How I and my brothers were brutalized by the police and civilian task force just because we help an accident victim
This is a must read for everybody, most especially those living in Lagos .
My name is Mr. Yusuf Ndola an entrepreneur, a very painful tragedy happen to me recently in lagos and here are the details, It all started on a normal weekday ,i was set to go to my office. I entered my car was about to start the vehicle,then the next thing I heard was a load scary noise (an accident) happened just right in front of my house, as a concerned Nigerian I quickly rushed down to the scene to help the victims but fortunately nobody was hurt but i just discovered that my own uncle who was on his way to my area that morning had to jump to the canal to save himself because the two vehicles were heading towards his direction, so my brothers and i had to help him get out of the canal.
The next thing I saw, the scene was immediately full of people and off course the accusations and blame game started, The accident was between two vehicles a big bus (BRT Red) and a normal bus, everybody in the big red bus (BRT)started blaming the other small bus as the cause of the accident.
The next thing I noticed was the driver inside the small bus was alone and instead of him apologizing because to me and the victims of the accident because he is at fault, the guy was just laughing and I started wondering why on earth is this guy laughing, the guy remove his phone and made a call, the next thing I noticed was that some of his colleagues arrived the scene and I had no idea who they were, I quickly noticed some people fleeing the scene. The next thing I noticed was that the driver who called his colleagues started pointing fingers at people that were accusing him of being at fault, i witnessed my own two younger brothers being dragged into a task force bullion van, they were being brutalized and manhandled , i had to interrupt the manhandling with the intention of making peace, the next thing that happened i was hit on my face and immediately blood started coming out of my face, I had to defend myself and started fighting back because these thugs were not even looking like military men or police.
The worst part of this incident was the fact that they started searching for people inside neighboring houses and when the women started protesting and refusing their advances, these guys again remove their sticks and started beating them like convicted criminals. Attached are pictures of me and my brothers red eye and videos of some women we visited after we came out of the cell. watch the video HERE
In summary I was dragged along with two of my brothers, two other family members, the BRT bus driver, BRT Bus conductor and one passenger. To my greatest surprised we were taken to one of their illegal stations where we were given the beating of our lives just because some people felt that the guy who drove the small bus was at fault and because he is working with the police task force he doesn’t have right to be corrected.
After the beating we were taken back to the bullion van then after so much unnecessary time driving round town wasting task payers money on fuel, we finally landed at their task force office, on getting there I was even thinking it’s going to be a fair game, but to my greatest surprise nobody gave me and my brothers listening hear and immediately they started calling us all sort of names like baddo, the police man or civilian task force driving the vehicle even had to tell a lie that on our way coming that I was busy calling some members of my gang that they should attack the bus, immediately I heard this I was surprised that if police task force can go extra miles to tell this lie and call us all this terrible names then it simply means that there are so many things wrong with the police task force and the police in general. In a nutshell the head of that group finalized that he is going to send us to prison without hearing from us.
After they finish their part they handed us to the police station within the office and we were locked up in the cell as suspected criminals. My family was able to come in the second day because I lost my phone in the process and after collecting bail or bribe money they decided to set us free.
I don’t really want to give details about my stay and observations in the cell so in a nutshell I will conclude my write-up with the following observations and advice.
A. I later understood that these guys are civilian watch dogs working for the police task force and my advice is for them to be given uniforms so that they can easily be identified by the people.
B. These people behave more like touts not like a corporate civilian task force hence the need for them to undergo serious training.
C. I also observed from my stay in the police cell and the comment from the overall boss, it seems to me there is a policy on ground to reduce the Lagos state population by sending any suspected/convicted criminals back to their various states of origin, however I think it’s not a bad idea but the approach the police task force is using should be fine-tuned, because it’s not everybody you raid that is a criminal. Please people should avoid late night movements if possible in Lagos state for now mostly those without vehicles.
D. Then please the security agencies mostly the police task force should please do serious profiling if they must employ civilians to help them out.
E. Lastly they say the police is your friend, in my case these police personnel are our enemies with the way they are behaving.
Thank you for your time in reading this, I sincerely hope that those people behind this will be brought to book.
Please kindly share this write-up, don’t wait till it happens to someone you know
Thank you
Please together let’s make Lagos and Nigeria a better place “Itesiwaju eko lojewa logun"
