It is a pity that those who are supposed to be our guardian against physical assaults, armed robbery and threats are the bastion of those things they are supposed to guard against.It has been a long time that the police has created a bad profile for itself in Nigeria. When it comes to human rights abuses-in our nascent democracy, they are champions of taking your rights away from you and piling up trumped up charges.
I was arrested some months ago by some policemen over a charge called "rudeness". I have never seen that in the books but for whatever reason, I was arrested when I was going about lawful business of delivering some of my friends and author's books to a bookshop at Lekki, Nigeria. I had reported myself to the security post near the gate and had moved on when all of the sudden I was summoned rudely by three policemen who were "gisting" on the porch-very far from the post. I didn't understand why I should report myself to policemen who were not in their posts when I did the right thing.
I became the prisoner of three Hausa-speaking law enforcers (I could call it kidnap if I wanted) who charged me to offload the contents of my bag, show them my ID and also that I was coming to the station with them. I had gotten very angry. It was not my first time of coming to the Hub at Lekki and the procedures were not new to me. One policeman says he has a right to confiscate any property within his juridistion and I began to wonder whether his father built The Hub. It was getting late. I lived on the other side of lagos; Lagos Mainland, and with the traffic I couldn't afford to argue.
Ofcourse, I gave them some arguing that made them wonder whether I was a lawyer but I stopped when a policeman told me that "listen, young man, this is Nigeria and here there is no human rights". I understood what he meant. I could end up being televised the next day with guns and ammunitions in front of me as king pin of a lekki gang. I could disappear, my body thrown in the Lagos ocean without any qualms. I could be the victim of a tragic story at Punch Metro that my journalist friends writes. So I just began to plead. Let them win and let me go-It wouldnt matter.
I tried to get the codes of the policemen and it got me into another round of troubles. Another flaw of mine was that I didn't understand Hausa. They spoke it to hide their dealings. They had seen the money in my purse and I suspected they wanted a piece of the pie. My eyes were red with anger and I was sure they knew I wouldn't give them anything without a fight. I didn't give them anything.
After a long rigmarole of threats. I took it that the worst that could happen was being shot. At that point, I waited for the Hausa speaking goons to conclude. They set me free after making sure they had wasted my time.
It's pretty hard for the Nigerian police nowadays. Since they have been authorized to stay off the highways where they have been addicted to extorting motorists, ordinary citizen like myself, who don't own a car becomes the next prey to pounce on.
That night, I looked into the sky and wished that Boko Haram had an activist's face and attacked those they were supposed to attack instead of killing ordinary citizens.That night, I laughed at Nigeria and said " So it means that I cannot be safe in my country? So it means that the Nigerian Police is saying I have to wear the Agbada and become as rich as Dangote before they can accord me my human dignity?
That Night and from then on, I stopped caring finally about the country. I had moved on to the people, the young, vibrant and artistic ones who I hope will find accommodation through the institutions my team were creating out of the Nigerian chaos Servio Gbadamosi, Ife Akala and myself had built artmosphere, a music, poetry and arts event in Ibadan,Nigeria. We had gone further to form alliances and started a collective for the creative mind. Furthermore, I had set up Fairchild Media to promote and manage creative music acts, writers and to connect writers to their publishing dreams. For me those where the things I will forever turn my heart to and when the country comes to a tipping point, I will only hope that my efforts had changed lives; even in the barest minimum circumstance.
I hope you don't join the Nigerian Police because if you do, I will blacklist you.
