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The Soldier - Literature - Nairaland

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The Soldier by TemmyT002(m): 10:02am On Sep 04, 2019
John Kolawole rode his okada towards the police checkpoint. It was not really a checkpoint because the police officers shouldn’t really be there. He was sure they were one of those police officers who were there to extort people of their money. He hoped they would not disturb him today. He had a very important mission to attend to.

In a space of five months, he had travelled with a team of Nigerian Special Forces to rescue some Nigerians who were taken as hostages in Mali. When he returned, he had been sent to the Northern part of Nigeria to look for some missing soldiers. He had carried out all his missions successfully and rewarded.

Then he had gotten a message that his wife was about to give birth to their first child. He returned to Ibadan and found out that she was already in the hospital. His wife finally gave birth to beautiful twins- a boy and a girl and he had returned home to buy some of the things they would need.

He was now returning to the hospital and since no car was home for him to use, he settled for the motorcycle (okada). The hospital had been calling him to return quickly to calm down his wife who seemed to be anxious. All efforts to calm her had proved abortive. She kept asking for him.

He watched the police officers collect some amount of money from a driver and allowed him to go. They collected some from some commercial okada riders and allowed them to go too. Then it was in turn.

“Oga, tuale o,” one of the armed police officers said. “How has been your day?”

“Fine sir,” John replied.

There were six of the police officers there and all were armed. Two officers attended to John, two attended to vehicles coming from the other side. One sat in the car and the last man sat under a tree.

The officers attending to John stared at him and he stared back. One of them had a half smile. It was like they were expecting him to give them something. Unfortunately, he had nothing much on him after hurriedly purchasing the clothes that his kids would use. He had also forgotten his wallet and ATM card back home.

“Can I go?” he asked.

One of the officers frowned. “Without giving us anything? Oga, you can’t go o.”

“Please, my wife has just given birth and the hospital workers have been calling my number nonstop.”

“Story, story, if you can’t give us something, just park you okada there and come and pick it up when you come back.”

“I can’t do that,” John said.

“What did you say?” the other police officer said.

“I don’t have any money on my and I didn’t bring my ATM card.”

“Shebi your mobile phone is with you. Transfer money to us and you can go.”

“What? You are police officers and this is extortion!” John blurted.

“Your big grammar won’t save you. Just do as we say and go peacefully.”

“Well, I won’t,” John said, really angry now.

One of them raised his weapon a little. “Get down from the okada,” he said.

John got down without any argument. “I am going to make sure I report you. You are a corrupt police officer and unworthy of the police badge or uniform.”

The police officers got angry. One of them punched John in the stomach and the other punched him in the face the same time. He saw the blows coming but didn’t do anything to stop them. He doubled over. The other officers turned to look.

“What happened?” the one who had been sitting under a tree said as he walked over to them. Vehicles had stopped moving as everyone stopped to watch what was happening.

“This idiot is trying to prove he is smart sir.”

John stood up. “They are trying to collect money from me and I told them a police officer is not supposed to do that.”

“Who asked you to stand up? Get down, idiot!” The officer punched John again.

John got very angry. “If you hit me again, I will retaliate and it will be self-defense.”

This seemed to further enrage the police officers. One of them hit John in the face with the butt of his gun. The other officer lifted his gun too but as he brought it crashing down on John’s head, he blocked it with one hand and gave a mighty uppercut with the other. The officer tumbled backward and landed on his back

The other officers rushed at him. “This is self-defense,” John kept shooting.

One of the officers punched at his head but John blocked that too. Another kicked at his stomach but he evaded it. Without looking behind him, he bent and dodged the hit coming towards his head from behind.”

“I will defend myself!” John kept saying.

The officers got frustrated and then one of them brought out his pistol. He cocked it and fired at John. But John had already seen what the man was doing. As a soldier in the Nigerian Army, he had been trained to be very observant of whatever was going on around him.

Just as the man fired, John dived away and rolled on the ground. The bullet from the pistol hit one of the police officers surrounding John. At the sound of the gunshot, people in the area scattered. Cars hit cars as drivers tried to flee.

John was already moving as soon as he stood up. He ran into the bush nearby as the police officers opened fired on him. He moved in a zigzag as bullets flew past him. With his heart in his throat, he ran faster than he had ever done. He could not believe that he was being attacked in his own country which he had served and was still serving with his life.

He had fought Bokoharam warriors and a lot of other dangerous people and terrorists and he had survived. Now, he was being attacked by his own country people because of money. It was a shame. However, he needed to escape this people before they killed him. More importantly, he needed to get to his wife and his kids.

