When people say “Police is your friend” in this part of the world, certainly it means different things to different people. I have known this for a very long time, it’s more of a joke than a serious statement. Forgive me if I sound so personal, my sentiment for Nigerian Police is indefinite to be adequately described. In recent weeks I have read on one or two occasions where suspects were said to have ‘disappeared’ from police custody without explanation. By implication such disappearance apparently would cause panic in areas where dwellers had openly celebrated the arrest of persons of criminal antecedents only to hear that the said suspect had faded away from police custody.

It might interest you to read the ordeal of one Mr. Philips (Not real name), who was driving along an expressway, location I cannot say precisely because the story was narrated to me too. Normally it wasn’t his way to pick passengers, in fact he prefers to travel alone in his vehicle. But on this occasion he saw a police officer who looked stranded. He compassionately had to give him a ride since they were heading same direction. Alas, he noticed that the Officer was so uncomfortable throughout the trip. Soon the Officer arrived at his destination and had to alight from the vehicle. He was unaware that the Officer left a firearm in the vehicle.

Mr. Philips continued his trip, unfortunately he had a problem with one of the tires. He had a stopover so that he could address the issue. Just when he was on the repairs to his dismay, He abruptly saw a 9mm pistol under the passenger sit. Although he was shocked but he summoned courage to throw the gun away to the nearby bush. He did not drive too long he drove by a police check-point; he was stopped by the officers on duty. He was asked to come down and the Police began thorough searching of the vehicle. The whole event was synonymous to a nightmare. The searching went for a period almost an hour and they found nothing. The man was then released. Just when he was released he looked through the rear mirror and noticed a great argument arose among them. Obviously it was a set-up only that it was a failed attempt.