“The police is your friend”. The fallacy of this statement dawn on me when two thunderous slaps landed on my left cheek one Friday evening years ago. The media is awash with stories of civil rights abuse, brutalization and extra-judicial killing perpetuated by members of the Nigeria police force. In fairness there are also many stories of display of integrity and professionalism by our ‘men in black’. But for every positive story, there are 10 negative stories. The purpose of this thread is for us (Nairalanders) to share our experiences (good or bad) with members of the Nigeria police force. I will go first.

My first experience happened years ago before i got admission. I operated a mini business centre-making calls and selling recharge cards. One evening at about some minutes to ten, i had closed and was waiting to ‘block’ one customer who had owed me some money. A commercial bus stopped and some police men jumped out, arresting everything in sight. One of them (he reeked of alcohol and tobacco) approached me and asked who i was and what i was doing here. I replied and he enquired about the contents of my bag and i said, “Camera”. “Where is the receipt?” he shouted. “It is not my o…..” i couldn’t finish saying “own”, when i began seeing shiny stars. “Ha! I am a good citi….” I couldn’t finish saying “citizen” when a second slap landed on my already vibrating cheek. Long story short, i was pushed into the vehicle and detained until the owner of the camera came to authenticate its ownership.

My second experience happened this morning. A police stopped me this morning (at about 5:20am) asking of the contents of my bag. He flashed his ID and i opened the bag. “Where is the Laptop receipt?” he asked. “Oga i don’t go around with the receipt”. Long story short i followed him to the station, after delaying me and making me miss my staff bus, i did the 'right' thing and the issue was resolved-‘the Nigerian way’. The thing still dey pain me.

Oya Nairalanders share yours!

First of all the police is NOT your friend in Nigeria. As a lady, the only time i have to communicate with policemen is mostly at checkpoints when they flag me down and the conversation mostly ends up in them begging for me for money indirectly. We need an overhaul of the Nigerian police because most police men believe its their right to harass you until they obtain money from you.

Never had an encounter with a female police officer sha, have you?

As for the physical assault i believe its wrong except if one has been found guilty. Even at that the law should be allowed to take its full course since an accused person remains innocent until proven otherwise. On a lighter note It will be nice to see a policeman slap an army officer's wife! Hehehe

I opened a similar thread sometime back, my aim was to try in overhauling the Nigerian police 4rm my own small end, buh my bro it wasn't fun, d docile nature of our Nigerian youths irritate me, I couldn't achieve nada as a result of d untold apathy that ravished d thread, I was devastated 2 say d least. I hope this scales tru, I am right here watching

On one fateful morning, I saw a mobile policeman commonly called MOPOL beating up a driver with a whip (koboko). The mopol's brutality was so fierce that I began to wonder what the poor man cld have done to him. On inquiry from people around, I was told he driver scratched his okada. While d drama was still going on I decided to take a look at d okada. I didn't see any dent nor scratch. the mopol had created such a scene that people had gathered around, begging him to forgive/leave the driver.

Apparently it was clear to all that d driver either didn't offend or didn't deserve the policeman's brutality. But nobody could challenge a Mopol who was dressed like a killer with dark shade no one saw his eyes. He was just riding the man. Two other mopol men were at the scene, none held him back. They were speaking in hausa so I couldn't hear their conversation to know if they were inciting or calming d situation.

Well, I shrugged and was walking away...but NO! I couldn't stand such barbaric way of treating an ordinary nigerian going abt his daily meal. I went back!
Wherever that courage came from, I pulled the Mopol back and asked him what d guy did. I had not finished talking when a hot slap sounded. This guy slapped me. At that point his colleagues held him and pulled him away to d side. One of his colleagues started to ask me 'who are you?', 'are you an officer?'. I think they got scared because I wondered why one glance at my mosquito beards didn't tell him I was not an officer. Or perhaps, he thought I was on leave?

