disciplinary actions, including dismissal and prosecution,” the corps spokesperson, Mr Ogungbemide, said in June.
Investigation, abscondment
When contacted for an update on the investigation on 7 July, Mr Ogungbemide told PREMIUM TIMES that the FRSC Intelligence Department had narrowed the investigation to one official, as the driver had alleged.
However, he said the official denied the allegation, prompting the corps to demand his account statement for confirmation, a request the official turned down.
“The accused is available. He has reported to the headquarters. The process is for him to make his statement of account available. Since he has failed in that regard. The legal department has advised that we get it through a court affidavit to the bank, and that is what we are engaging in,” he said in July, during an interview with our reporter.
“Yes, he denied the allegation, which is why we asked him to turn in his statement of account, but he is not forthcoming, and we have to go through the legal means – obtaining a court affidavit,” he said, when asked if the official was denying the allegation.
When PREMIUM TIMES called the FRSC on 1 August for a further update, the agency’s spokesperson said the official had absconded.
“I just confirmed from the Intelligence Department. Investigation is not yet completed. The man absconded and is declared AWOL (absence without leave).
“He reported and absconded. We don’t have access to his account. We are still in the process of getting an agency with such authority to access the account in his absence so that the investigation can be concluded,” he said.
Asked if the corps will continue to pay his salary, having absconded from duties, Mr Ogungbemide said, “The way it’s done, when you’re declared AWOL, and it will enter desertion after 21 days. When it enters desertion, your salary will be suspended, which means you can then be tried in absentia.
“The essence of getting other agencies involved is to have access to his account to be sure that money is actually in his account,” he said, adding that the corps is being thorough to avoid litigation after the investigation.
“It (the investigation) will be very exhaustive and thorough,” he added.
FRSC not serious with investigation – Lawyer
In an interview with PREMIUM TIMES on Monday, a legal practitioner who specialises in banking litigation, Jerry Akpan, said any government agency investigating an allegation of criminal offence against its official or anybody in society has a right to apply to the court for an order enabling it to investigate a certain account number held by an accused in a given bank.
“Before it does that, it has to give a reason – reduce it to writing and file in a court: an affidavit,” Mr Akpan said.
The FRSC spokesperson told PREMIUM TIMES on 7 July that the corps was seeking a court order to access the bank account details of the investigated official.
However, when contacted on 1 August, the FRSC spokesperson said its legal department was considering obtaining a government agency with the authority to access someone’s account in their absence.
“In the Magistrate Court, it is two days or even a day,” Mr Akpan said when asked how long it could take a government agency to obtain a court order to access its employee’s account.
Speaking further, Mr Akpan said the FRSC was not serious about the investigation.
One in many
The incident is one of the many cases where FRSC officials have been accused of extortion.
Two years ago, this newspaper reported that the FRSC was probing its operatives, who had allegedly been caught extorting money from commuters in Ogun State.
PREMIUM TIMES in 2021 reported how 15 FRSC officials were arrested through a joint security operation led by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission for allegedly extorting money from motorists on highways across the country.
The arrests were made simultaneously in Adamawa, Gombe, Ondo, and Osun States, with the extorted money from the officials.
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