POLICE IS NOT YOUR FRIEND AND MIGHT NEVER BE (Part I). By Philip Dimka
I cannot trace back to the roots of the popular Nigerian adage that says “Police is your Friend”. I am sure it has been around for quite long
now. I have seen the sign Post in some few Nigerian Movies (that I no longer
watch except recommended), but I don’t remember seeing it in person as I seldom
make visits to Police Outpost.
The experiences I have had by way of being a witness to some
scenarios involving the Nigerian Police and ordinary civilians have left me
wondering whether police is actually your friend.
The recent experience I had happened earlier this week and I think I
want to sue some policemen. Solomon Gyang,
Martins Obla & Mapis Mathias Mandong, advise me
appropriately, please.
I accompanied a friend to receive some money from a Nigerian Police
Outpost, which they helped him collect by way of mediation from a contract
defaulter. After waiting for a few minutes, the officer in-charge arrived and
walked into his office. He called out to my friend who went in to collect the
money.
I wish I can write the conversation that followed but that will
be a waste of time. I also wished I had recorded the conversation, but thanks
to Chopstixx Zamani, you know what
happened to my phone.
All the same the officer in-charge insisted my friend (who is
actually receiving the money on behalf of a friend of ours who is not in town)
must give him some part of the money. It was like, “you mean you will not give
us some money for our effort? No, no, that’s impossible!” “We are not giving
you this money until we agree on how much you are giving us”. “You mean after
all we went through to collect this money, you’re just going to walk away?” “In
fact, call him (referring to our main guy) on phone so he tells us how much is
ours”. And the conversation continued all the while being supported by a second
police officer.
After hearing the conversation from where I was sitting, I was
already disappointment and filled with disgust for the Nigerian Police and
Justice systems. What is supposed to be their job? Are they not paid to do
their jobs? Like you have to pay the Nigerian Police any time they fight your
for your cause? Who then will protect us from the evil of the street?
Trust me I would have published their names if they were putting
on their uniforms. As you already know, they seldom do and no one is saying
anything about it.
I really want to do something about this! We cannot allow things
like this to go on in our local communities for if we do the circle of
corruption will never end.
Now, this is not to say there are no good policemen out there,
I’m saying the system has been compromised and WE THE PEOPLE must wake up,
begin to correct these ills and rebuild the fabrics of our torn communities.
The next time you want to go report a case in the nearest Police
Outpost, be mindful: Police is not your friend, they might never be.
I rest my keypad.
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