We are all living in a country where human rights exist only in the pages of a document. A country where uniformed men are gods and deity whose invincibility becomes a thing of pride to them.
Nigerian citizens are slaves to them and unless you have an Abraham in the corridors of power, you ain’t spared of a hot bullet inside of you if you dare challenge them….unbelievably true.
A young Nigerian, who was traumatised, brutalised and assaulted by the Nigeria police (SARS) decides to share his fatal ordeal with us…. He pleads for anonymity.
On the 26th of June, 2018, i was travelling from lagos state to the East in the company of my two friends. The driver was my friend and we were only three….
Need i remind you that from lagos state to Asaba, you’d see not less than 25 police check points?
The whole story changed immediately we got down Benin-Bypass Bridge facing east. We were greeted with some scary and fiercely looking men of the SARS. We were flagged down and they started searching us like common criminals , invaded my privacy by flipping through my phone, laptops and ransacked our bags. During the course of this search, one of them gave me a dirty slap for questioning them. They lost interest in us and concentrated on some other vehicles that seemed more attractive.
Driving for less than 3 minutes, the men of the Federal High way patrol team stopped us again and demanded for the papers. Every thing was complete and having seen that we were ok, the leader said our plate number wasn’t registered.. ..
That claim i considered laughable as how a plate number of a car that i have driven for 3years suddenly became non-registered. The whole story changed when i searched for the bio data online and the registration details showed up. The senior officer became very furious and violent and insisted the number wasn’t registered and we would pay 5,000 naira before leaving. Several cars were parked as well, most left immediately they paid up their suggested bribe for a unitary offense of ” plate number registration ”… Of course, some left without paying a dine but made some calls and were released.
Our case became intense on our insistence of not paying the fee. It later resulted to violence. They threatened to kill us and fired some guns in the air. We were resolved not to pay and they started beating us and handcuffed us like common criminals . We were soon bundled inside their van and alongside our car, they took us to a supposed Hide out they called Police station.
That place is not far from the by-pass and close to UNIBEN. The place was obviously not a police station as a blind would notice. It has no Police colour, no police flag but Nigerian flag dangling infront of the compound.
The dirty looking man (alleged police man) putting on an ”Abriba native cap”acting as the DPO with his breastfeeding wife and child were all we saw in that shithole.
Twice they pointed their evil gun at me and threatened to kill if i didn’t behave and maintained that nothing would happen therof…
Of course, they had handed him our key and made some allegations against us that we were trying to snatch their guns from them and fought them…. God have mercy…..
We spent past 3hours in his custody. When i demanded to see the DPO, he got so angry and walked out.
Obviously, the battle had been lost as we decided to plea bargain. No other option than to bow… We had to pay the 5,000 and they allowed us leave.
That was how we kept seeing many others until we drove past Umunede….
Some even asked for the receipt of my laptop and demanded for money if it cannot be produced … Several other insane demands i can’t start saying here…. The deafening impunity was scary.
I saw hell that day and regretted of ever claiming to be from this Country.
Where have we got it wrong?
Why are these police men handling us like criminals and nothing is being said or done in retrospect?
Their impunity is increasingly gaining recognition. ..
However, this is just a rant from an agrieved Nigerian who is sick and tired of this dysfunctional country.
I’m sure not to be alone in this.. ..
Kindly drop your comment on the comments section below if you have similar experience….
Thanks.
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