It was about 15 minutes before 5pm, on Saturday 24th march, 2012. I walked out of Ozone Cinemas after seeing a movie 'Τhe man on the Ledge'. I decided to stroll to the Yaba park and board a bus home. I walked past a skye bank and decided to use the ATM, I withdrew 5000ngn and continued towards the park. Boarded a bus which took too long to get filled up, after waiting In the bus for a while, I decided to move forward to get another bus that may be filled up on time. This was my mistake, and my ordeal started.

Having moved a little bit to Yaba bus-stop where we have buses and crowd moving in different directions. I was challenged by a man in mufti waving what looked like a 200 year old police ID-Card and said 'I want to see your ID-Card. Not sure of what to do, I looked at him and continued moving. He pulled me and said he needed to see my ID-Card , so I stop and said let me see yours. He flashed the card again. I made for my wallet from my jean back pocket, and before I could open it, two more men in everyday cloth joined him and also flashed their ID-Cards. So I halted bringing out of mine as I asked them to explain the meaning of what they were doing. The response was simple, ‘Let us see your ID-Card’, I brought it out and showed them. One of them made for my hand and took the ID-Card from me. I vehemently demanded that he gave me my ID-Card but he refused. The third man said 'Mr. Man, please follow us to our van’. I demanded why I should do that, but before I could say Jack, one man pulled my jean by the belt and started dragging me. Then I shouted at them and said you people are thieves, you are not police men. Leave me alone. Then crowd started gathering, so I tried to let off the grab, but the men overwhelmed me. So I said this is unacceptable, injustice and continued blabbing. Before long, two uniformed men came with their guns and asked me why I should be arguing with officers. But I replied that these men could be thieves

and I demanded why they should be man handling me. The uniformed men then said, you have to join us in our bus, and they searched me took my blackberry phone, as I tried to make a call, and also took my wall. I was left with my umbrella. So I was dragged and forced along to a commercial bus parked some distance away. I was asked to enter, I refused, I observed that just some few yards in front of the bus, a police van was parked, but I could not see the number. One of my assailants tried to disperse the crowd who was looking helplessly and he said 'Now you don call all the Nigerian people, make dem come help you, so why dem no fit help you now, yeye man, this is not Ghana, this is Nigeria'.

As I refused to board the bus, I was forcefully pushed inside, I fell on the floor, hitting my head, and my buttock and sustaining minor injuries on my left ear. Now I am in for a big trouble. The Oga came walked from the police van into the bus, sat on the front row of the persengers' seat in front of me and said 'so na you dey give us trouble? What do you do? Where do you work? I replied that he has my ID-Card and my wallet, and all the information is there. He looked at it and said, ‘wetin be ur position for your office? How much be your salary? Where you Dey stay?’ I did not answer him. So he said ‘you be 419, you be yahoo yahoo, you be thief’. I did not respond, I was looking like the proverbial lukumon. Later he took my hospital ID and saw B +ve and said ‘se dis na your own’ I said Yes. So he responded ‘you be positive’, I responded with a yes, Rhesus positive. He then asked whether I was from Ghana, I said no. He said where do you live I told him. He asked if the address I mentioned was in Kuwait, I looked at him with disdain and said no. After about 30 minutes he asked the driver to move to the station that 'this man be thief '. As we moved, one of them spotted another victim and asked that they accost them. So the bus halted and the Oga said one officer without uniform

should do the job. Before 2 minutes the victims; a man and a woman were already sitting In the back seat of the bus. The Oga asked the woman 'Madam, Can you prove that your chain na your own, where you buy am, how much? The woman said she bought it for 30euros in Paris and that she does not have evidence with her. One officer then said, ‘we need a picture wey you took putting this chain on’. The male victim responded that the woman already told them they don't have such evidence with them. Before long the Oga, told one officer to follow them out of the bus and to broker a deal with them on how much they were willing to part. So the next thing I saw was the man came in with some money and handed it over to Oga.

While this was going on, I told the armed man that was sitting beside me (obviously, to prevent me from coming down) that he should talk to his colleagues that I want to take my leave. He responded ‘so you dey command me'. I answered ‘No sir, I dey beg you, make you talk to them make them let me go. Its getting late and I have to do some other things. He responded 'sebi Yoruba ni e', fun wa ni n'kan, yee se agidi mo' meaning you are a Yoruba man, give us something and don't be adamant. So I said I don't have money. He responded that at least you have ATM in your wallet and some money. I replied that my purse is with your Oga. As this discussion continued, the Oga came inside and said 'Mr. Man wetin you wan give us before we take you to the station. I said I won't follow them to the station. Then he said 'give us 5000 Naira make you dey go . I responded that he has my wallet and my phone, so he gave me my wallet and my phone and all the business cards and ID-Crads he took from my wallet. So I told him I don't have transport fare. He said I should bring the 5000 naira first. So I handed him the money and he gave me 1000Naira. Then I was released. I took my umbrella, tried to see the van plate number but could not. So I left.

Tell me, is Nigeria reparable? While thee political thieves are steeling with their whims, thee police have taken side with the armed robbers and now the stealing and looting continues.

should do the job. Before 2 minutes the victims; a man and a woman were already sitting In the back seat of the bus. The Oga asked the woman 'Madam, Can you prove that your chain na your own, where you buy am, how much? The woman said she bought it for 30euros in Paris and that she does not have evidence with her. One officer then said, ‘we need a picture wey you took putting this chain on’. The male victim responded that the woman already told them they don't have such evidence with them. Before long the Oga, told one officer to follow them out of the bus and to broker a deal with them on how much they were willing to part. So the next thing I saw was the man came in with some money and handed it over to Oga.

While this was going on, I told the armed man that was sitting beside me (obviously, to prevent me from coming down) that he should talk to his colleagues that I want to take my leave. He responded ‘so you dey command me'. I answered ‘No sir, I dey beg you, make you talk to them make them let me go. Its getting late and I have to do some other things. He responded 'sebi Yoruba ni e', fun wa ni n'kan, yee se agidi mo' meaning you are a Yoruba man, give us something and don't be adamant. So I said I don't have money. He responded that at least you have ATM in your wallet and some money. I replied that my purse is with your Oga. As this discussion continued, the Oga came inside and said 'Mr. Man wetin you wan give us before we take you to the station. I said I won't follow them to the station. Then he said 'give us 5000 Naira make you dey go . I responded that he has my wallet and my phone, so he gave me my wallet and my phone and all the business cards and ID-Crads he took from my wallet. So I told him I don't have transport fare. He said I should bring the 5000 naira first. So I handed him the money and he gave me 1000Naira. Then I was released. I took my umbrella, tried to see the van plate number but could not. So I left.

Tell me, is Nigeria reparable? While thee political thieves are steeling with their whims, thee police have taken side with the armed robbers and now the stealing and looting continues.

OP sorry about your encounter.
This is Lagos.