When Correction Is Left In The Hands Of Those Who Do Wrong
On Saturday,
30th August in Abuja, sometime between 14:30 and 15:150 hours, I was driving my
car, returning from a nearby service station around Kaura Hotel and had just
joined Oladipo Diya Road (Games Village-Gudu-Apo NEPA dual carriage way). I
drove for less than 60 seconds to few metres before the traffic light at the
junction of Kaura market and pulled over directly behind a slowly moving white-coloured
Police patrol van conveying eight police officers to beckon on one of the
roadside traders to replace my failing wiper blades. As three guys
spontaneously wielded different windshield wipers and jostled in my direction
in response to my earlier call, two police officers also ran towards my parked
car to tell me “Oga, we saw you beat the traffic light around American
International School junction; so, you have to come down to talk or follow us
to the station”. Before I could say Jack Robinson, a female officer had
reached for my passenger door in front, opened it and occupied my vehicle’s
front seat.
Shocked, but
certain that I did not encounter a single traffic light between the Kaura hotel
intersection (my Linkup with the dual road) and the Kaura market intersection
(the spot of false accusation by the police), I confidently informed the cops
that it could not have been my car. In an expectation that good reasoning will
supplant their obvious fabrication, I added that I was returning from an
automobile workshop situated close to Kaura Hotel (whose junction is after the
traffic light I was being wrongly alleged to have flouted) and had joined
Oladipo Diya street only after the said traffic light. Enraged by my ‘guts’ to
infer they had just told a lie, the second cop of the duo that accosted me
immediately called for backup from the remaining six in the patrol vehicle,
raising an alarm that I just denied, even though “their camera had captured
it”.
Camera? I
couldn’t comprehend! Are there live cameras installed along Abuja roads now? Or
did these officers have body cams installed on their uniforms? Lost in the whole scenario, I raised my voice
to dare them to produce the camera evidence. At this point, some bystanders
that included the prospective wiper sellers and road users who had been held
down by the traffic light at Kaura market intersection, became interested in
the matter. Knowing I had gained some public interest in the unfolding drama, I
was further emboldened to step out of my car and matched towards the female
head of the team who had brought out her phone in an apparent bid to confuse,
cow and coerce me into retracting my stance that I had not encountered any
traffic light from my originating point up until that arena. As a form of
self-assurance, I was chanting both in English and Yoruba “I’m not an
illiterate; I cannot be accused falsely when I know my rights”. This assertion
further angered them until a male Yoruba-speaking officer among them responded
in Yoruba that I should exercise calm and watch the video.
The female
superior, standing outside their patrol van by the rear passenger-side left
ajar, then held out her phone screen away from the rays of the sun and
requested I looked at the video. Alas, I stared at two pointless videos, played
one after the other, and showing the grey-coloured dashboard & windscreen of
a moving vehicle (the camera was apparently positioned there) as well as an
unclear vehicle ahead. I couldn’t make sense of the viewed recordings, which
neither showed a car like mine nor my number plate. Consequently, I asked, “Where
is my car in these two videos?”. She remarked, "If it’s not clear to you, then
maybe it was another car; but my officers said they saw your car beat the
traffic light”. Now, she just clandestinely sidelined the acclaimed video
evidence to lay claim to visual observation by her men. Angrily, I told her,
“madam, I challenge you and your officers to get into your van, while I drive
my car behind yours with the female officer still glued to my passenger seat,
and let’s do a U-turn here to head back to the American International school
interchange that hosts the traffic light for which you have falsely accused me
of flouting at the other end of Oladipo Diya street, so I can point out the
Kaura hotel junction where I connected to Oladipo Diya street, to prove to you
that I encountered zero traffic light till I got here” . Apparently gauging the
interest of several eyewitnesses around, she grudgingly obliged.
I then walked
back to my car wherein the uninvited female cop occupant had remained all
through my interface with her colleagues. Noticing that a particular
Hausa-speaking seller had replaced my wiper blades with new ones, I was forced
into a bargain in my pre-angered state. “How much are these blades, I
irritably asked”. “N12,000, oga”, he retorted. I went
berserk, “Why will these cost N12,000; my friend paid N3,500
for the same items last week at this spot”. At this point, the previously
stern-looking female cop, empathized with me and spoke in Yoruba dialect; “E
so fun won ki won yo wiper tuntun yen kuro; ki won fi tiyin si pada; Ole ni won”
(tell them to remove their new wiper blades and return yours; they are thieves).
She then turned to the wiper guy and spoke in Hausa (I couldn’t comprehend).
Not paying attention to her and seeing the impatiently waiting Police patrol
van with its police occupants who watched the back-and-forth over the wiper
price with disdain, I hurriedly offered a cash of N4,000 from my black
wallet to the seller and he accepted. Done, I started my engine and drove with
the female cop in convoy of the police patrol van ahead of my car, made a U-turn
at Kaura market junction/traffic light opposite NNPC filling station, and
headed back to the American International School traffic light area.
As we drove
along, the female cop who did not even deem it fit to use a seat belt suddenly began
attempting to patronize me in Yoruba dialect; “Brother mi, e ma worry; eyin
e kan se weekend fun mi; oro yi o le to bayi” (my brother, just “do”
weekend for me; this matter is not as difficult as it seems). I ignored her
completely! As we approached Kaura hotel junction on our left, I rolled down my
side glass, slowed down and pointed saying “That’s the junction from where I
drove out; Did you notice any traffic light between Kaura market junction and
this Kaura hotel junction as we drove back now for less than one minute?”. The
8-man patrol vehicle had also slowed down and I noticed the 4 occupants seating
in the open space at the back as well as the cop driver all looked in the
direction of my pointing forearm and pointed in affirmation of the Kaura hotel
junction. Seeing that I had punctured their baseless argument, the female
officer in my car then spoke loudly through the passenger-side car window where
she sat to the hearing of others in the patrol vehicle that “he came out
from there (Kaura hotel junction)”. After about 5 seconds of apparent
discussion with the female lead, one of the police occupants of the van replied
that “Madam said he can go; but he should drop you off at Games village
roundabout where we’ll be waiting for you”. Their van then sped off.
With much
audacity, she then said; “Oga, let’s forget about it. Just give me something
for the weekend and drop me off at that roundabout”. In my first calm state
over the past 25 minutes or so, I replied, “I will not give you one naira;
Nigeria cannot develop with this kind of attitude of the police”. She
immediately became mute till we got to the Games village roundabout where she
threw up a gentle threat; “wait here; let me tell others in the van that you
said there’s nothing for the weekend”. She alighted, shut my car door, and
walked up to her male counterpart who had earlier accompanied her to my car at
the initial accusation spot. After a few exchanges, the male cop walked towards
me and said sheepishly; “Oga, you can shout sha; just be going”.
Although I was
too perplexed to have read any of their name tags, I couldn’t but recall a
quote from one of Williams Shakespeare’s writings as I drove off from these
cops; “When correction is left in the hands of those who do wrong, to whom
do we then turn for correction”. I cannot imagine the number of innocent
drivers who may have fallen prey of those kinds of pre-recorded but spurious videos by the bad eggs among the Nigeria Police Force. I rest my case!
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