I had to visit my sister in Lagos today. She has taken I'll for 3 days and my dad (who is resident in Ondo State) is really worried. He mandated me that I go see what's happening as he will join me later in the day because we live in different cities. (I work in Oshogbo, Osun State). I would have left him to go check my sister up but I'm not unaware of the stress the inherent traffic in Lagos can wreck on an old man. Going with my better judgment, I decided not to drive to Lagos.
For the trip, I packed my laptop bag with just a shirt, jeans trousers and a boxer short since I will be spending just 1 day. I boarded a commercial bus and by 5:31 AM, I was en route already. I call my old man to confirm if he has moved to which he asserted the affirmative.
My journey to Lagos was mostly uneventful and smooth. I never knew a rude awakening was waiting for me as soon as I alighted from the bus. I got off the bus at Berger immediately after the bridge. I'm sure Lagos residents know that this is one of the major terminals for commercial vehicles streaming into Lagos daily. On getting off the bus, I slung my small laptop bag over my shoulder and was descending one of those stairs to go chill out at any restaurant and eat breakfast and wait for my dad who said he as at that time has just gotten to Sagamu.
I was suddenly tapped on the shoulder my a man wearing a white lace sown in the Yoruba bùbá and sóró. He told me to follow him. By default I ignored him and kept going down the stairs. I have heard of several people who have been hypnotized and scammed by strangers in Lagos and I'm not ready to be a victim. All that was on my mind was to see my sister.
As I was walking away, a uniformed policeman ran past me on the stairs. When he got to the base, he corked his rifle and told me to go back to the road and explained why I disobeyed the "police officer" that first tapped me. I told him I didn't know he's a policeman because he didn't show me any identification and he wasn't wearing his uniform. He replied by say "that one na story. Go back up to the road. Respect yourself". I went back to the road. Even though people were much that was passing by, I don't know why these people selected me out of the multitude.
When I got back to the road, the one that previously tapped me asked me what was in my bag. I told him it's my change of clothes. I opened it and showed him the content. He ordered me to give it to him. I did. Then he poured the content on the ground. My shirt, jeans and spare boxers which were the only content of the bag was right there on the dusty ground. This really infuriated me. I asked him why he had to do that, he smiled wickedly and said in Yoruba "Orí ò pé" (literally meaning "your head is not correct"
I picked up my stuffs and I guess this really pissed her off. He
grabbed the bag and the dusty clothes and dropped it in the boot of a
green Mazda 626 car. All these while, the uniformed officer has gone
back to sit in the back seat of the car. Then another man also dressed in mufti came and asked me for my phone.
New mufti man: Where are your phones?
Me: They are in my pocket.
New mufti man: Give them to me.
Me: Why? Are you looking for a lost phone?
New mufti man: (Laughs) You are asking me questions abi. Are you into internet fraud? Are you a yahooboy?
This question shocked me because I wasn't expecting such. I never knew this was what they are looking for. My instinct told me to cooperate with him since I don't have any incriminating thing on my phone. I told him I wasn't a fraudulent and unlocked my blackberry Q10 and handed it to him. He looked through. As he was doing that, the other guy on native was stopping other passersby and searching them.
After he looked through my phone, he said to the uniformed man that there was nothing in the phone. I was expecting him to give me my phone and bag and let me go. Then the unexpected happened. He ordered me to get into the car and at the same time, he switched off my phone. I was so angry, I swear if it wasn't that I was in an area where I don't know anybody, I would have punched the crap out of him.
Before he could put the phone in his pocket, I snatched it from him. One instinct said I should run but my better judgment was against it because I didn't do anything wrong. As I grabbed the phone, the guy lunged at me. That. Was how he started punching and shuffling me. I held his shirt at the neck very tight and I used my other hand to press the ON button on my phone. As the scuffle was going on, the other guy in native joined in dragging me. The were pulling me in the direction of their car. I started shouting that they were kidnappers but I kept an eye on the screen of my phone. By this time, people were gathered already by they typical Lagos crowd were just looking. Nobody interfered.
Immediately my phone showed 100% on the screen, this is an indication that it has fully booted, I used all my strength to break free from them, ran a bit because they pursued me. I opened my phone and started taking pictures of them. Though I didn't get any good shot because I was moving backwards and the pictures were blurry, I said I've sent it to my friends and siblings and that by evening, everybody on all social networks will see their faces and identify them.
Just like magic, they stopped harassing me. The one in uniform now came down as said give him his bag. Let him go. That's how I escaped being kidnapped by men of the NPF this morning at Berger. As I write the update, waiting for my dad to arrive so I can take him around, I'm looking at them across the road. They are still at Berger bus top harassing people and extorting money from unfortunate people who fall into their trap.
I hope the new IGP and the incoming govt will do something abt this. Really, Nigeria in the hands of these present crop of police me has gone to the dogs.
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