It is a few minutes after one, the scurry sun penetrates the skin with its deep bite, even at a speed of 2min per km, if all has gone well, the remaining journey from Bade junction in Kaduna state to Abuja wouldn’t have taken less than an hour thirty-minutes or more, my thoughts kept refilling its space as I think of many tasks to do when I finally get home. My gracious thoughts were that I had escaped the traffic jam at the Assop water-fall village, a descending town at the bottom of the Jos plateau as one leaves the mountainous heart of the cold breezes of the ancient town.
Experience had thought me to make my trip early anytime am in plateau during the Yuletide but for one reason or another I found myself in the still traffic at Assop Village where an accident involving one of the state transport service vehicles has collided with a trailer leaving many of its commuters injured beyond what I can describe. The narrow lane allows for another moving vehicles has been occupied by illegal parked trailers whose break at the bottom of the plateau to recalibrate their faulty trucks before testing their might against the plateau.
As if the gods prepared my today journey for a little wahala (troubles) as we say in pidgin, this time around, it is an open show of shame as we keep bashing with our security men whose has turned themselves into mere beggar at every checkpoint. you hear words like “ Oga your boy Nah” “ abeg no leave us o” “Oga’s make I follow you chop Nah” etc.
All these never trouble me till we passed Bade and we were hailing to keffi about fifteen minutes drive or there about that, when we get to a checkpoint at a village called lengwanpa shortly before the Army checkpoint we encounter a checkpoint where a police officer known as “federal Baber” was barbing a young Nigerian hair.!
Guess what, during my conservation with my driver earlier, he had told me how at a particular checkpoint, the police officers were used to delaying commuters and making sure they part with their money and sometimes order any young man with grown hair down and Baber his hair, I was extrapolating how and why such kind of action against their human rights.
But like a real movie, here I am with reality, an officer of the Nigeria police force(NPF) pay by the tax of the masses forcing an adult of about twenty years plus to barb his hair because the officer felt he should keep his hair to his standard or whatever is his motive.
In my curiosity, as a journalist, I asked the driver to slow down, but the courage to lift my IPad for a picture fail me, my thoughts keep wandering between jumping down and being a hero for the young man by stopping or even questioning the audacity of such actions of the policeman but my muscles elasticity fails me again at the sight of such a mundane act in the twenty-first century policing. Besides, my professional instincts thought me better as it is better to live and tell this story than be a frame with an AK gun in their dark room.
As we drove away, I kept wondering what police college graduates such officers and the commander, I saw how he answered with pride when my driver called him “Federal Baber” I can’t recall the IG of police mandating any police officer to Sharpe the hair of any citizens. I also wonder if he and his colleagues have undergone any of the reforms training put together by the sleepless Inspector General of Police(IG) who vision has been to leave a better police force.
I thought Nigerians had risen over such horrific times when the youths engaged in the “#endear” and the federal government through the IG of police in their wisdom disbanded the draconian force, where was this terrible officer hiding that he was not weed out, when did he start this act and he was not noticed till it germinates and he is planting it in the public? who gave him such authority and cover, what is his motive and how do we stop or spot such kinds of officers before they endanger the whole public peace?
Nigerians, we must rise against such action now, just like, a drunken man, has no place in the steering wheel so it is with nontrained police officers, let continue the tagging and sharing till it gets to the table of the right authority
#policenotmybarber #policenotmybarber #policenotmybarber #policenotmybarber
Comments
Post a Comment