King Ebube wrote:


My horrible experience with the men on black, a write-up for a better change.


How Would You Say They're My Friend??
Don't tell me police is my friend anymore, it's just an established fallacy, it doesn't have any iota of truth, you gonna discover about the false nature of this notion when you encounter the men on black.


Thus, my encounter with the so called protector of humans, who rather do the otherwise.


(An incident which occurred on the 12/8/22)


We concluded with the studio section around some minutes past six pm and were making our way through the Ekwuluobia LGA road while on a bike, the road was busy too, as cars, bikes, tricycles, pedestrians etc were also seen on the busy road, shops were still open as at the time, contributing to the busyness of the environment.


Ehhh oga stop there, was a commanding word from one  police officer amidst others  standing in front of the Ekwuluobia LGA, asking our bike to stop.
Good evening sir, was a pleasant greeting offered by everyone of us to the man on black  as we all alighted following the subsequent instructions from the officer as some other officers also interfered.
Give me 20thousand or else we would seize this your bike then you come another day to bail it with  big money.
Sir please we are coming from work and on our way home, please sir we sincerely apologise, was our apologetic words to the men on black with guns handy. At this moment we were apologising without knowing what our offence was, we weren't asked to provide any paper nor documents, no inspection nor search has been made on us, yet they asked us to pay 20thousand naira.


Take that bike in was an aggressive order from  another officer instructing from an angle who finally approached us after his order of taking our bike to the LGA has been obeyed.
What are you doing here? A question thrown at one of us by the same officer who gave the earlier order of taking our bike in, a hot slap also  accompanied the question even without waiting for his question to be answered, and then the same question and deadly slap was inherited by everyone of us in the same manner in which the first receiver received his own without allowing us to answer the question "what are you doing here ".


Why was i slapped? Was a sorrowful question i wanted to throw at the slapper on black uniform, but due to the fear of probably being shot or maltreated i decided to painfully hold back  the question to myself . At first when i saw the police man asking who are you, I thought God has sent someone who could listen to us, but no, he was the heartless fellow who slapped me, even when I was innocent, not that we challenged nor disobeyed them, even when we haven't known what our offence was, we have already received an undeserved slap.
I told you people to give me money, any amount you have would have set you free, now there is nothing i can do, the DPO has seized the bike so you come tomorrow and bail it, don't you know there's curfew? Said the first police that stopped us.


Curfew? Then there shouldn't have been any movement of vehicles i guess, why are bikes, cars, tricycles still moving without being seized? Perhaps the uniformed man that gave us hot slap was the DPO, like the DPO was that cruel? Caused us pain that we didn't deserve? All this thoughts running through my mind, but can't be  voiced out because of fear of being gunned down and probably termed an unknown gunman, so for the fear of an unknown danger, i swallowed my pain.


O! Now i know the reason behind seizing our bike, we disobeyed the Anambra  state curfew order, which is improper, I'm a good, respectful and obedient citizen of the country, i don't like disobeying orders, but I'm not the only one who was using the road at that moment, why are the others allowed to go? Are the police being partial? Yes of course because if not they should have seized every other vehicles not just our own probably because we didn't offer them the money they demanded, still drowned in an unrevealable thoughts.


Why did a DPO slap us? But we were innocent and  calm even while our bike was taken away with the reason yet unknown, by the people who are ought to protect my rights, the people who claim to be my friend. I'm a human rights activist who as much as i fight for my rights also fight for peoples rights, i can't withstand seeing my right or peoples rights being violated or trampled upon, but I'm helpless in this situation, what was i gonna tell a beast in a uniform with a gun handy? Who could shoot me and say a pistol was discovered on me, this random thoughts made me remain cool even when I was in pain that a Nigerian DPO caused me, as we kept  waiting and pleading on the officers to please forgive us but none gave us a listening ear instead they shouted at us like dogs, even when other vehicles were still moving peacefully.
While still in a sorrowful thoughts, i heard a painful cry from a young man being rough handled by thesame men on black. What is his offence? I asked my colleagues,  He asked the police what he did, and that became an offence to the officers and this made them give him a beating he would never forget in a hurry, just for asking what his offence was, quite horrific indeed .


It started raining, and the rain beat us till we later got home  in the night  in imo state without our bike.


With this horrible experience with the so-called police who are ought to protect me, how do i still believe that the Police are my friend? No they're not, according to the inhuman acts i have seen from them, they could be regarded as human rights violator, threats, and not a friend, good friends don't fight the other without a reason, police ain't supposed to kill me or intimidate me when i have not committed any crime.
Police ain't my friend, they caused me a pain i would never forget in my lifetime , my spirit hasn't forgiven the DPO who bullied I and my colleagues.


Police ain't my friend, until they change for good and begin to protect and respect human rights, avoid bribery and carry out their duty  amicably and diligently without inflicting pains on innocent citizens, then i shall come back and tell the world how humane the Police have become. SHALOM💚


#HopeForABetterAndGreatTomorrow.
#I'mAGoodAndPositiveMindedCitizen.
#DontTreatMeInhumanely.
#YouAreSupposedToProtectMe.
#WeAreAllHumans.
#YourGunIsNotForKillingMe,ButToProtectMe.


By: King Ebubechukwu Okafor
Humanist to the core.
Human right activist.

These seem impossible. Talking about not accepting bribes is a very difficult thing. This has been a problem for thousands of decades, never to be solved. Even in many countries, when going to a state agency to do paperwork or anything related to the law, the first procedure only needs two words "bribe" and everything will happen. smooth and convenient. Otherwise, the waiting is very tiring or failed.

That is why we need a good government, leader, and system to eradicate all these things that make things difficult.