THE INCORRUPTIBLE NIGERIAN POLICE OFFICER An Extract From The Book D' Prince And The Treasure In The City Wall Co-Authored By Fame Agidife_TheLegalLens & Bar. Ezinne Frank-Okoli On Highlight @Fame Agidife Leadership Lecture Series
D' Prince: I was on my way from work at Parkview Estate, Ikoyi where I was doing a site supervision for my boss who traveled to London with his family for a holiday visits. Parkview Estate is within Bourdillon, Dolphin Estate, Banana Island and Falomo, Ikoyi axis of Lagos-Nigeria.
D' Prince: Having boarded a taxi to the general park at Obalande where passengers get vehicles to other locations of their destination in Lagos from Ikoyi, there I have to board a bus again from that Obalande to mile 2, Badagry-Expressway. And before the bus took off an argument ensued between the bus driver and a guy who identified himself as a police Officer, he was on mufti, the driver was arguing that he must pay for his transport fair just like any other passenger before he can drive off on our journey. The police officer was insisting that he will not pay because he is an officer and he was the first officer to enter the motor before the other officers and he saw no reason why the driver should be complaining since that has been the tradition for all Lagos State commercial bus transits to exempt officers from paying transport fairs.
The Police Officer: That can never happen, I entered this vehicle before any other officer get on board and why should I be the one to pay and not the others ?
The Driver: One officer had sat at the front of the motor already and I not fit carry two officers on board for free.
The Police Officer: Look at this guy, so why should I be the one to pay? I was the first person that came into this motor and if we are two officers on board then it should be the other officer that came in thereafter that should pay and not me who came in first.
The Woman: Driver ! Come are you not hearing him that he came in first ? I beg make ona settle make we dey go, I get many places where I want go today.
The Driver: The other officer is on uniform and he is not wearing any uniform and officers who don't pay are the ones whom are on uniform.
The Police Officer: What does he mean by I am not on uniform is he not seeing my belt that I put across my neck and what else does he wants to know before he can realised that I am a police officer ?
D' Prince: It is obvious that the driver has an interest on the officer he wished to collect money from and not to out of the two officers on board and it is clear that it is the female officer who is on uniform that he wished to exempt and not on whom that got into the motor first for it is the officer that wears uniform is the one that has what it takes to save him from being milk cawed off his daily hassling by the corruptible Nigerian Police officers on the road.
D' Prince: As the argument ragged on it drew the attention of the management of the garage taunts but it seems as the garage taunts tried to resolve the issue it hit bottom rock from both the police officer and the driver who stood on their separate grounds but after much said than done but nothing the driver got inside the bus and we kick started our journey but vow to collect his money from the officer at wherever bus stop the officer wished to come down from the motor. And as we travelled down the road the quarrel raged on between the officer and the women passengers whom are in support of their driver.
The Police Officer: And funny enough this driver knows me, he told those taunts (Agbero) that even at the front of our Station there at Onikan he will not carry me and my question is when he knows I am a police officer why is he still insisting am not on uniform and I should pay money? Ehn ? It is an absurdity for him to say so !
D' Prince: While the other passengers in the bus urged the driver to kick on with the journey, the exchange of the fireworks raged on as the other women passengers in the bus continued the attack at the police officer that he is a fake police officer and his appearance does not portray someone who is in the force; just as it is in the Nigeria pattern, everybody quotes the law even when we do not know the spirit and the letters of the law we claimed to know it all.
The Woman: You are a fake police officer, if you are a police officer then what is the prove on you ? Apart from you claiming to be on mufti, see how you looked rough, a force man don't keep beards, see how unkept you look and you are claiming to be a police officer, people like you are disgraced to the Nigerian police force and the Nigerian nationhood.
The Police Officer: I am not a fake police officer, here is my identity card (waving his I.D card to those who sat closed to him at the extreme sit at the back of the bus ) on it is police number 00... My name is so so if you like you can go and verify from the Nigerian Police Force.
The Woman: Anybody can print anything in Nigeria to deceive others, you are not the first and you will not be the last this is Naija. All I know is that if truly you are a police officer then you are a disgraced to Nigeria and the force and you should be ashamed of yourself because it is officers like you that have spoilt the image of the Nigerian police force.
