Living In Bondage
Today was one of those days where I got to be reminded of how scary the outside world is getting. Unlike other days that I'm mostly at home, I had some business to handle in town today, so I had reluctantly left my home to go handle the said business.
On my way to my destination, we got to an army checkpoint and we all were instructed to get down from the vehicle and walk past the checkpoint. I've seen military checkpoints do this on my way back to Lagos from school and up till today, no one has been able to answer my question as to why they do it. Maybe it's because I haven't asked the right people yet, unfortunately I can't do that if I don't want to be beaten to a pulp because the right people to ask are the military guys themselves.
Mind you, while we walked past this checkpoint, we were not allowed to be on our phone or do anything other than just walk, to avoid getting punished. Anyways, we eventually got past that checkpoint (luckily there was just one) and got back on our bus, only to be stopped by the police not long after.
You see, irrespective of the fact that I haven't left my home in a long while, I had an idea about the police stop and search but I just never thought it would happen twice in one day in such a short journey. The first group of officers that stopped us had instructed for all the guys in the vehicle to get down and then they began to go through our stuff.
They went through our phones, gallery, messages and even our emails. At first they couldn't find anything to hold anyone with but as soon as they went through the emails, they began questioning and asking us why we had multiple emails. Luckily for me, all of my emails were in my name and it didn't take much convincing for them to know I wasn't the type of guy they were searching for.
Before we were let go, some of the guys were forced to pay certain amount of money, luckily I wasn't one of them. But about twenty minutes into our journey, we got stopped again, this time by a different group of police officers. The guys who were forced to make payment to the first group of police immediately brought out their phones and handed it over to the women in the bus. Since we all knew they wouldn't be getting searched, it was the safest place for it at the moment.
The same routine took place, all the guys were asked to step out but this search didn't take long because there was nothing to search. We eventually got moving again and I remember being scared of facing the same harassment on my way back, luckily for me, I didn't.
It was almost as if they all had made enough money and had all decided to close for the day. It was a scary experience and one I know I won't be experiencing for a while because I'm no longer leaving this house.
That thing annoys me a lot and at the end of the day, all they want is money. It is not even right for police officers to check our phones. It is very annoying
This country ehn...nawa
Lol.. We all know all they want is money.. The scary thing aside from them doing all of this is the amount they ask for.
Bunch of thieves.
Don't you think they are violating the privacy of a person. I think it's too much. I don't support it. Just think some sensitive documents found in gallery. Do they has the right to check gallery or emails?
They actually don't have the right to go through our phones, the law doesn't permit it. But people have been known to be shot just because they refused giving the officers their phones and then nothing happens to the officers and they just go scot-free, even though they just killed someone.
So in other to avoid getting shot and killed, we just do what they say.
Whao... I've never been in such and I pray I will never be 😂.
Thank God it wasn't more than that
Yeah, thank God the whole thing ended the way it did because it could have been worse.
It really could have. You're welcome.