Vietnam-based Nigerian Footballer, Eyerakpo Raises Alarm Over Alleged Police Extortion, Collusion With Friends To Defraud Him Of His Vehicle

December 26, 2023

 

Eyerakpo told SaharaReporters that he placed his Range Rover Sport car on sale and Evelyn Okpaku, his friend, told him that she had found a buyer.

 

He said that at the time Okpako found the buyer, the original documents of the car were with the activist, John, who is also his friend.

 

Eyerakpo said he told John to take the car to meet with Okpako, which he did and after checking the car, the buyer complained that the battery and the tires were bad.

 

“I agreed to fix them and she (Okpaku) bought a new battery and fixed the tires. The man (buyer) gave his price but I said no.

 

“The human rights activist took the original documents with him and left the car with Evelyn. John asked me if there was any problem, I said no problem because I know where Evelyn lives, her family and everything about her, so there was nothing to be scared about,” Eyerakpo said. 

 

He said they agreed to look for another buyer and Okpaku found another buyer and called him but he also rejected the price the second buyer gave.

 

He reportedly told Okpaku to leave the car and that he would sell it himself when he returned to Nigeria.

 

“She said no problem and that the car would be kept in her custody and I said no problem.

 

“I kept communicating with her and after some weeks, I tried to reach out to her but her numbers were not available and she was not responding to my messages. I called the human rights activist and asked him to reach out to her for me.

 

“The human rights activist made calls and told me he couldn’t reach her too. I decided to leave it till I returned to Nigeria,” he said.

 

According to him, when he returned to Nigeria, he called Okpako’s numbers but still did not get through so he called the activist to bring the original documents of the car to him so they could decide what to do with the car.

 

Eyerakpo said that he and John went to Okpaku’s house and found her mother whom he told about his futile efforts to reach her daughterHe said the mother called her and surprisingly, she answered and said she had been busy but he insisted on getting the car from her immediately. 

 

He said, “That was when she said she had sold the car. I asked her how possible it was for her to sell the car without the original documents and the human rights activists and myself didn't know about it?

 

“She said I shouldn’t worry about how she did the selling, that she would give me the money that I wanted for the car but I insisted she should give me back the car, but she hung up.”

 

Eyerakpo said following a suggestion made by the activist, they went to Ebrumede Police Station and reported the case.

 

He said, “The police asked for the vehicle papers, we presented the vehicle papers and made a statement. The policemen collected N50,000 from us and said that they would be in search of Okpako.

 

“When we left the police station, the human rights activist (John) said we should go and meet his friend named Tony who is a police officer at area command, Warri, Delta State. We got to the area command in Warri and met Officer Tony in his office.

 

“I explained everything and showed the original documents to Officer Tony. He took all the details of the car and gave us back the original documents and also collected N50,000 from us. He also said that they would be in search of the woman and when they get any information about her, they would call me,” Eyerakpo said.

 

He said he waited for two days but when he did not hear from any of the police officers, he called his friend living in Benin City, Edo State and asked him to come to Warri because of the issue.

 

He said his friend came and said they should go to the chairman of the area because he knew the chairman.

 

He said, “We got to the area and called the chairman and explained everything to him. The chairman took us to the family but we found only the mother at home. The chairman explained what happened to the mother, and that he wanted to see the daughter within 24 hours.

 

“The next day, the chairman called me and said the woman was around. I went with my friend and called the human rights activist and informed him that we were going for her and that he should inform Officer Tony in case she was there.

 

“We got there and I saw her and her family. The grandmother and her brother tried to fight me and they harassed me but I didn't say anything except that I just came to get my car back.

 

“I immediately called the human rights activist and he called Officer Tony. Officer Tony mobilised his guys and they came and arrested the woman, took her to the station and she slept in the station for days. On the third day, there was still nobody to bail her and she brought her lawyer and an old man to take her on bail.

 

“Officer Tony refused to accept the old man to take her on bail. But I don't know what happened and they agreed. After that day, on the day she was supposed to be charged in court, Officer Tony called me and the human rights activist and my lawyer to come inside and wait for the time that she would be charged.

 

“When we were inside the office, all of a sudden, the IPO came and said he didn’t see Okpako and her lawyer again, and that he wanted to look for them outside. She went and came back and told us that they might have gone.”

 

Eyerakpo said he asked the police officers to rearrest Okpako and her lawyer but Officer Tony said no, that he should relax and stop trying to teach them their job.

 

He said, “I kept calm until it was getting dark and I said I could not sit down here waiting while someone who has been arrested will run out of police custody. I called the human rights activist and he said I should calm down, and that Officer Tony would handle the situation.

 

“I went home and the next day, I didn't hear anything from them. After some days, Officer Tony called and told me that we needed to go to Benin City. He said he had received a call from Zone 5 that the Okpako was there to write a petition against me.