D' Prince: The beautiful thing about argument is that nobody is a superman yet until one uses superior power points to knockout his opponent, and until then what everybody is looking for is that weak point of the opponent to exploit against him in order to knock him out and at that you will never know when you will fire yourself into your opponent's hands and that was exactly what the woman did to herself by further harassing the officer that he s a disgraced to the Nigerian police force and Nigerian nation-hood. Ever since I have been on board the officer had not really gotten a valid point to get back at that boisterous woman and those of her co-women passengers that were harassing him to my satisfaction. Maybe they being women, the officer is finding it complicated to get back on them but just as if his cerebrum just got clicked into the right gear with the hearing of the words ‘disgrace to the Nigerian police force’ so he spanked up from his slumber to reveal his true identity to those women which he has never been able prove to them ever since and somehow they shall soon know that what a woman can do a man can do it even far better.
The Police Officer: I’m not the one who is a disgrace to the Nigerian police force but it is your sons and daughters who take bribe along the Nigerian roads, in the street and in the offices that are disgrace, everybody knows me that I’m among a very few Nigerian police officer that don’t take bribe, I till the ground to plant cassava and yam with my bare hands to support my meager salary to take care of my family because I cannot sell my moral integrity for any material gains in this world not to talk of going so low to collect bribe from my fellow man to survive. I live in penury, abject poverty while serving my fatherland and I pass through all sorts of ordeal to make a living while your sons and daughters are living in astute luxury through bribery and corruption. I’m a graduate working as a police officer and it is not as if I do not go to school but look at me tattered, this is the true reflection of a true Nigerian civil servant who does not take bribe outside his salary. Your fat nyash (buttocks) and big bellie sons and daughters who lived on robbery and bribery from road users like you on the Nigerian roads and in the Nigerian streets are the ones that are a disgrace to this country and the Nigerian police force and not my very self who has sacrificed my convenience, my family wellbeing, had subjected my life into abject poverty in midst of plenty and my life and that of my family that are in serious danger just for an exemplary life of a patriotic officer with integrity that ought to be in the ideal society. And without you or anyone splashing it on my face I do know the implication of living a life of integrity in a country like ours but that is what some of us have chosen to do as patriotic citizens with integrity for our fatherland after all it is not all men that are born to dignify the devil for a mere material gains; some of us are born to vilify the devil by being anti-corruption crusaders even if it puts us under a very dismal circumstances just as some of us are today.
The Police Officer: You should rather be ashamed of yourself for given birth to sons and daughters whom are corrupt in all strata of our dear country. The very few of us that had kept on bemoaning and mourning what corruption had done to the state of affairs of this great country from the leadership to the followers are now getting tired and frustrated. Nigeria has become a country where everybody is directly engrossed in corruption or a beneficiary of corruption. Corruption has become an infectious epidemic in my country and in your country Nigeria and you have the got to tell me who is just one among a very few that had held on to our own no matter how the sun shines on corruption nor how heavy it rains on corruption we are not still deterred. No, it is not the very few of us whom have remained incorruptible but it is your sons and daughters that carry guns and collect bribes under the burning sun and under the heavy rain fall that should be ashamed of themselves. What you do not know is corruption is a wild fire and it doesn't care who it burns next. Keep on encouraging corrupt sons and daughters to glow like super stars and celebrate them as much as you want so that they can keep on stealing for you to live fat. They will keep on shining and the incorruptible will keep on looking tattered; they will keep on getting fatter with fat corrupt parcels and the incorruptible will keep on getting slimmer with the slim envelopes that your country cannot even afford to pay in time. I till the ground for my little extensive farming to support the miserable envelope called salary that your country pays a police officer out there who risks his life for you day and night for your security. Nevertheless, I am proud to remain who I am than to be corrupt like your sons and daughters. See ! Hhmm it stinks !! It is nauseating !!! (stinks of dustbin on the major road just smelled into the bus and he covered his nose with the open space in the unbuttoned place at the top of his shirt and he spat outside through the window )See how corruption stinks inside your vehicles and on your major roads like stinky cunt. I can see the heaps of corruption pilling up in major roads and streets of Nigeria like the very kind that heaped up in major roads of Ghana during
Kwame Nkrumah era which Ayi Kwei Armah wrote about in his political satire The
Chapter 27:
The Incorruptible Nigerian Police Officer
An Excerpt from D'Prince and the Treasure in the City Wall by Fame Agidife and Ezinne Frank-Okoli
The Burden of a Societal Failure
I was on my way home from a work site at Parkview Estate in Ikoyi, one of the most exclusive and affluent areas of Lagos. After a taxi ride to the general park at Obalende, I boarded a bus heading to Mile 2. Before the bus could even move, a heated argument erupted between the driver and a man who identified himself as a police officer in plain clothes.