Anyways, from the time he slapped me to the time they left didn't take 30 seconds! Fucking cowards, they were using uniform to bully a lowly civilian.
Anyways, one glance at him, I noted his name on his chest, also got his identification number. Off I went to state command. I called an old friend of mine, went and met couple of them.
Maybe they know him in person and were trying to cover him up because I noticed they were trying to slow down things etc.
Imagine them asking me if I have d Mopol command number, that some are mopol 20, mopol 22 etc.
I'm sure they were trying to stop d case. Why can I provide his name and his identification number and they can't fish him out (can any two IDs be same in d same mopol? Or even in d same police force?)

Anyways, ISA YINUSA no 431450 my revenge will be served chilled, sir. In due time.

bknight: NO! I couldn't stand much barbaric way of treating an ordinary nigerian abt his daily meal. I went back!

Waoh! I admire you o. Courage runs in your veins. I swear i won't try it.lol

^^ but I chop slap sha

specialguest: Never had an encounter with a female police officer sha, have you?

No! But i hear they're more brutal.

specialguest: On a lighter note It will be nice to see a policeman slap an army officer's wife! Hehehe

Ha! That would be the start of world war III.

bknight: ^^ but I chop slap sha

Hahahahaha. What amazes me most is that you still had 'stamina' to memorize is name and number. If na me na stars i go dey count,because mopol slap different from ordinary police.lol

Raymondenyi: I opened a similar thread sometime back, my aim was to try in overhauling the Nigerian police 4rm my own small end, buh my bro it wasn't fun, d docile nature of our Nigerian youths irritate me, I couldn't achieve nada as a result of d untold apathy that ravished d thread, I was devastated 2 say d least. I hope this scales tru, I am right here watching

I just read the post. Wonderfully written. Positive comments from the beginning until an otepu said "we should pray for them".lol A noble goal it is to seek to reform the NPF. Keep it up!

nenergy:
Hahahahaha. What amazes me most is that you still had 'stamina' to memorize is name and number. If na me na stars i go dey count,because mopol slap different from ordinary police.lol

Instead the slap stirred anger within . It was clear to his friends, he had unleashed a beast! Anyway sha, all na demo

@ Bnight , that was a very courageous and nice move by U, anyway the similar initial post that was set up by me, was looking forward to getting stories with verifiable and veritable facts to back the stories, with witnesses should it be needed, and afterwards the plan was to accumulate a significant number of such case scenerios and write a petition to the IG of police and oblige him to act and curtail these excesses of his men, moreso we could involve the presidency or inmternational organization should it get to that, to force the hands of relevant bodies tosee to the descipline of there vile men.

we can strt from here and start pushing, with time I believe we re gonna mek a remarkable impact.


Bnight It will do us good (great) if U have better reasonable proof or better still withnesses to ur purported story, more grease to ur elbows man, Bravo!!!

bknight:

Instead the slap stirred anger within . It was clear to his friends, he had unleashed a beast! Anyway sha, all na demo

hahahahaha. @bKnight I'm 'liking' you this guy.lol. Following u on NL. Same for @Raymondenyi You guys are great!

Raymondenyi: @ Bnight , that was a very courageous and nice move by U, anyway the similar initial post that was set up by me, was looking forward to getting stories with verifiable and veritable facts to back the stories, with witnesses should it be needed, and afterwards the plan was to accumulate a significant number of such case scenerios and write a petition to the IG of police and oblige him to act and curtail these excesses of his men, moreso we could involve the presidency or inmternational organization should it get to that, to force the hands of relevant bodies tosee to the descipline of there vile men.

we can strt from here and start pushing, with time I believe we re gonna mek a remarkable impact.


Bnight It will do us good (great) if U have better reasonable proof or better still withnesses to ur purported story, more grease to ur elbows man, Bravo!!!

