By Edith Mario
The Nigeria Police, at a stop-and-search checkpoint in Ekpan-Warri, Delta State, on June, 2023, confiscated items and cooked food belonging to passengers in a commercial tricycle, including a young barber’s apprentice.
Among those stopped was Master Anigboro-Brorhie Divine Oghenebrukevwe, who identified himself and said he was on his way to his barbershop where he was an apprentice when the police officers ordered all the young men to state their full names and their destinations before searching their belongings. An anonymous source, who was also among the passengers but did not know Divine personally, confirmed hearing his name during this interaction.
The source explained that, out of fear of harassment, all the passengers complied. He noted that Divine appeared visibly frightened during the encounter, which caught his attention.
While narrating the event, the source said the police were aggressive in their search. “They handled our things roughly,” he said. “One of the officers even slapped the food that Divine was holding out of his hands, and it spilled on the ground.”
Divine did not react, according to the source, who heard one of the officers say, “It’s good you know your place. If you had tried anything stupid, you’d have regretted it.” The officer, who had a machine gun strapped across his chest, allegedly patted the weapon while delivering the threat in a menacing tone.
Meanwhile, the police were looking for suspected “yahoo boys” and ordered several of the passengers to submit their belongings, phones, and laptops, which they inspected.
After about 20 minutes, some of the passengers were released, including Divine. However, two others were handcuffed and taken away in the police vehicle.
The source further added that this wasn’t the first time such incidents had happened along that route. “I’ve seen people stopped here before and forced to drop their belongings—even cooked food,” he said. “It’s getting out of hand.”
He concluded by calling on the Delta State Police Command to urgently check the excesses of officers stationed at checkpoints, stating that the intimidation and seizure of food and personal items from innocent workers was unacceptable. “Some of us are just going to work with food packed for our break time, and we’re being treated like criminals,” he said.