22nd July, 2011
A middle aged Nigerian from the Eastern part of the country, Mr. Okeke Sunday, has narrated how he was harassed and fleeced by the security operatives of the Republic of Benin at Seme border on Tuesday.
Okeke, who is a trader based in Ghana, said the incident was a terrible and unbelievable experience. He said when he got to Seme border, he was asked to show his passport at the Republic of Benin police checkpoint.
He said the policemen took him to a small room after his passport had been taken from him and the policemen started to check all his pockets and took all the money he had on him.
He said, unknown to them, he was having some hard currencies in his shoes, but at a stage he was asked to pull off his shoes and he resisted.
Okeke said he took to his heels and ran to the Nigerian border end and the Republic of Benin policemen ran after him until he crossed to the Nigerian side of the border. He said he met a young man believed to be a Nigerian State Security Service, SSS, operative who calmed him down and rescued him from the hands of the Benin Republic cops.
Okeke said if not that he ran to the Nigerian border end and the timely intervention of the SSS officer who saved him, only God knows what would have happened to him and his hard currencies.
He thanked the Federal Government of Nigeria for deploying security men at the borders and called on other Nigerians who had suffered similar fate to always speak out.
—Moses Falobi