POLICE IS YOUR FRIEND?

“Unlock your phone!” Officer Guru barked.

“It’s not mine. I told you it was for my friend but you didn’t even let me pass it to her when I told you,” Akin said, frustrated and visibly clenching and unclenching his fists.

“You dey mad? Na me you dey talk to so?” Oga police said with narrowed eyes. He cocked his gun and I shrank into myself. Who doesn’t hate guns? Officer raised the gun into the air, then proceeded to adjust it before exaggeratingly lowering it to his side again. 

“Oya all of you, come down! And carry your bags as you dey come o,” the second officer, whose presence was unnoticed until he spoke,  said through the window. I glanced at Toyese and could see that he was trying to keep his cool. Of all of us, he had the nastiest temper; when it blows, it blows. The officer’s nameplate read ‘Salami O.A’. I slid my hand over Toyese’s and he relaxed just slightly, then glanced at him from the corner of my eyes again and our eyes met.

 ‘Please rein the anger in’ I pleaded with my eyes.

“Una no dey hear word? Comot for the vehicle!”

The four of us looked at each other and went down, Seun was sick so it took some effort for her to get down from the other side of the car. Other passengers were getting agitated and low murmurs were starting to go round the car.

“Iru radarada wo leleyi bai.” What kind of nonsense is this?

“Awon oloriburuku yi tun ti bere.” These unfortunate people have started again.

“Kin ni won se bai?” What did these students do now?

“Iru idaduro wo lelei.” What kind of delay is this?

Officer Guru went around to the driver’s seat and asked for our destination.

“Ilorin,” the frustrated old man replied.

“You better waka now if you’re in a hurry. These ones are criminals o.”

The old man looked at us searchingly and we conveyed our innocence with our eyes. He told the policeman that they would wait for us. Officer Guru instructed us to carry our bags and cross to the other side of the road where the other officers were on standby with their customized police pick-up.

The five of them had guns; which they adjusted threateningly as we drew closer with our bags. The apparent boss told us to drop our bags at the back of the pick-up and to start removing our belongings from the bags. 

“Whose bag is this?” Officer Salami barked and Akin went forward. “Oya remove your clothes! We don deal with your kind very well for this road. U go use style carry igbo and think you can outsmart us. Oya remove am!” he said snidely.

Akin removed his clothes one after the other and when he felt the bottle of wine at the bottom of the bag, the Oga told him to pass the wine to him; which he put under his armpit as he told the owner of the next bag to come forward. It was me. I opened my purse, my I.D cards were checked, my undies inappropriately checked. I looked at Toyese again and the cloud behind his eyes was unmistakable. It was brewing by the second and I was worried that it would jeopardize our freedom that evening.

Officer Salami hooked his index finger into the strap of my bra as he lifted it from the bag and proceeded to dump it into the pile of clothes and shoe at the back of their pick-up. To say I was humiliated would be an understatement. When he was satisfied with his search, he squeezed my belongings back into the back and shoved it into my chest. I stumbled and fell into Toyese who helped stabilize my footing; the coldness in his look could freeze hell over.

Seun stepped forward with her bag as she leaned heavily on the body of the vehicle. The Oga looked at her disdainfully from head to toe before asking if she had a broken backbone. 

“She’s sick,” Akin defended as he wrapped his arms around her to support her on standing. This time, the officer checked her bag sluggishly; pulling out her bras and panties: the same routine as mine before squeezing her things back into the bag. The same routine was done for Toyese. I held his hand to curb any kind of reaction coming from him. I looked at the other side of the road and saw that the other passengers were at the time standing around the car, obviously tired of waiting. 

“Oya unlock your phones and open the gallery!” the shocked look on our faces matched as the outrageous order was given.

“We can’t do that sir,” Toyese declared incredulously. “Open our phones for what? Oga abeg leave us now, u no see anything incriminating on us. We showed you our I.D cards, you checked our bags and you checked the ladies’ undies. You even kept 5 other people waiting because of this search. Please it’s almost 7pm and we’re still going to Ilorin.”

Nothing prepared any of us for the slap that landed on his face. We all took several steps back as we saw the driver and 2 elderly men who were also passengers cross the road and move to our sides.

“Kin le se?” the old man asked If we did anything wrong or if they found anything incriminating on us and we replied with the negative. Officer Guru cocked his gun and commanded Toyese to unlock his phone. He complied. Officer went straight for the gallery and after about 2 minutes, he whacked his baton on Toyese’s neck, eliciting a loud scream of pain from him.

The old man rushed to his side again but took several steps back immediately when he heard the cocking of guns.

“Baba, I don talk say make you go.” Officer Guru said even though the old man barely understood what he said.

“Una don put yourselves into trouble today. Because you go school abi? You think sey you fit oppress us. Oya unlock your phones!”

Seun was the first to unlock hers and offer it to the senior officer. When he was sure there was nothing incriminating on her device, he collected mine next, followed by Akin’s.

“Wait, na you get oyinbo for phone. You be yahoo boy?” he faced Akin whose face I was sure mirrored mine: fear stricken.

“No sir, that’s my father. You can see it’s under whatsapp images sir. And you already checked my I.D card, my surname is Roland-Smith.,” he stumbled over his words. I would have laughed at how afraid he sounded but I knew we were in serious dangerous waters and we needed to be careful. He was telling the truth, we all knew that but did these guys know? That was the real fear.

Officer Salami laughed erratically and I knew we were done for. It was past 7pm already and there was no sign of us leaving anytime soon. 

The road was becoming deserted. Even the women and kids selling pure water, gala and bottled drinks at the other side of the road were starting to leave. I looked at the far end of the road and sighed; the express too was becoming deserted. Our driver looked resigned and his look already sentenced us to 6 years in prison and back: the police already told him we were criminals.

At the other side of the road, the other passengers looked restless. It was time to let them go. They had tried. I went to meet the driver and met him telling the 2 other men who had crossed to apologise on our behalf that we were guilty. My heart sank. I tapped him told him they could leave; after thanking him and the 2 other men profusely for being patient.  I watched them cross the road till the car disappeared from my sight. 

I turned back to my friends and I felt my heart stop. My two male friends had been cuffed together; one looking stubborn, the other looking extremely scared.

“You are criminals!”

“Yahoo boys. You are under arrest.”

“You think say you smart abi, I go use you as example today.”

I watched them shove my friends into their pick-up roughly. Blows after blows were delivered to their bodies; with both batons and fists. Seun had started crying. I just stood there numb and angry; pissed at the messed up Nigerian Police force. I stood there watching as they drove my friends away.