By Emmanuel Udom
Last year, a medical doctor based in Calabar, Cross River State contacted a poultry feed trader based in Lagos to buy some waste indomie feed products for the poultry business she was running at Calabar. The deal valued at about N2.5 million was sealed and delivered.
It was gathered that five tons of the product was agreed by both parties. But, the trader, whose shop is located around Abattoir area of Agege in Lagos, was able to deliver only two, out of the five tons agreed.
Sources at Abattoir area of Agege in Lagos, where the shop of the trader is located, said the trader, since 2023, has been posting the doctor, and manufacturing all sort of excuses, each time she calls, to demand for either a refund of the remaining part of her money, or the delivery of the remaining products to her.
There is this allegation in Agege that the poultry trader is well known and connected to the police and other security agents. This may have informed his attitude to buyers, sellers and other people he may be dealing with, daily, sources said.
Based on the complain by the doctor, this writer petitioned Adegoke Fayoade, police commissioner for Lagos state police command. The Lagos CP in turn assigned an investigating police officer to handle the case.
This was after this writer has called and spoke with the trader several times and actually visited his shop to see him, one-on-one without success. But, the good news is that the police was able to resolve the matter amicably without the matter being published, as this writer initially set out to do.
The trader has actually refunded the balance of the amount he collected from the buyer, based on the intervention of the police and the matter has died a natural dead. This is what the buyer told this writer rather excitedly on phone the other day.
This angle of the story is positive and encouraging to the police. It is a plus on the image of the Lagos state police command. Bail is free and the police are our friends. Fantastic mantra for the police, on paper.
Officers of the Nigeria Police Force are not from other countries. They are Nigerians like you and I. Therefore, some police officers may not be immune to corruption, extortions, harassments, intimidations, etc.
Before the ENDSARS issue, brutality, extortions, intimidations, were some of the words associated rightly or wrongly with police operations and activities. Yes, the police as the frontline government security agency in Nigeria must inescapably receive the bashing and the few recommendations.
Details of brutality, intimidations, harassments, extortions, bribes, corruption, by some security agents and agencies are available online and offline. As we all know these atrocities are in public domain.
Some corrupt officers in other security agencies like NSCDC, Imigration, Airforce, Navy, Army, DSS, FRSC, etc, are alleged to be in the habit of harassing travelers and other people for money, when such people are dealing with them.
Today, at the state and national levels, many people are depressed, discouraged and frustrated on good governance, accountability and the relationship existing between the government and the governed in Nigeria.
It is actually not limited to our country alone, as citizens of developing and developed countries are not left out. Hunger, anger, insecurity, joblessness, the economic depressions are global issues that are presently facing our world.
But, in Nigeria, the self-acclaimed giant of Africa with an estimated 230million people, most people are not happy that the gap, existing between our leaders and the led, seems not to be widening each passing day.
Daily, media reports and the realities on ground across states of the federation showed that insecurity, joblessness, depressing economy, communal clashes, robberies, kidnapping, terrorism, and other negative social vices are staring us on our faces.
In fairness, past and present government have tried their very best to tackle these social issues and recorded some appreciable successes.
Therefore, it is right to say that despite the go-slow approach adopted by some of our leaders at the local, state and national levels, the country is on course.
But, if the words of Debo Adeniran, president of CDHR, are anything to go bye, there is a light at the end of the tunnel for our country.
Adeniran, also the chairman of CACOL said recently during a Citizens Accountability Rights Forum, CARF, held at The Rights House at Adeniyi Jones in Ikeja, Lagos said that the forum is determined to close the gap between the government and the governed in Nigeria, beginning from Lagos.
According to him, the aim of CARF is “to contribute to creating a peaceful atmosphere between the people on the demand side of governance in Lagos State and those on the supply side”. Speaking on: The Efficiency, Effectiveness, and Challenges of Safety and Security in Lagos Stat
Though, Fayoade Adegoke, Lagos State Police Commissioner was absence at the forum, he was however represented by one of his police area commanders.
In his remarks, CP Adegoke commended the organizers of the forum for deeming it fit at this point in time to package a monthly talkshop between the police and other security agencies and Lagosians.
The Lagos No 1 police officer stated that in his first 100-days in office, 2329 okadas were impounded and 0boss.
The Lagos police boss however assured Lagosians that his officers are working 24/7 in order to ensure that Lagosians sleep with their eyes open.
On the issues of police torture, brutality, intimidation, harassment, and extortions, CP Adegoke explained that the police has internal surveillance mechanism that ensures that police officers caught on the wrong sides of the law and the police act are made to face the wrath of the law.
The Lagos No 1 police officer stated that in his first 100-days in office, 2329 commercial motorcycles were impounded and sent to the concerned authorities of the Lagos state government for crushing.
A total of 2253 suspected robbers, cultists and other criminals were arrested and are being processed to be charge to court, he said
Emmanuel Udom, a journalist and private investigator could be reached via: emmanueludom91@gmail.com/ 09075888595