Friend, I learned d use of a video phone that day. It shld hv gone spiral on youtube. The situation suffered another set back, I went back to d scene of d drama but same people who hailed some hero just hrs before would not agree to be witnesses.
Good intentions you've got but faceless people will not agree to come out for anything serious like going to d IG. Fear is a factor.
Sometimes I wonder if people are really worth fighting for. In egypt, millions of ppl freely appended signatures against a sitting president and eventually removed him, in nigeria it'll be better a camel passes thru d eyes of a needle than achieving such feat.
Sha don't fight any of them for any reason. My approach was calm & diplomatic. Perhaps, that added to their fear. And just to add, policemen fear any firm citizen with a fair knowledge of the law, attempt to engage them in reasoning, and u'd have disarmed half their confidence. Cheers!

By d way, I am BKnight.

bknight:

Friend, I learned d use of a video phone that day. It shld hv gone spiral on youtube. The situation suffered another set back, I went back to d scene of d drama but same people who hailed some hero just hrs before would not agree to be witnesses.
Good intentions you've got but faceless people will not agree to come out for anything serious like going to d IG. Fear is a factor.
Sometimes I wonder if people are really worth fighting for. In egypt, millions of ppl freely appended signatures against a sitting president and eventually removed him, in nigeria it'll be better a camel passes thru d eyes of a needle than achieving such feat.
Sha don't fight any of them for any reason. My approach was calm & diplomatic. Perhaps, that added to their fear. And just to add, policemen fear any firm citizen with a fair knowledge of the law, attempt to engage them in reasoning, and u'd have disarmed half their confidence. Cheers!

By d way, I am BKnight.

I agree with yu brother, buh it kills me to see how docile our youths re, I really feel pathetic n almost wallow into outburst of my own tears anytime I cee other nations with proactive youths as vanguards manning renaissance revolutions in their Countries, why does such feat elude us?(Re we all cowards?,No I don't believe dat), it is very disheartening n melancholic to say d least. But yet we must strt somewhere, little by little with resolute minds like me n U, I believe we can strt up n leave legacies 4 our successors 2cee reasons n continue in d struggle albeit our revolution will come in d nxt generation buh antiquity holds us as layers of d revolutionary platform...
We shall get there my brother.

We just need spy pen cams on many people, you know, the ones that have cameras in them, very cool.

I am planning on getting one soon.

I will attach it to my shirt or in some low-key position when approaching any check point, that should be enough to get some attention.

Also you can start some sort of petition and have people e-sign them. I think that is the first way to go about it, I would definitely sign a petition for police reform.

Anyways, please people, expose all these check points and put them on YOUTUBE.

They might make the Country look bad internationally, but in time, they may go viral and cause a stir in the Nigerian Government.

Police issues are numerous, from the training camps, to their living quarters, their salaries, their police cars, lack of technology, etiquette....

So the government really needs to address these basic issues, while simultaneously, adopting new officers that meet certain criteria, of which a college education should be of principle importance.

Yoshi-Master:
We just need spy pen cams on many people, you know, the ones that have cameras in them, very cool.

Hahaha. Jack bauer tinz!

Yoshi-Master:
We just need spy pen cams on many people, you know, the ones that have cameras in them, very cool.

I am planning on getting one soon.

I will attach it to my shirt or in some low-key position when approaching any check point, that should be enough to get some attention.

Also you can start some sort of petition and have people e-sign them. I think that is the first way to go about it, I would definitely sign a petition for police reform.

Anyways, please people, expose all these check points and put them on YOUTUBE.

They might make the Country look bad internationally, but in time, they may go viral and cause a stir in the Nigerian Government.

Police issues are numerous, from the training camps, to their living quarters, their salaries, their police cars, lack of technology, etiquette....

So the government really needs to address these basic issues, while simultaneously, adopting new officers that meet certain criteria, of which a college education should be of principle importance.

Not a bad one, as far as it fetches us a veritable proof. Come on ye Nigerian youths, I know y'all aint cowards we can achieve something! Ye Nigerian youths.