In the video footage
watched on YouTube, secretly filmed by a passenger at the back seat in which a
policeman apprehended the driver of a vehicle that was coming from Akure, Ondo
State to Umuahia, Abia State has since become an Internet hit. This show of
shame made it the third time in the past two month.
The policeman sat in the front seat with the
driver, demanded a bribe of N10,000 after checking the vehicle particulars, declared
that he had discovered some discrepancies between the documents and the chassis
number, number ‘3’
The man in uniform
bellows, “Settle us. Just give us N10,000 make I waka comot. Or is it
too much? If I knew you stole the vehicle, I won’t collect money from you.”
“It is three much! I want you to take me to your station.
I’m not afraid of anything. I can go back to Akure. At worst, I will miss my
appointment in Umuahia. Why will I part with N10,000 on the vehicle I didn’t
steal? No sir! I can’t do that. said the driver.
“I will rather go back
to Akure, get the registration officer and other supporting documents, come
back with another vehicle and clear myself. And that is to tell you that I have
not done something wrong,” the driver then told the nursing mother inside the
car that “My sister, don’t worry! At worst, you will sleep in a hotel with your
baby when I go back to Akure,” the driver added.
The policeman replied, “Eh
eh. It is three much. Wetin make am too much?” He ordered, “Driver, come
down.” And the video went dead.
Meanwhile, in as much as
i am totally against any form of cheating, bribery, or extortion, we Nigerian
then need to look inwards at the root cause or causes of the madness within the
Police force that refused all form of medication.
How much is the take home
of the Police Constable? Do Police have any allowance? Are the police well
trained? Do the authority organise refresher courses for these officers? In
short are their welfare has been look into by their boss?
However, corruption is
now spreading from top government official to the messengers in the offices in
Nigeria this malice need a serious attention.
You will recalled that a
police sergeant, Chris Omeleze, who was caught on video camera extorting
N25,000 from a motorist in Lagos in August , and another sets of two traffic
policewomen, corporals Elizabeth Itolor and Jennifer Azingbe, were also videotaped
receiving N100 bribe from a commercial bus driver at the Oshodi/Apapa Expressway.
Paul Saint, a YouTube
user argued that there is no excuse for being corrupt, attributing the
behaviour “This has nothing to do with the service welfare of the police.
Corruption in Nigeria has nothing to do with low or high salary pay. If you are
corrupt, no matter what you earn, you will still find ways to illegally enrich
yourself. Most cases of corruption recorded in this country are perpetrated by
persons who are otherwise fairly comfortable with bribes.’’
“Corruption is as a
result of greed only. Not poverty or low pay. We must condemn corruption at all
times and not make excuses for it. But even if they are not well paid, there is
no excuse for corruption. The most corrupt persons in Nigeria started off with
collecting less than N10,000 and because we excuse them or celebrate them, they
step up their demands to millions and billions. Well paid or not, do not demand
or collect bribe.”
We urged the Inspector
General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, to
conduct an orderly room trial to ascertain the policeman’s culpability in the
alleged crime and place appropriate sanctions on him if found guilty. At
the same time, he should set up a high level investigative panel to look at the
immediate and remote causes of all these acts, and the recommendations must be implemented.
.
No comments:
Post a Comment