TiB Movement Begins Legal Action Over Alleged Police Extortion

The Lagos State Legal Aid Team of the Take It Back Movement has commenced legal proceedings over the alleged unlawful detention and extortion of a Lagos-based man, Sunday Moses Olugbemi, by officers of the Nigeria Police Force.

The legal team, led by Bolaji Oluwatosin, Esq., said it had formally taken up Olugbemi’s case following allegations that he was detained for four days at the Igando Police Station over a mobile phone theft allegation and was allegedly forced to pay N45,000 to secure his release.

Olugbemi had accused the police of arresting and detaining him over the alleged theft of a mobile phone, even though the phone was subsequently recovered while he was still in custody.

Olugbemi said he had earlier worked for a man popularly known as “Pastor” and returned home after completing the job.
According to him, he was later contacted and asked to return because a mobile phone was reportedly missing.

He alleged that police officers subsequently came to his residence, arrested him and took him to the Igando Police Station.

“I spent four days there. Then later they saw the phone. They took me from home and locked me up for four days on wrong accusation. The phone was later found,” he told SaharaReporters.

He further alleged that the police demanded N45,000 before he could regain his freedom. “I even later bailed myself from the police. The police still collected N45,000 from me after remanding me for four days on false allegations,” he added.

Following the report, the Take It Back Movement raised concerns over the alleged treatment of Olugbemi and announced that its legal team would intervene.

In a statement dated August 18, 2026, the organisation’s Lagos State Legal Aid Team said it had now obtained formal instructions from Olugbemi and would institute proceedings before a court of competent jurisdiction.

The lawyers said the alleged four-day detention, despite the subsequent recovery of the phone, and the alleged payment demanded for his release amounted to violations of his fundamental rights.

“Having carefully considered the facts placed before us and having taken full instructions from the said victim, we state that the detention of Mr. Olugbemi for four days at the Igando Police Station upon a false allegation of theft of a mobile phone, which mobile phone was subsequently recovered while he remained in custody and the extraction from him of the sum of Forty Five Thousand Naira as a condition for his release, constitute a breach of his fundamental rights under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended),” the legal team said.

The lawyers described the alleged conduct as an affront to the rule of law, the presumption of innocence and the dignity of the human person.
They said the legal action would seek the enforcement of Olugbemi’s fundamental rights, recovery of the N45,000 allegedly extracted from him and compensation for the alleged unlawful detention and psychological trauma.

“Pursuant to the formal engagement now perfected, the undersigned, Bolaji Oluwatosin, Esq., of Counsel, acting on behalf of the Take It Back Movement Lagos Legal Aid Team, has been instructed to and shall without delay institute appropriate proceedings in a court of competent jurisdiction for the enforcement of the fundamental rights of the victim; for recovery of the sum unlawfully extracted from him; for damages for the unlawful detention and the attendant trauma; and for such further orders as the court may deem fit to make in the interest of justice,” the statement added.

The legal team also vowed to pursue any police officers found to have participated in or authorised the alleged violations before the courts and relevant disciplinary authorities of the Nigeria Police Force.

“We shall pursue this matter to its logical conclusion. Those officers found to have participated in or authorised the said acts must answer for their conduct both before the courts and before the appropriate disciplinary authorities of the Nigeria Police Force,” it said.

The Take It Back Movement said the case formed part of its broader campaign against what it described as the arbitrary exercise of state power and violations of citizens’ rights.

“The Take It Back Movement remains committed to the defence of the citizen against the arbitrary exercise of power and to the insistence that no Nigerian shall be deprived of his liberty or of his resources upon a false allegation or the convenience of an investigating officer,” the organisation said.

The Nigeria Police Force had not, as of the time of filing this report, publicly responded to the allegations.