Why so much Police Brutality?

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I had just dropped my children off at school this morning, Tuesday, March 28, 2017 and I decided to pass through Kilimanjaro at Onne Road in GRA to get something for the road.

As I drove into their parking lot I saw a small crowd gather istenening to a near hysterical woman lament some tale or the other.

My creative mind began to spin- was she in a fight with another woman? It could have been because she seemed a bit disheveled, but it couldn’t be because there was no other person there that seemed to be the other party in the fight.

Did she have an accident? There was a car parked close, but if it was an accident where was the other one? I walked to the car and didn’t see any sign it was in an accident.

Maybe she was robbed? Her car was snatched? As I approached, someone mentioned her child and I again thought that maybe someone was just kidnapped?

My mind was in over drive but I couldn’t leave. These were the kinds of stories I loved to follow up.

I listened attentively and began to get the bits and pieces together.

There was a hit and run… I need to take deep breath and think through this because I was going to write about it.

The story as I was told

So this female lawyer was taking her little boy to school when she noticed a hit and run. A woman was lying on the ground lifeless and the driver did not even stop so she began to chase him and at some point cornered him but he managed to meander off.

Just as she wanted continue her chase a police vehicle blocked her off and some officer jumped off, guns pointing at her and she was accused of being the hit and run driver.

They arrested her, dragged her off to her house and then took her to the crime scene while the culprit drove off licking his lips that once again members of the Nigerian Police Force had helped a suspected criminal escape.

The lady’s assertions that she was the good guy and that they were letting the bad guy escape fell on deaf ears as the trigger happy cops were satisfied with their conquest and would not be bother with the truth.

As they got set to parade her at the scene of the crime, an eye witness walked up to her to ask, “Madam, you catch the man?”

And that was when the police realised their folly and took off in their vehicle.

Ibinabo Amachree, the victim of police harassment told Chinaacheru.com that the Blue Pick Up truck hit a lady wearing a red top who was trying to cross the road.

When I noticed he accelerated trying to run and I began to chase with a passerby who joined my car.

After we missed him at a dead end, somewhere at Tombia extension, close to Ikwerre road I noticed a Black police vehicle with three mobile police men and stopped me in rambo style cock their guns and began to allege that I killed someone and ran away.

I let them know I was a concerned citizen who was on a chase but it fell on deaf ears,” Amachree said.

I wanted to take a picture of their vehicle but they stopped me and drove off. Even though I got one’s name to be Nasiru Garba and the other was Francis but I did not get his surname.

I’m a legal practitioner and I will follow it up. Citizen’s rights are always trampled upon in Nigeria, especially by men with guns,” Amachree said.

Maryam Nwokocha, a member of the International Federation of Women Lawyers, FIDA also witnessed the scene and told Chinaacheru.com that they will take up the matter.

We see things like these on almost daily basis and mostly to women. She had a child in the car and they cocked their gun at her. She had her wig in the car and they should have known she was a lawyer. Definitely, the law will follow it up.

The lessons we should learn from this are that we should ask questions and not harass people unduly,” Nwokocha said.

The Nigerian police and us

I actually did not see the incident but I was there in the nick of time to see the aftermath.

There were at least fifteen eye witnesses who saw the incident and hailed Amachree as a citizen hero.

There was another fellow who actually chased the driver all the way down to Olu Obasanjo road, returned to check if the lawyer was okay and then said he was going back because he knew the garage where those Pick Up vehicles park for the day.

These are real Nigerian heroes who would go the extra mile for one another because I am very convinced that these two or three did not know the woman who was knocked down by the driver, but the police…

The Nigerian police must understand that we are not their targets, but criminal elements are.

They must also realise that the old fashioned style of arresting every body at a crime scene just to eventually extort money from them can no longer be in vogue. Finally, some people should be given concession on personal recognition and the fact that she had a lawyer’s wig in her vehicle plus a toddler meant they could have applied caution instead of perpetrating a commando style arrest of a noble citizen.

The real heroes of the day were Ibinabo Amachree, Maryam Nwokocha and the other fellow whose name I did not get.

The villains of the day are certainly officers Nasiru Garba and Francis of the police. Personally I hope you get your comeuppance soon.


0 thoughts on “Why so much Police Brutality?

  1. The police are just like a powerful man who can do everything just showing the power and brutality. I think it is the psychology matter that happens every policeman because they think the power of the police. This way of the thinking causes brutality.

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