Over the weekend, I traveled to Owerri, Imo State, to attend a wedding at an in law's place. One of their daughters, the first actually was the one wedding so I needed to be there to share in their joy. Moreover, I love weddings, I guess everyone does and it's been long I attended one, lol. The wedding was held on Saturday, 5th, and to the glory of God, it went well. There was clement weather, the event well organized and everyone had an enjoyable time. For me, it was sort of a reunion as I met some of the family members that I haven't seen in a long time. You know what follows such reunion, hehehe. 😂
Wedding done, Sunday was for thanksgiving and after we came back from Maas, I packed my bag and baggages hit the road back to my base. While I was at the park waiting for the vehicle I boarded to get filled up so we can move, I started hearing some noise not too far from where the bus was parked. With the way people were shouting and the movements there, it looked like it was a fight. It's not unusual to see such occurrences in the park especially with these loaders, agberos, so I went back to minding my phone.
But the noise got closer to our vehicle, so I had no choice but to join other onlookers and behold it wasn't the agberos who were fighting but some mobile policemen manhandling someone, a driver. They were dragging the man to follow them to God knows where but he resisted, stood his ground and even held the policemen who was dragging him. Out of nowhere, one of the police brought out a machete and started flogging him at the back. He was shouting "You want to kill me, you people are beating and dragging me, what did I do?
People begged the policemen to take it easy on him but they refused. They were hitting him from all corners, yet the man refused to bulge. In fact, that man get morale, lol. An elderly man, I guess a driver too, even approached one of the policemen begging that they let him go but he threatened to beat him up if he doesn't move away. The man gently went back. See the level of intimidation and oppression from the people who were supposed to protect us. Hmmm, it is a pity.
When they found out that the man was hell bent on not following them, they left him but drove away with his bus plus his phone and slippers which they collected.
After they left, the guy seated beside me was like "Is this how the police behave here? I gave him that kind of look that suggests 'aren't you in this country"?.
Seeing the way I looked at him, he said that he just arrived Nigeria from Ghana about two weeks ago and is actually surprised to witness what happened because policemen do not behave like that in Ghana. I just told him "welcome to Nigeria where the dog usually eats the bone hung on his neck".
He began to share the experience he had the day he was coming to Owerri. He said that they had got to one checkpoint and a mobile policeman told their driver to pull over. He did and the policeman walked over, looked inside the bus as if doing a search and then told the guys to start settling that he doesn't want to waste their time. He said the guys actually obeyed and that surprised him. It got to his turn, and the policeman was expecting him to do the follow suit but he was just looking at him. The police told him not to pretend that both of them know that he's a "yahoo guy" so he should just fuel their car like others did. On hearing that, he said that he started laughing and that got the policeman angry. The next thing the policeman did was to ask for his phone which he refused giving. He said his laughter attracted the attention of another policeman who asked why he was laughing at them. He replied that their actions seemed funny to him because it's quite different from the way policemen act where he came from.
The police asked where he was from and he replied Ghana. He asked for his identity card which he showed him and with that they left him. But he said that one of their fellow passengers, a guy too, who tried showing himself like they usually say, was detained and they were asked to continue their journey without him. His offence was saying that he knew his right.
This is one out of the many ugly incidences that happens on our roads. The rights of poor citizens are being trampled upon everyday by these so called uniformed men. Once they appear in uniforms, and armed with guns, they turn to demi gods who must be feared and obeyed. Don't ever try challenging them or even show that you "broke a chalk in school", lol. Try telling a policeman that you know your right, and they'll make sure that your right turns to left. In fact the next place you'll find yourself is in custody with multiple allegations that will have you regretting ever uttering such words. If you're lucky enough you'll be granted bail after receiving enough beating. If not, you'll go in, serving a sentence for a crime you never committed.
We're told that "Bail is free". We see it boldly written on notice boards at the entrance of the police stations even on the walls behind the counter but when it comes to implementation, you'll be told that;
Nothing is free even in Freetown.
If you go to report a case at the station, you'll pay for writing paper and pen including opening of case file. When it's time to close the case, you'll pay too. If the case now involves going for an arrest, you'll be the one to fuel their vehicle and also give brown envelope.
We also see "Police is your friend" boldly written at every corner of the stations but in reality, it is not so. In fact it should be;
Police is your fear.
There are actually some good and kind hearted policemen, I've met a couple of them but it is the bad eggs that are contaminating the system, painting the image of the police force black.
It is a sorry state we've found ourselves but we hope that someday, change will happen.
Thank you for reading.
Still the #threadsaddict 😂
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