Not everything has to be experienced..
They say experience is the best teacher, but after some of the craziest things that I've heard people go through, I don't completely agree with that anymore.
I was reading some blogs on prisoners rehabilitation earlier today and in one of the blogs, someone had talked about how a lot of innocent people have been sent to prison for offences they didn't commit and deserves a second chance in society. That made a lot of sense to me because it's something I can relate to, due to the many stories I've heard.
You see, being a young guy in this country is starting to feel like an offence itself and everyday, we have to say the Lord's prayer just to leave home, not because we're scared of getting into an accident, but due to fear of getting arrested for something we know nothing of.
Yesterday, one of the boys was telling us how he had been stopped and searched on his way back from work (he's a painter) and that the only thing that stopped the police from arresting him was because he had some of his painting tools in his bag with him.
Now you may wonder why the police would want to arrest him, if he did something wrong. The answer is no, apparently you don't have to be guilty of any crime to be arrested anymore, all they care about is the bail money they would receive after taking you to the station.
It's crazy I know, but this really isn't my first time hearing this happen, but what I heard next sent shivers down my spine.
After my friend, the painter, had told us about the stop and search, someone else there had traveled down memory lane, telling us about the time he had to spend two weeks in a police cell, a place he calls hell on earth.
He had told us that when they first entered the prison, the inmates there had welcomed some other new prisoners with series of beating because it was kinda like a tradition there, where they ask you what you're in for and then beat you if it's something bad.
He had gone into details, telling us how a cell that was initially designed to fit in ten people would get filled with thirty people, all of them sweating and suffering from mosquito bites.
According to him, he said some of the relatives of the prisoners didn't even know their son had been locked up because they were picked up by the police and thrown into a cell without even given the opportunity to call home to ask for bail.
Luckily for him, he had made friends with some of the officers there and they would occasionally give him his phone to call his sisters who would go to the station everyday to give him food for the next two weeks. He also handed the phone to other prisoners who seized the opportunity to finally call their love ones and tell them about their predicament.
Like I said, listening to the whole story sent shivers down my spine and gave me more reasons why I should always hide from these people who are meant to protect us.
Some years back, my brother and his friend were sitting just outside our compound in the evening. This police van from nowhere just stopped, and the uniformed men tried to harass them into getting into the van. The family friend guy got in, but my bro began arguing with them that he had done nothing wrong, and that got him the attention of my dad, who was a short distance away. My dad walked over and began yelling at them for trying to arrest his sons that were sitted with him. They were let to go.
Two blocks down, they harassed a guy and took him away in their van. I was shaken.
It's just scary being a Nigerian, and it's worse if you're a young male. I saw too many of these harassment happen, and every single time, it irked me.
Sometimes it's even scary to argue with them because some of them might be trigger happy.. The best way to avoid situations like this is simply by avoiding them completely... Although that isn't entirely possible either.
Omo, this kind of experience is not meant to be experienced at all. Nigerian police is a whole lot of mess. Arresting an individual for no just cause?? They should be covering their faces when they pass people by.
When the youth are causing nuisance in the country, they get arrested and when they trying to make their lives meaningful, they still get arrested. Tell me why the citizens will not migrate.
The whole thing is scary and crazy.. Sometimes I wonder what form of training these officers undergo before being handed a gun.. Because some of these officers are just criminals with weapons handed to them by the government.
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Experience is the best teacher and there is no doubt but it's not decide to experience everything by our own. We need to learn something from others experience. Suppose one of your friend jumped from a building and broke him legs. Obviously, you won't try to experience it. You need to learn from your friend's experience.
And that was exactly what I did while listening to my friend tell his story.. I learnt a lot.