Several motorists and travellers have accused Joint Task Force (JTF) personnel, including soldiers, police officers and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) operatives of extortion, harassment, forced phone searches and threats at checkpoints in parts of Nigeria’s South-East, particularly Imo State.
Victims, whose accounts were supported by video and audio recordings, alleged that officers routinely stop vehicles, demand access to travellers’ phones and, in some cases, pressure them to transfer money to bank accounts or POS operators before allowing them to proceed. Some said officers threatened to kill them or frame them as members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) or its armed wing, the Eastern Security Network (ESN).
One traveller, who requested anonymity, described being stopped with his elder brother while driving from Aba, Abia State, to Asaba, Delta State. Officers ordered the brother to produce vehicle papers and took him aside. The traveller said a soldier then demanded he hand over his phone.
He claimed he saw an officer attempting to transfer money from another motorist’s banking app to a POS terminal and telling the man to borrow ₦10,000 to secure his release. The traveller said his phone was seized but he was eventually allowed to leave after his brother paid at least ₦10,000.
A second traveller said he had been stopped at four different checkpoints in Imo State and forced to hand over money on two occasions, usually between ₦1,000 and ₦5,000. He said checkpoints once located along Okigwe Road and the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway had shifted toward Ideato and Umuobom. On the Aba-Owerri Road while travelling to Nnewi, Anambra State, he alleged that officers pulled one of his companions into a JTF Hilux and ordered the driver to continue without him.
In what he described as his most frightening encounter, the same traveller said officers discovered he was wearing camera-enabled glasses. He claimed one officer threatened to kill him and bury him in the bush, adding that no one would know.
According to his account, officers dragged him into a bushy area, pushed him and ordered him to run so they could shoot him and later claim he was an ESN member. He said he refused to run, was ordered to remove his upper clothing and was subjected to a phone search. Officers allegedly released him after finding messages with police and military contacts and confirming he had not recorded them.
In a separate incident at Ngokpala, the traveller said officers slapped him, forced him into their vehicle and took ₦10,000, the last funds in his OPay account.
Audio recordings capture an officer ordering a traveller to hand over a phone, accusing him of recording the checkpoint for IPOB, and warning that he could “end himself here.” Officers then ordered the man to unlock the device and remove his clothes.
In another video, a soldier and a police officer stopped a motorist wearing AI-powered camera glasses near 7½ Junction on the Obowo road. The officers ordered him to remove the glasses, accusing him of recording them. They took him to their leader, identified by a source as Stanley Chimezie, an NSCDC officer attached to the task force. The leader allegedly grew angry and questioned why the man was using such glasses.
Reports indicate the same motorist was later forced to transfer ₦204,000 to a Moniepoint account in the name of Onyebuchi Chika Gift on 24 July 2026. The traveller said he had to arrange additional funds from contacts to meet the demand after emptying his own account.
One victim said the repeated encounters had forced him to empty his personal accounts before travelling, leaving only small amounts of cash and relying on family to send money once he reached his destination.
Efforts to obtain a response from the Imo State Police Command were unsuccessful. The command’s Public Relations Officer, DSP Okoye Henry, did not answer calls.
The allegations remain unproven in court. No official response from the JTF or relevant security agencies was available at the time of publication.
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