- Safiu Kehinde
Two Police officers have been arrested and detained over alleged extortion of N10 million from an Abuja-based businessman, Lukman Abubakar.
The officers identified as Adamu Sani and SP Austine and attached to the Force Intelligence Department (FID) were reported to have carried out the act on August 16, 2025.
According to a report by the Foundation of Investigative Journalism (FIJ), both men were part of the FID team that broke into the house of Abubakar, on the 15th of August in the guise of a power distribution company’s personnel.
After gaining entry, they bundled and relocated Abubakar to their office, where they demanded N10 million in exchange for his freedom.
They allegedly threatened to hand him over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) if he failed to pay.
He was detained till the following day when they demanded N20 million,
Abubakar, who recounted his ordeal in an exclusive interview with FIJ, disclosing agreeing to pay them N10 million.
After the payment, he was instructed to bring his bank statement from January 1, 2025, to August 18, 2025.
They also had him visit their office every two weeks or risk facing charges of fraud and advance fee fraud.
Following his release, Abubakar had his lawyer write a petition to the IGP’s office.
On August 31, the Police Complaints Response Unit (CRU) got the team to return N4 million in cash with a promise to return the rest in two weeks.
While the balance never came, the Police CRU’s boss, Ini Ani, disclosed in October that the two officers and their team have been arrested and are facing multiple charges of extortion, abuse of power and other crimes.
Abubakar, who visited Ani’s office to face the policemen, told FIJ that the two officers were saying that the DCP partook in the loot, and they could not recover it without the CRU going after him.