As you walk into the Iyekogba police station in Benin City the officer taking a preliminary statement from you would sort of urge you to ‘appreciate’ the female police officers sitting just by. Depending on your disposition, you may or may not be disposed to ‘appreciate’ the lovely police ladies. Then he refers you to your IPO, the investigating police officer. Your IPO tells you that the police are going to open a file for your case, just that the police have no money to buy the file.
If you are very simple, you would probably imagine that the file costs something like N100.00, but no, the file is N3,000.00, and depending on your state or ability to haggle, you may just settle for something less but not less than N2,000 for that file. In the event that there would be any other kind of documentation, you would be expected to do the needful.
So, let’s just say you’re the petitioner or complainant, and you refuse to pay up. And let’s just say again that the accused pays, and pays generously; those nice police officers would likely turn your own sweet little watertight case against you in favour of the chap who pays and pays well at every turn. They do it in the manner of the tiny pieces of advice they give the accused, and you, to mislead and rope you in if you are not careful. They are masters of subtle coercion and intimidation. As this happens on a consistent keel, you just find out the system is already compromised, and in favour of injustice and the fraudulent.
We make an appeal: Mr Edo State Police Commissioner or IG sir, please give your men very basic work tools, paper, biro, fuel for generator so they don’t keep cutting corners and leaving us with sour tastes in our mouth about our good friends the Police.
Bob MajiriOghene Etemiku,
Benin City
