Friends not Foes

Yesterday, I read the thread of a 
young man who was robbed at Ojota. 
He said the robbers beat him blue-black 
and took everything from him
 He said he was so sure they were 
going to kill him that he was already 
praying that God should take his soul. 
He also said the officers of the Nigerian 
Police were about 20 meters away from 
the incident 
They were seated in their patrol van and 
watched as he was beaten within an 
inch of his life 
I read through over 2000 comments that 
the thread generated 
Everybody blamed the police officers 
and wished the young man well. 
When I was a journalist, there was
 a young man who was employed as 
a reporter whom i love very much 
He would go out and do vox pop 
on topical issues 
He was quite good at getting the 
people to say their minds and soon 
became quite known even beyond 
Lagos 
I remember the reaction of the people 
to him at Mapo Hall in Ibadan when 
he went there to do a vox pop 
He was almost torn to shreds by the 
people who wanted to touch him and 
celebrate his popularity 
The name of his programme was 
"The People" 
He wrote a moving story recently about 
how he was robbed about 20 meters
 away from a police station 
His story was similar to that of the young 
man above, after the deed, he approached 
the police officers to report. 
He said they looked at him and practically 
laughed in his face. 
I took the time to check the comments on 
his story too 
He got a lot of "sorry" and the police 
got a ton of blame 
A lot of people also related their experiences 
with criminals and the unconcerned attitude 
of the police 
One said when he got to the police station, 
the officer on duty said "My friend, please 
leave" 
There was a report that following the 
#EndSarsProtests thousands of police officers 
tendered their letters of resignation 
It was reported that the IG refused to 
accept the letters 
I agree that the Nigerian Police is corrupt 
and needed to be reformed 
I am also sure that police officers are 
human beings 
Many of them were attacked by hoodlums 
during the last protests 
Many of them also died 
Many of them were so scared for their lives 
that they resorted not to wear their 
uniforms when leaving their houses 
I was at the bank somewhere in Mowe 
earlier in the month when a blind man 
whose bank account had been tampered 
with by a young man living with him 
ran to the police for help 
He said he couldn't find his ATM card 
with which he usually withdrew money 
from his account and asked the young 
man to help him initiate a transfer from his
phone 
The young man played a fast one on 
him and cleared out the account 
All he wanted was for the police officer 
to help him arrest the young man 
because he was sure once he leaves 
the house the young man would run 
away 
The police officer declined to help 
He said he was afraid for his safety 
What if he arrested the boy and the 
boy shouted "ENDSARS"? 
The police officer said he didn't want 
to get mobbed 
This blind man then decided to trick 
the young man 
He told him he just received some money
 from a friend of his and the young man 
should accompany him to the bank 
When they got inside the bank premises, 
the blind man held the young man and 
started shouting until the bank officers 
and security came to his aid 
The claims of the blind man were verified 
The young man transferred all the money 
in the account to his girlfriend and the 
girlfriend had withdrawn the money 
immediately 
The blind man asked the bankers to 
help him 
He said he wanted the young man arrested 
and he was willing to lead the police to 
the house of the girlfriend so that he can 
recover his money 
The bankers declined 
He was told to go to a police station and 
report 
He told the story of how the police had 
refused to get involved and started crying 
Nobody was moved to help 
The young man walked out of the bank 
a free man and the blind man walked 
out of the bank a broken man 
Many can argue that the police force had 
been ineffective and should be thrashed 
Many will argue the men in uniform are 
corrupt and deserves whatever they 
got 
I disagree 
G. K. Chesterton has a saying, “Don't ever 
take a fence down until you know the 
reason it was put up.” 
It seems many do not consider
that actions have consequences 
I have observed social media buzz about 
certain deaths and the call for justice 
for such deaths 
Police officers died during the protests too 
Police officers were maimed and injured 
Police officers were lynched and killed 
They died in the line of duty 
Many were attacked in their stations and 
some of their stations were set ablaze 
Psychologically, many police officers 
were assaulted and scared 
We should talk about their plight too 
We should talk about their healing too 
We should treat them as friends and 
not as foes 
We all lose if they lose their faith in the 
society we say we want to build 
If they continue to turn a blind eye, 
criminals will only get bolder and bolder 
If criminals get bolder, crime will only 
increase 
If crime increases, it is the people that 
will suffer 
If we believe the police officers will lick 
their wound and heal by themselves 
because they chose the job, we must 
remember that untreated trauma is 
dangerous 
PTSD is real and it has a lot of consequences 
I saw a police officer shoot and kill three 
young men and himself once at Paulson 
hotel, Ketu, Lagos
I was a journalist at the time and i know 
the police officer very well 
He had been saying for several weeks that 
he owed himself a bullet and he will take 
people with him whenever he was ready 
to die 
He did exactly as he promised 
Many police officers were victims during 
the last protests 
Let us remember this and include them in 
our agitations for a better Nigeria 
Let us talk about the dead police officers 
as heroes too 
Finally, I saw @kunleafolayan raving at 
a guy who downloaded his movie from 
the wrong source and was complaining 
about subtitles. 
Many people didn't like his choice of words 
I don't like his choice of words too but 
I have come to discover that most of 
those condemning his choice of words 
were the ones who responded to a 
governor by saying "werey, soro soke" 
(Mad man, Speak up) from which they 
tagged themselves the "Soro Soke (speak up)
generation.
It seemed they can only dish it out but 
they cannot take it! 
So they target authority figures whose 
response ought to be measured due to 
their place in the society and they throw 
venom at such for fun! 
It is very funny in my opinion that you are 
aiming and aspiring to be great and yet 
you find it easy to hide behind your phone 
and curse those who will have a say 
about your greatness in life 
The Bible says we are not to curse a king 
even in our rooms because walls have ears! 
Many of us assume the words were 
mere words 
They are not 
You can never sit on a throne you have 
previously cursed in peace 
Athaliah didn't 
Jehoram didn't 
Ahaziah didn't 
David refused to curse the throne and his 
throne was established forever 
Believers ought to know and do better 
Our path upward can only be paved 
by blessings, not curses

-GSW-