 

“I asked him why he didn't tell them that the police had arrested her and that she was a crime suspect. They should hold her there when you come, you take her. Officer Tony said no, that that was not the case. That she wrote a different petition against me.

 

“Officer Tony said that before he would go to Benin City, I should give him N40,000 to fuel his car. I gave him the money. The next day, I called my lawyer and the human rights activist for us to go to Benin City. My lawyer agreed but the human rights activist said he had an appointment with a friend in Lagos.

 

“We travelled to Benin City without the human rights activist and in Benin, they took us to the Surveillance office and intimidated me, shouted at me, harassed me, and didn’t ask me any questions or allow me to say anything.

 

“There was a lady there who was just shouting that I’m a ritualist and a fraudster. I said I’m a professional footballer. I'm not a fraudster, I have never been and I have never committed any crime before. They said it was a lie, that I had done so many rituals.

 

“My lawyer was so aggressive because of what they were saying. After that, Officer Tony walked in and told them that I’m not a ritualist but a football player.”

 

Okpako in text messages she sent to Eyerakpo had admitted to doing wrong by selling the car without the approval of the owner and using part of the money to sort out personal issues.

 

She appealed for time to refund the money.

 

In one of her messages to Eyerakpo, Okpako said, “I know this is not right for not picking or responding to your messages for some time now. I believe you should know me by now. I can't take or treat you for less.

 

“I don't really know how to put this to you, that is why I have been keeping mute for this long. The truth of the matter is that the car had serious issues when you handed it over to me and the way things were going at that point of time, I had to borrow money to sort things out.

 

“So at the end, the person keeps disturbing me for return of funds, honestly I had no option but to give the car away when someone saw the car and asked if the car was for sale. I sincerely believe I did wrong for not taking permission from you first before giving the car away.

 

“My plea is that you exercise a little patience with me to sort things out so that I can refund you back the money I sold the car because as we speak, I am financially down. I beg you in the name of God, I promise to return you back the money before November ends. I will send you the money. I will never hurt you or betray you, I beg you.”

 

When Eyerakpo insisted that she should return the car, Okpako in another message said, “I’m beginning to suspect you have bad motives about me, because I never expected all this from you. Our agreement is for me to sell the car, which I already told you I have sold it.

 

“Why come up with an issue that I should return your car if you don’t have any negative plan against me by asking for the return of the car which you already told me to sell for you and you know the car has issues and I run lost? I will send you your money in due time. I still have your details.”

 

Eyerakpo said that in the petition written by Okpako which was given to him to read at the police station in Benin City, she wrote that “I am a ritualist, a fraudster and that I use people for ritual”.

 

He said, “I told them I didn’t understand what she was talking about. This lady sold my car. They said no, they are not talking about the car, they are talking about the ritualist I am and the fraud that I am into.”

 

He said that after giving his statement at Zone 5 in Benin City, the Assistant Inspector General of Police for the zone ordered that the Okpako should be kept in police custody while she provided whoever she sold the car to but when they left the AIG’s office, the IPO turned down the AIG’s order and said he would rather track the car.

 

According to him, when his lawyer objected to it, the IPO became aggressive.

 

Rather than obey the AIG’s order, the IPO ordered that Eyerakpo should be locked up based on Okpako’s petition against him and he was compelled to pay N30,000 bail, which he said he gave to Officer Tony and another N40,000 which Officer Tony collected from him to fix his car.

 

Eyerakpo said that he was also made to pay N20,000 to the chairman who had earlier taken him to Okpako’s house, so he could follow him and the human rights activist and his lawyer to Zone 5 Benin City to meet with the AIG. According to him, the AIG again promised to ensure justice was done.

 

However, on their return to Warri, he said the human rights activist insisted they no longer needed the services of the lawyer, claiming that he and the area chairman would handle the case.

 

He said, “He (the human rights activist) suddenly said that his friend working at a licensing office found out that the car had been renewed and when he was asked to provide the original documents of the car, he said he could no longer find it, saying that he probably mistakenly gave the documents to Okpako.”

 

According to Eyerakpo, to date, neither the car nor its original documents have been provided while the human rights activist and the area chairman have continued to extort money from him.

 

Yet, Okpako was never detained as Zone 5 AIG ordered, he said.

 

SaharaReporters made several efforts to contact Okpako, the human rights activist - John and Officer Tony for comments on the matter but none of them answered any of the several calls from our reporter.

 

They also did not reply to the SMSes and WhatsApp messages sent to them.

 

When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of Zone 5, Benin City, DSP Tijani Momoh, said he was not aware of the case. He asked Eyerakpo to meet him in his office or send someone familiar with the case to his office to update him on the case to enable him to take necessary actions.