The officer insisted he shouldn't have to pay the fare, arguing that it was a long-standing tradition in Lagos for commercial buses to exempt officers. The driver, however, was resolute. "One officer has already sat at the front for free," he said, gesturing to a uniformed policewoman. "I cannot carry two officers for free."
The officer’s frustration was clear. "Why should I be the one to pay?" he demanded. "I entered the bus before the other officer. If one of us has to pay, it should be her!"
An older woman in the bus intervened, tired of the delay. "Driver, didn't you hear him? Just let's go. We all have places to be today."
But the driver was unmoved. "The other officer is in uniform. You are not. The ones who don't pay are the ones in uniform."
The officer shot back, "What do you mean I'm not in uniform? Can't you see this belt I put across my neck? What else do you need to see to know I’m a police officer?"
It was obvious the driver had a clear preference: he wanted to exempt the officer in uniform, not the one who came first. He knew that the uniformed officer held the power to save him from the constant harassment of corrupt police on the road.
As the argument raged, drawing the attention of the touts in the park, the driver eventually conceded and got in, vowing to collect his money from the officer at whatever bus stop he alighted. The quarrel continued on the road, with the officer and some of the women passengers exchanging heated words.
"You're a fake police officer!" a woman yelled. "What's your proof? Look at how rough you are, and you even have a beard. A force man doesn't keep beards! People like you are a disgrace to the Nigerian Police Force and our nation!"
The officer, stung by the attacks, waved his ID card at the passengers. "I am not a fake police officer! My name is so-and-so, my police number is 00... If you like, you can go and verify it."
"Anyone can print anything in Nigeria to deceive others," the woman retorted. "You are a disgrace to Nigeria and the force. You should be ashamed of yourself."
It was a beautiful and terrifying aspect of arguments: everyone looks for a weak point to exploit. The woman’s attack, though baseless, struck a nerve. The officer, who had seemed unable to find a valid retort, suddenly found his voice. Provoked by the words, “disgrace to the Nigerian Police Force,” he unleashed a torrent of righteous anger.
"I am not a disgrace to the Nigerian Police Force," he thundered. "It is your sons and daughters who take bribes on the roads, in the streets, and in the offices that are a disgrace! Everybody knows that I am one of the very few police officers who don't take bribes. I till the ground with my bare hands to plant cassava and yam to support my meager salary. I cannot sell my moral integrity for any material gain!"
His voice filled the bus, his words dripping with pain. "I live in penury and abject poverty while serving my fatherland. I pass through all sorts of ordeals to make a living, while your sons and daughters live in luxury through bribery and corruption. I am a graduate working as a police officer, but look at me—tattered and unkempt. This is the true reflection of a Nigerian civil servant who does not take bribes outside of his salary. Your fat and big-bellied sons and daughters who live on robbery and bribery are the ones who are a disgrace to this country."
He spoke of the immense sacrifice of his family and his life for a life of integrity, saying he had chosen to be an anti-corruption crusader despite the immense hardship. He lamented how corruption had become a cankerworm, an epidemic in Nigeria. "Keep on celebrating corrupt sons and daughters so they can steal for you to live fat," he spat. "They will keep on shining, and the incorruptible will keep on looking tattered."
At this point, the woman and the other passengers seemed to have lost all their resolve. Their jeering turned into a look of profound amazement and pity.
"My son, how do you live?" the woman asked, her voice now gentle. "What about your family? I am sorry, my son. It is the bad country we live in that has caused it. No one trusts their fellow man anymore. I beg you, forgive me for the way I talked to you."
The police officer, his fury spent, now sat in silence. The rest of the journey was quiet, except for the conductor calling out bus stops.
At Mile 2, everyone alighted. As the driver collected his fares and handed out change, I took a critical look at the young officer. He must have been in his late 30s or early 40s. He was a fair-skinned, handsome man, but he looked hungry. He was tattered and unkempt, with a police belt across his shoulder and an empty sack and gallon in his hands. He was, as he said, a graduate who was forced to live a life of poverty in the midst of plenty.
My heart was filled with thoughts and questions I couldn't ask. How can a young man of such integrity continue in this Chapter 27:
The Incorruptible Nigerian Police Officer
An Excerpt from D'Prince and the Treasure in the City Wall by Fame Agidife and Ezinne Frank-Okoli
The Burden of a Societal Failure
I was on my way home from a work site at Parkview Estate in Ikoyi, one of the most exclusive and affluent areas of Lagos. After a taxi ride to the general park at Obalende, I boarded a bus heading to Mile 2. Before the bus could even move, a heated argument erupted between the driver and a man who identified himself as a police officer in plain clothes.
