The Nigerian police: No Pay, No Pass

 Yes, am back again with my usual police yen yen yen and this, though not new, is about the pass _way pass, gate pass, bush pass, path pass whatever pass you can mention. As long as there is a police manning the pathway through which a driver/rider is plying, the pass payment is due.

In clearer terms I’m basically talking about the no longer foreign but familiar context of police extortion of poor masses on the highway. Terms are clear. Once your are driving or riding to and or from a destination and you come in contact with the-men-in-black at a check point, you must as a matter of “na so the country be” drop a tip not less than #50 (fifty Naira) otherwise woe betide you.

As Nigerians we’ve grown into this ignoble norm of once a checkpoint is spotted and a police is on the way, a pass transaction is imminent. In fact, how dare you not comply? This is an ugly trend that has come to stay in a vacancy that has been structured to fit. It’s a menace we’ve embraced together with the many other menaces we must as Nigerians endure because we are in Nigeria. Right?

This is no news. In fact this is not supposed to be discussed if you look through the eyes of the benefactors of this act of shame. The shortcutters, illegal traffickers, overloaders, license-less drivers, one-wayers, overspeeders, and more, including the supposed law enforcement officer of the law of the federal republic of obodo Nigeria are gainfully employed in this business of “take and let me pass.” And if this is the case why should I complain. Me that has little or no connection in the deal between the giver and taker? Sheybi my own is to pay for my ride and whatever happens between driver and police is between them so far I get to my destination safely? Well it’s possible to think in that direction until you become a victim of a circumstance or situation you didn’t create but must face simply because you are a Nigerian.

Fast forward to the source of provocation. I was heading from Aviele down to Auchi this evening via the new road and just outside NNPC building which is few poles from the main road were the police. Nice looking, well kitted police. Not as fiendish looking in contrast to the ones I saw in Ugha last week on my way to Benin. No. These were happily manning the route with stretched hands that must be given #50 notes. Even from a distance their smiles seem enviable until one gives them a reason _just one reason to point a gun at a victim who may not have the pass payment to offer at that point. They were collecting monies like offerings on the road under our CHANGE administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

But then all the forgoing may not necessarily by the reason for this discourse. The area I am quite curious about is to whom are these monies going? Are the men on the roads simply collecting these monies for personal consumption or there is a form of remittance and to who? Many a time we read, hear and watch those in the helm of the police force say the police is your friend, say no to bribery and corruption and more. Meanwhile those under their supervision are busy doing the direct opposite of what is said _unchecked and even unperturbed!

How is the police your friend when he points a gun at you to rob you off your hard earned money (no matter how small)? How is the police your friend when he places you under arrest for not having #50 to give him? How is the police your friend when he beats you up at the slightest provocation for triviality? How can the police be your friend when after he says “bail is free” you must pay bail fee to be released? How fiendish can a supposed friend be in the police?

As far as the leyman is concerned the police is seemingly always right even when they break the laws they are by default of constitutional backing supposed to enforce. It’s a case of “if you no allow me rob you, I go brutalize and arrest you because las las na me be government.”

In August 2010, Human Rights Watch produced a 102paged report titled, “Everyone’s in on the Game: Corruption and Human Rights Abuses by the Nigeria Police Force.” This document presented a myriad of police corruption in Nigeria to the extent of revealing that the act of extortion and other corrupt practices have been institutionalized because of the lack of political will to deal with the issue on the part of government.

Not too long ago we were made to believe that no police officer has the right to have access to our phones, open and search same but even as you read this someone’s phone is in the hands of a police or SARS officer who is bent on using anything available in the phone to incriminate the owner just so he can milk the victim. They sing the SAY NO to corruption chorus but just now not less than a hundred police officers on the highways across the country collected forced offerings from drivers, some SARS officers just struck a deal with established yahoo boys for money (cash or transfer), thousands just paid bail fees of not less than #5,000 (depending on the gravity of the offences committed) and the stories goes on and on. How do you even explain that a police officer comes to a supposed duty post on the highway with POS? maybe to enforce the cashless policy right?

What are the crimes of poor drivers and okada riders who have decided not to steal or resort to illegalities to make ends meet? Why must we be told these poor Nigerians have Friends who are life threatening instead providing security? Is it safe to say that our highways and other major roads are being manned by fake police just like elections were infiltrated by fake police personnel on November 16th Kogi Elections?

Drops pen… …To be continued.

Jeremiah Enaholo Kadiri