Police arrest Officers for Allegedly demanding money to investigate missing girl in Ogun

The Ogun State Police Command has arrested some officers for allegedly demanding money from the family of a missing seven-year-old girl before taking action on her case.

Muyiwa Adejobi, the Public Relations Officer for the Nigeria Police Force, disclosed the development in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday. Although the identities of the officers were not revealed, Adejobi confirmed they are currently in detention and undergoing disciplinary action.

His post partly read, “Otta missing girl: The policemen who demanded money before they could attend to the case have been arrested and are now in detention for disciplinary action. We condemn such an act and will not tolerate it. It is inhuman, apathetic, and unprofessional.”

Adejobi reassured the public of the command’s commitment to finding the missing girl and called on the family to cooperate fully with investigators.

“The Ogun State Police Command has been on the case. The girl will be found as soon as possible. We also urge the family of the victim to cooperate with the police,” he added.

The incident involved a seven-year-old girl who was allegedly abducted by a man said to be a regular customer at her mother’s point-of-sale (POS) shop in Otta, Ogun State. The man reportedly bought food for the girl, and later sent her to buy a sachet of water, after which she went missing.

However, when the girl’s mother approached the police to report the case, she was allegedly asked to pay ₦10,000 to file the report and another ₦30,000 to track the suspect’s phone number.