EBERE WABARA

ewabara@yahoo.com, 08055001948

NIGERIAN policemen are supposed to be friends of the society. Alas, their adversarial comportment reminds one of colonialism. Cops in other countries are very friendly and professional. On December 27, during my trip to Umuode en route to Aba, Abia State, a cop flagged me down just before Ore and asked for the tinted glass police permit for my Sport-Utility Vehicle (SUV). All explanations that I forgot it in my wife’s car when I took the SUV to my local mechanic for check-up preparatory to my South East trip fell on deaf ears! The presence of my wife and children did not make any emotional difference as the insolent and corrupt cop, (name and number withheld), standing and dangling a hunter’s gun as if we were in a war situation proximal to their rickety operational vehicle numbered NPF 5...B, insisted that I bribe him with N10,000 for contravening the law! There was no hint of taking us to the station for a statement and subsequent ticketing or making pretensions about dragging me to a kangaroo traffic court! It took the intervention of a senior officer and a gentleman before the extortionist and unruly constable could accept N2,000, which I reluctantly paid to foreclose further time wastage because of the tender children aboard and the long, bumpy trajectory ahead. Otherwise, I do not succumb to such circumstantially exploitative demands. Such extortive brazenness is the identity of Nigerian police nationwide! This kind of official (police) banditry should be limited to Lagos roads where it is a way of life for some disgruntled officers and men of the Lagos Police Command! The IGP, DIGs, AIGs and CPs should check the corrupt and beggarly language of their ‘boys’ while on illegal/outlawed (virtual roadblock) duty. Such foul communication hallmarks irredeemable institutional degeneracy.