Police Officer threatens Lagos Resident with a Knife
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A resident of Lagos state, one Mr. T. Adetayo sent the report below to Hotjist.com about an encounter he had with a non-uniformed officer of the Nigerian Police Force in the early hours of today.
“This morning as I was going to drop my kid off at work before proceeding to the office, I encountered an experience of ‘powershow’ that was very traumatizing for me and my 13-yr old daughter.
I was driving from the Oshodi end of the Agege Motor road around 07:53 am on Monday 21st May, 2018 (today). I was still complaining aloud that there were too many commercial motorcycle riders (Okada) heading in the wrong one-way direction, facing us without getting punished when I suddenly realized that the car in front of me had come to a complete stop. I braked hard.
I did not notice that my vehicle even touched the vehicle ahead of me until the well-dressed man came down from his car. As he walked to the back of his car, (the front of mine), I noticed he had an ID card fastened close to his waist in a card holder. I could barely read anything from it but the “Police” written on it was large enough for me to read.
He pointed at the point of contact between the cars. I moved my car back with a slow reverse and looked at the impact. At worst my car must have ‘kissed’ the rear of his car.
With hand gestures, he was ordering me out of my car. For such a minor contact, I didn’t feel it was necessary and wanted to end it with quick gesture from inside the car. Then a uniformed Police officer (the picture below confirmed him to be Officer Afere Gabriel) crossed the road to meet the well-dressed man and gave him a salute. That gave a confirmation he was a member of the Nigerian Police.
He related the incident to Officer Afere, who then walked down to my side of my window for a conversation. He tapped on my window, asking me to lower my glass. Before that conversation could begin, the well-dressed officer walked back to his car, as if suddenly feeling empowered by the presence of a colleague, and brought out a knife.
This was the shock of my life. I was dumbfounded and stepping out of my car was no longer an option. I watched in horror as he walked back towards my car, brought out the knife from it’s holder and threatened to stab. I looked on in disbelief and speechless shock, wondering why a Police officer would harass its own citizen (whom he is duty-bound to protect) with a knife in public on the road. What if he had a gun?
I watched on as he was still beckoning me to come down from the car. Officer Afere was still by my window and I took the window down. I asked why this ‘supposed gentleman’ was bringing out a knife to harass me. Officer Afere said all I need to do is to apologize to him and this will end.
“You are a mad man. You are a mad man.” The well-dressed Police man screamed at me. “If you move, ma gun … (I will stab …)”
“You will stab me?” I interjected.
“Ma gun tyre e (I will stab your tyre)” he yelled back, while also attempting to puncture the tyre.
I simply told Officer Afere that even if I had done anything overtly wrong, this man had just lost the rights to an apology and I was not ready to give one.
“You are a mad man. You are a mad man.” The well dressed Police man kept on shouting at me.
“Thank you. Thank you.” Was all I could muster back from my half-wound window glass through which Officer Afere was still appealing to me to come and apologize.
As the crowds were gathering, the well-dressed officer went back to his car to drop the knife and came to stand in front of my car that I was not going anywhere. At this point, I felt safer to come down from my car and I did. My intention was to get his name and details from his ID card. He was still screaming and throwing several curses at me (Koni daa fun iyala ya e). At this time, another taller uniformed Police Officer had walked into the scene.
I told the well-dressed Police Officer that he had no rights to bring out a knife to my face and that as a tax-payer, we are the ones paying his salary. I demanded to take his details but he had already flipped his ID card so that I could not take his identity. I kept on asking for his details since he really wanted to take this up. He refused to bulge. At this point I lost part of my cool. I raised my voice that look at the Police that is meant to be protecting people but rather harassing them. If I did not know my rights, he could have even arrested me.
“I am mad, abi? You are also crazy. If you are right in all you have done, let me have your details and we take it from there.” I screamed back.
To the credit of the other two Police Officers, they were just peacemakers, both of them asking me gently to get back into my car. I walked towards his car to try to get someone to open his car so I could show people as evidence of his knife he used to harass me. He came and stood by his car, preventing anyone from opening the door.
I was tempted to try and flip his badge in order to see his name but when he saw my eyes going there, he quickly took the badge and hid it away in his pocket. He at this point noticed I was getting serious about the knife harassment part. I also knew I had no rights to touch him.
I then took my phone out, took a picture of the well-dressed Police man and his license plate. He quickly jumped on the me, trying very hard to seize my phone. Other people held him back. The picture I took was able to get his face and the customized license plate number “Opeyemi” on his Toyota Camry vehicle.
As I walked back into the driver’s seat of my car, he commanded the other two officers to seize my phone, he wrestled the door from me and stood by my door, preventing it from closing. He was screaming that I will not leave this scene with any picture evidence that my phone should be smashed or I delete the picture of him. I maintained my cool. As the argument continued, I had enough time to look back at my daughter in the back seat, sighting the horror in her eyes as if her father was about to get stabbed or overrun by the Police men. This must have been traumatic for her.
I kept my cool still. The other two uniformed Police men dragged their well-dressed superior away from my car and asked him to leave. Of course, I did not give them my phone and the two Police men did not even ask.
We left the scene around 08:02 am and I drove away, appreciating the two uniformed Police Officers that came to rescue the situation. Questions still remain unanswered? Why would a Police Officer (uniformed or in civil attire) bring out a knife on someone that did not even say anything back to him? This for me is the typical abuse of power we keep experiencing day-in, day-out as we step out on our daily toil in Nigeria.
Do we deserve to be unnecessarily harassed? Is there no training that addresses the humanitarian aspect of a man that is authorized to handle deadly weapons? If this officer had a gun, there is no doubt he would have pulled it out. When will we get to the point where the Police will feel a sense of accountability to the Nigerian citizenry? These are the most elusive of questions that permeates much of our daily lives as we work towards making Nigeria a great nation.
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