There are certain issues that I generally keep close to my chest because talking about it only leads to conversations that lead to dead-ends/no tangible solution. Police oppression is one of them and took centre stage yesterday when an unarmed young black male was once again murdered in cold blood by racist police officers in the USA.
I think this is a global issue, that transcends racism against black people but focuses on the general way in which police force regards ethnicities that are considered "minorities". My time in Nigeria has taught me that the police are NOT my friend and community policing is the only way to solve crime in society.
In Nigeria, where we're virtually all Black people, racism is obviously not the problem. In fact, white people are treated quite nicely around here, and you'd never be oppressed by the police if you are. Around here, we have religious and ethnic divides that sit at the centre of our problems.
I currently live in the North, Kaduna to be more specific where it is arid, nice weather, if you have naturally moisturised skin like me and the food is meh. I don't like it here, but I don't hate it either. With that said, I'd rather live here than live in the south where the food is nicer, and it is more humid because of that ethnic prejudice I talked about.
If I hadn't experienced it, I'd have thought it was a lie but you see, the police around here are more well behaved than down south, relatively speaking of course because they're generally cunts. The polarizing behavioural pattern between police in say, Bayelsa(south) and Kaduna(North), is something that's baffling, to say the least.
I remember one event while I was in Bayelsa when a transport bus I was in got pulled over. This was around 4 pm, and I just closed from a stressful but financially unrewarding day at work. I was licking my wounds and it felt like the universe was raping me. This officer looks into the vehicle, singles me out and tells me to get out of the bus for a search.
I get down like a good boy and then this dude starts frisking me, I'm uncomfortable but damn, he has a big gun and reeks of alcohol, I don't want to be another statistic. He's done searching my pockets and then asks me to open my bag, which I resentfully oblige. Then in the midst of the frustration, I respectfully ask why I'm being searched, and this dude flips like I just insulted his mum.
Next thing I know, I'm hearing things like "Do you know how long I've been standing outside?", and a very scary but factual one, 'I can shoot you here and nothing will happen". That statement petrifies me but fuck it, at this point, I didn't even care anymore. If you're going to shoot me, fucking do it. Then I said something funny and quite brave too because he could literally shoot me and get away with it; "The only reason you're searching my bag is that you have a gun". I admit, that's a subtle threat but as I said, I've had a bad day and this dude was touching me like I'm some punk.
Things get a little bit scarier, and now he's saying a lot of offensive words and fiddling with his gun. Not cocking it, but like, touching it while hurling insults at me like he's sensed someone threatening his safety. Luckily, his superior heard the altercation and approached us. He asks what happened and I calmly narrated what happened, so he apologised to me and asked the bus to move along. It was a small victory that day, but trust me, if that superior officer wasn't around, I probably would have gotten shot that day. I've known people that got shot for less in Bayelsa.
This brings me to the point of this story; in Kaduna, the police are almost invisible. They're poorly equipped and underpaid like everywhere else in the country but around here, they're less angry. That's a good thing for me because I get to live quietly and never have run-ins with the law for breathing. However, it is baffling because the Northern part of Nigeria is more susceptible to mini wars and fights due to religion and ethnicity. As a matter of fact, the biggest terrorist organisation in Africa, called Boko Haram, are operating in these parts, yet, for some reason, the police are way more lenient here.
Kaduna, for example, is way rowdier than Bayelsa, and people here drive faster, scream louder and generally exhibit hazardous traits, yet the police are invisible. Down South, we have dick head police officers always meddling and killing people for fuck all. I can't wrap my mind around why it is so different, but if I were to speculate, I'd say the answer is embedded somewhere in ethnicity; Northerner's first class, and Southerners Fourth class. It is all speculative anyway, but that's life in Nigeria.