''when I refused to recopy a statement that the police wrote with my handwriting, I received the same torture''

 The many sins of some Nigerian Policemen still beats my imagination each time i review cases of awaiting trial persons in prison, and to think of the length some of these policemen could go just to frame someone up! Gets my brain fried up.Well cooked up stories! that only a spiritually guided and discerning  lawyer can easily feel the ruse in it.  Is it done out of malice? or for a promotion? or a pay cheque from complainants or just a revenge. 65% of people are awaiting trial in prisons for no just cause, even where there is a cause, for flimsy evidences, for very little crimes, some from family scores or personal vendetta These people do not need to be in there! You have a personal grudge with someone you use some criminally minded men in the police uniform to actualize your aim is totally unacceptable.  Lets take a cursory look at this real life experience of a Nigerian man who was released after spending 15 years in 'AWAITING. TRIAL' after the cut...

I left my house to buy some suya (grilled meat) for dinner when I heard repeated gunshots. So I ran to a drain ditch to take cover - and when the shooting died down I wanted to rush to my residence.

On my way I heard a voice shouting: "Stop there, stop there!" I had to stop. "Who are you?"
I explained myself to the armed police, but before I knew what was happening, they were saying I was an armed robber and I was already in their vehicle.
Then they drove me down to Sars [Special Anti-Robbery Squad] - it wasn't only me. I saw a lot of people inside and they were all arrested.

I'd never been to the Sars detention camp before. I was handcuffed and asked to sit down under the fruit tree and before I knew it, a man came and took me to "theatre".
I didn't know what "the theatre" was - I thought I was going for an operation. At the "theatre" I was asked to lie down flat, face on the ground, my hands up and they chained me with rubber twine and then suspended me from my legs.

They were asking me if I knew the incident that happened to Pa Rewane and I said I didn't know what they were talking about.
"I have never robbed, I've never stolen in my life - I don't know what you're talking about," I said.


About 50 of us had been arrested but seven of us were eventually charged with the murder of Pa Rewane.
I was shot in my left leg shortly after my arrest. We were all tortured and beaten.
And when I refused to recopy a statement that the police wrote with my handwriting, I received the same torture - I was punched with blows to my left ear which filled up with blood.
I was almost at the point of death so I did what they asked me.
Four of the others died while in detention in 1996 because of the torture. Only three of us have been released.

Life in jail was a hell. Not hearing from your people. During the whole process I lost my mother. She died the month after my detention of a heart attack.
My wife gave up and got married to another man.
I was always very sad. It was very painful, there was nothing you could do but look at the four corners of the prisons 24 hours a day.
Then there was the tribunal time - it was no joke back and forth in the Black Maria (police van).
There were 50 appearances before military tribunals - and between 200 to 250 adjournments in court. No trial ever got under way. You become so tired.

When the ruling was made for my release last month I felt like cold water was poured on me. I give glory to God.

This is just one of the many lucky ones who is alive to give his ordeal. There are so many of them out there. Some charged for murder, when they were only found wondering on the road. Its so sad. The earlier our judicial system begins to review all cases of awaiting trials or convictions of people in  prisons, the better for us all.

Police is your friend, true! i have a few of them. But the truth is that, some of them are the real criminals hiding in shades of that noble police uniforms. 


Dear readers, may be you may have had your own personal experience with some Nigerian police not all of course, or you know of someone who have been wrongly accused, send in your experiences via the comment box below.