Most of the time, with the Nigerian Police, you needed connections before you can beat them at their game. They can do anything to you and get away with it, unless there were many witnesses who were not afraid or anyone who managed to take pictures or videos of them molesting you.

More bullets flew past him and he had to run faster. He didn’t even know where he was going. He could fall into a deep pit in the bush and no one would know, except maybe the police officers chasing him. He couldn’t even see ten feet in front of him. It was a thick bush.

He appeared suddenly in front of an uncompleted two story building. The police officers seem to be smart and he saw that they were going to surround him. As they fired, he ran inside the building and shut the door.

The officers fired at the building, not caring how much was out into it by the owner. The differences between a completed house and this one was that it wasn’t painted and no one lived in it.

***

Detective Kolapo and some of his colleagues were in the police officer’s lounge enjoying the highlights of the weekend’s football match. Kolapo was both happy and livid at the result of Arsenal Football club’s and Tottenham, Hotspurs’ match. He had been involved in a very important mission when the match was played. This was the time to enjoy the highlights.

The DPO with his potbelly walked into the lounge and everyone stood up. “Some police officers have been attacked by a single man. They said he is very dangerous and he has killed one of the officers. I need everyone available to go there and get this man dead or alive.”

Nothing made police officers angrier than when they hear that a fellow police officer had been killed. Everyone jumped up and they were ready for battle. Meanwhile Kolapo wondered how a single man could take on a lot of police officers. Most Nigerians, especially members of the masses were often afraid of police officers.

The distrust was so much to the extent that if there was a heavy rain and a convoy of police officers asked a civilian walking in the rain to come in their vehicle for a ride, the civilian would rather keep walking in the rain. This was because some Nigerian Police officers were notorious for arresting innocent people and charging them for crimes they didn’t commit.

The officers got the address of the assailant from the DPO and everyone got in the police vans with Kolapo leading them. About thirty minutes later, they got to the checkpoint where the officers had stopped John earlier.

The first thing Kolapo did before going towards the uncompleted building was ask the people around what had really happened. Everyone had a different story but everything they said attested to the fact that the police officers were in the wrong.

Then another officer walked over to him. “Sir, everything that happened is already online. Looks like someone uploaded it.”

Kolapo collected the man’s phone and watched the video. He saw that he had to save the man. He ran towards the uncompleted building and saw only one officer standing in front of it.

“What happened? Where are the others?” he asked the officer.

“I don’t understand o. They went inside to catch the man and they didn’t return. That was about thirty minutes ago.”

“Who exactly are we dealing with here?” Kolapo asked.

“He is a devil,” the man said.

“Okay. You people should wait here. I will go inside and bring him out.”

“Sir, that is dangerous,” the officer protested.

“I will be fine. Just make sure that no harm comes to the man or we are all in trouble.”

Against the protests of the officers, Kolapo walked inside the building. He couldn’t see or hear anything at first and then he heard someone or some people struggling to speak. He carefully traced the sound and he got to a room where five police officers were tied down. One of them was bleeding.

The men had clothes stuffed in their mouths. Their eyes seemed to be warning him about something. He felt movement behind him and jumped aside. The man’s blow missed him.

“Hey, hey, calm down,” Kolapo urged. “Someone recorded everything that happened with these officers and it is already online. All you need to do is follow me and I will guarantee your safety and exoneration. All you need to do is trust me.”

***

John was a professional soldier and he could tell a genuine person with just one look. He could see that the man was genuine and trustworthy. He relaxed. The he told his story to man.

***

After people called for justice for the soldier, the DPO and indeed the commissioner apologized to the man and promised that the errant officers would be dealt with.

Kolapo personally drove the soldier to the hospital to meet his wife. On the way, he gave the soldier some numbers he could call whenever he faced injustice from any police officer. He advised him to share the numbers with other Nigerian civilians. They were 0805-700-002 and 0805-700-001. The third 0805-700-0003, was a Whatsapp number. The numbers could be compared to America’s 911.

The soldier and his wife were very thankful.

SOURCE: https://opinionsandstories.com/the-soldier/

Re: The Soldier by Ayemileto(m): 12:22pm On Sep 04, 2019
Hmm tongue

Are you the soldier?
Re: The Soldier by Absoj(m): 1:49pm On Sep 04, 2019
Ayemileto:
Hmm tongue

Are you the soldier?
No doubt my brother...i sense it.
Re: The Soldier by TemmyT002(m): 8:32am On Sep 06, 2019
Lol
For where...
Re: The Soldier by Timantech(m): 10:31am On Oct 11, 2019
Those number there are the Real Police complaints number .....I have them

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