On September 2, 2025, Mr Oluwatosin Ojulewa, a policeman nicknamed ‘World Best’, attached to the Akinpelu police station in the Oshodi area of Lagos, threatened to take the life of Mr Samuel Olumoran, a citizen journalist in Lagos State, if he lost his job after the journalist confronted the policemen with allegations of extorting money from residents in the area.
According to media reports, Mr Olumoran had confronted the policeman about his illegal duties, including arbitrarily arresting and extorting various sums from traders. He demanded a refund of N10,000 that the policeman had forcefully extorted from a trader he had illegally arrested the previous day.
However, Mr Ojulewa threatened: “You are ruining our work by stopping us from raiding and asking us who we collected money from. If you or anyone makes me lose my job, I will make sure that person loses their life.”
The policeman was initially reluctant to refund the money he had extorted, but after some verbal exchanges, he returned the cash to the victim and reportedly threatened to maim Mr Olumoran for interfering.
Thereafter, he began receiving unsolicited calls from unknown persons who described themselves as friends of the Akinpelu Police Station.
Mr Olumoran said, “I don’t know how they got my number, but when I picked up one of the calls, the person said he was friends with the DPO, and he knew the Akinpelu policemen.”
He said the caller asked why he went public with his story of Akinpelu police station’s officer’s extortion activities and asked him to delete the stories documenting the extortions. The journalist said he informed the caller that he was not going to delete the story.
Again, a man identified as Yusuf Muhammed by Truecaller, who claimed to be a crime editor of PM News and The News Magazine, sent Mr Olumoran a WhatsApp message asking him to call, saying when he tried to reach Mr Olumoran, his phone was switched off. When Mr Olumoran returned his call, Muhammed claimed he was going to write a report against him.
On September 9, he called back to say he was no longer going to come for the journalist, and later, at about 12:42 pm, he sent a WhatsApp message warning Olumoran to “tread softly”. His message reads, “Samuel, I am not a baby journalist. I have been in this noble profession for close to 30 years, and please, for crying out loud, tread softly. Your family needs you, please, my brother. Life na jeje.”
When Mr Olumoran challenged him about the threats, Muhammed denied saying his ‘brother’ told him to discontinue the story against him.