The officer insisted he shouldn't have to pay the fare, arguing that it was a long-standing tradition in Lagos for commercial buses to exempt officers. The driver, however, was resolute. "One officer has already sat at the front for free," he said, gesturing to a uniformed policewoman. "I cannot carry two officers for free."
The officer’s frustration was clear. "Why should I be the one to pay?" he demanded. "I entered the bus before the other officer. If one of us has to pay, it should be her!"
An older woman in the bus intervened, tired of the delay. "Driver, didn't you hear him? Just let's go. We all have places to be today."
But the driver was unmoved. "The other officer is in uniform. You are not. The ones who don't pay are the ones in uniform."
The officer shot back, "What do you mean I'm not in uniform? Can't you see this belt I put across my neck? What else do you need to see to know I’m a police officer?"
It was obvious the driver had a clear preference: he wanted to exempt the officer in uniform, not the one who came first. He knew that the uniformed officer held the power to save him from the constant harassment of corrupt police on the road.
As the argument raged, drawing the attention of the touts in the park, the driver eventually conceded and got in, vowing to collect his money from the officer at whatever bus stop he alighted. The quarrel continued on the road, with the officer and some of the women passengers exchanging heated words.
"You're a fake police officer!" a woman yelled. "What's your proof? Look at how rough you are, and you even have a beard. A force man doesn't keep beards! People like you are a disgrace to the Nigerian Police Force and our nation!"
The officer, stung by the attacks, waved his ID card at the passengers. "I am not a fake police officer! My name is so-and-so, my police number is 00... If you like, you can go and verify it."
"Anyone can print anything in Nigeria to deceive others," the woman retorted. "You are a disgrace to Nigeria and the force. You should be ashamed of yourself."
It was a beautiful and terrifying aspect of arguments: everyone looks for a weak point to exploit. The woman’s attack, though baseless, struck a nerve. The officer, who had seemed unable to find a valid retort, suddenly found his voice. Provoked by the words, “disgrace to the Nigerian Police Force,” he unleashed a torrent of righteous anger.
"I am not a disgrace to the Nigerian Police Force," he thundered. "It is your sons and daughters who take bribes on the roads, in the streets, and in the offices that are a disgrace! Everybody knows that I am one of the very few police officers who don't take bribes. I till the ground with my bare hands to plant cassava and yam to support my meager salary. I cannot sell my moral integrity for any material gain!"
His voice filled the bus, his words dripping with pain. "I live in penury and abject poverty while serving my fatherland. I pass through all sorts of ordeals to make a living, while your sons and daughters live in luxury through bribery and corruption. I am a graduate working as a police officer, but look at me—tattered and unkempt. This is the true reflection of a Nigerian civil servant who does not take bribes outside of his salary. Your fat and big-bellied sons and daughters who live on robbery and bribery are the ones who are a disgrace to this country."
He spoke of the immense sacrifice of his family and his life for a life of integrity, saying he had chosen to be an anti-corruption crusader despite the immense hardship. He lamented how corruption had become a cankerworm, an epidemic in Nigeria. "Keep on celebrating corrupt sons and daughters so they can steal for you to live fat," he spat. "They will keep on shining, and the incorruptible will keep on looking tattered."
At this point, the woman and the other passengers seemed to have lost all their resolve. Their jeering turned into a look of profound amazement and pity.
"My son, how do you live?" the woman asked, her voice now gentle. "What about your family? I am sorry, my son. It is the bad country we live in that has caused it. No one trusts their fellow man anymore. I beg you, forgive me for the way I talked to you."
The police officer, his fury spent, now sat in silence. The rest of the journey was quiet, except for the conductor calling out bus stops.
At Mile 2, everyone alighted. As the driver collected his fares and handed out change, I took a critical look at the young officer. He must have been in his late 30s or early 40s. He was a fair-skinned, handsome man, but he looked hungry. He was tattered and unkempt, with a police belt across his shoulder and an empty sack and gallon in his hands. He was, as he said, a graduate who was forced to live a life of poverty in the midst of plenty.
My heart was filled with thoughts and questions I couldn't ask. How can a young man of such integrity continue in this country when the system is so clearly failing him? How did we get to a place where the incorruptible become the sufferers and the corrupt are celebrated as heroes? As I collected my change and walked away, my questions remained unanswered, hanging in the air like an unexorcised ghost.
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