Outrage Over Alleged EFCC, Police Brutality, Extortion Targeting Akwa Ibom Students

Calls for an urgent, high-level investigation have intensified in Akwa Ibom State following documented allegations of extreme misconduct, brutality, and extortion by officers reportedly belonging to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Nigeria Police Force.

The complaints, which include video evidence of assault, detail a widespread pattern of illegal operations primarily targeting students, including those near the Akwa Ibom State University (AKSU), Obio Akpa campus.

The outcry was spearheaded by a Facebook user and self-proclaimed victim, @Akanimo Nseobong, who publicly appealed to the Akwa Ibom State Government, Governor Umo Eno, the Nigeria Police Force, and the EFCC itself to intervene.

Nseobong alleges that these agencies have “turned against the citizens,” routinely targeting student-dominated areas, breaking into apartments at midnight, beating students, and making illegal arrests to extort them.

Nseobong detailed a personal experience from 2024: he and his friends were arrested late at night and taken to the Police Headquarters at Ikot Akpan Abia. Instead of standard documentation, they were allegedly taken to a secluded area and threatened with being framed for serious crimes like robbery, cultism, or illegal possession of firearms if they refused to pay a bribe. The officers reportedly boasted they could plant weapons to substantiate the false charges. The victims succumbed to fear, had their bank accounts emptied, and were later abandoned on the road around 1 a.m.

The user asserted that the viral video, reportedly showing EFCC officers assaulting young men at a student lodge near AKSU’s Obio Akpa campus, is one of many such cases. Nseobong questioned the operational legality, asking:

* Why are EFCC officers in Akwa Ibom breaking into student lodges at night?

* Why is the use of brutal force necessary during arrests?

* Why can’t proper, legal procedures be followed if concrete evidence exists?

The complaint also highlighted the proliferation of police checkpoints in Uyo that allegedly harass and extort “every decent looking young man.” Nseobong stated that the “justice system has failed us,” and the unchecked actions of these officers dubbed “robbers in uniform”are forcing many young people to leave the state and the country out of fear.