Rules and regulations are formulated and implemented to ensure order and prevent Chaos in the society. knowing the conflicting nature of humans laying down laws is the only way to make sure everyone act in accordance and appropriately. rules and laws are meant to be the most supreme entity in any human society and animals included, it creates boundaries between what should be done and what should not, reigning supreme above all things makes it easy to be obeyed by the ruled and the rulers.
Obeying the rules and regulations of the society is not just about being obedient or proclamation of self righteousness but it is every citizen sole duty to the society in order to maintain balance in the social sphere. obeying the rules for a long period of time, as time goes by due to continuously obeying the rules it becomes an attitude of yours to do so, it becomes a concrete personality to the extent that you start feeling uncomfortable anytime you break the rules. this is also applicable to those who break the rules too, they have been doing it for a long time to the extent that not breaking the rules is a source of inconvenience for them.
One of the core foundation of ensuring the implementation of a rule is by making sure that both the ruled and the rulers are both obeying the rules because if any sector of the society act in a way that declares they are above the law, it becomes easier for others in the society to do so. this attitude of feeling above the law is portrayed mostly by the rulers and it is the major cause of poor governance. this manner of thinking is as a result of poor mentality, every ruling body in every society is also part of the people, meaning the rulers/government are just the representative speakers of the people, though this might differ depending on the system of government being operated in a society but the reason for governance still remains the same. it is still to ensure stability in a country which can only be achieved when everyone obey the rules.
In a case whereby the rulers/government don't obey the rules or they manipulate the rules to oppress the masses and it is perceived by the citizens, this naturally triggers humans self esteem and self worth because they have been treated unfairly. in this case it prompts the citizens to become rebellious, which means they will also go against the rules by protesting to ensure their demands are noticed and accepted.
Every human is capable of conflict and violence, some might not put it into action like everybody else but that doesn't mean they are not capable of it, their natural state surfaces when they are pressured and pushed beyond their limits, that is why some citizens engage in vandalism during protest, it is not as if they enjoy it but at that moment they have been hurt to the extent that obeying the rules no longer matters to them.
For a person like me I have always been a fan of abiding by the rules, I don't like to attract trouble or constitute nuisance and cause myself pain, which is why I identify myself as a pacifist but that doesn't mean I am not rebellious when the need arises. people like me might be considered a fool in the society due to my ability to abide by the rules even when others are not, it is not like I'm different from most humans I just believe there is time for everything, a time to abide, to tolerate and to rebel. My rebellious attitude has surfaced few times just like when I staged a protest within the school premises against a lecturer that is intentionally failing broadcast students but when it comes to being rebellious, the highest have gone was when I was working at Lagos traffic radio.
A TIME I BROKE THE RULE, THE CAUSE & CONSEQUENCES.
This happened about 3 years ago, during my second year of industrial training, I wrote a post about it in January. it was during the COVID 19 lock down, I was working at Lagos traffic radio at agidigbi Ikeja, I stayed at Opebi estate due to my partime job at Duncan maritime limited at Adeniyi jones, I was working on both jobs just to earn more income.
My route to work always depends on my shift at work, as you all know broadcast entity deals with time, on days when I have afternoon or evening shift, I have to pass through Allen avenue, then link to Adeniyi jones to report to Duncan maritime, once the time for my afternoon shift at Lagos traffic radio is near, I will quickly return back to Allen avenue and board a bus going to ojota, from there I will get a cab to agidigbi Ikeja, where Lagos traffic radio is located. this route can only be best understood if you live in that area.
On the day of this incident, I had an afternoon shift at Lagos traffic radio, which means I have to first get to Duncan maritime limited before heading to Lagos traffic radio in the afternoon. as usual I took a morning stroll from Opebi to Allen roundabout just to reduce the cost of transportation.
On getting there, beside the traffic light, I saw about 5 men in police uniform harassing two young men who were not putting on nose mask. As a Nigerian during the COVID 19 lock down it was instructed that everyone must wear a nose mask, have a hand sanitiser and avoid public gatherings. this was the major trend during the COVID 19 lockdown. we had presidential task force operatives roaming about to ensure everyone adhere to this instructions.
I guess that was what those police men were trying to do, at least that was what I thought. the police men eventually asked the two young men to kneel down for not putting on nose mask, which is not right, they only have the right to instruct them to go back home but in this instance the police men decided to punish them publicly on the road.
The young men felt reluctant to obey the instructions of the police men, so they brought out "KOBOKO" (a cane made out of animal skin) and start beating those young men mercilessly, to the case other people sitting in that surroundings had to get involved to safe those young men from the merciless beating by the police men.
People got involved but the police men refused to retreat and kept beating the boys, the issue escalated and turned into a riot between the police men and the people that got involved. the police men tried to use brutal force against the people but they retaliated by bring out planks and bottles to fight against the police men. I was standing beside the road but when the riot started, I ran to the nearest Ecobank close to me to seek shelter because I was interested in writing a news story about the incident.
The fight between the police men and the civilians continued and got escalated to the point that the traffic light that was in the middle of the road was destroyed and some other equipments, the police also fired some gun shot, this gun shot sounds attracted a lot of attentions, so other authorities got involved to resolve the conflict.
As soon as everywhere was calm and I was already late for my first job at Duncan maritime, I had no choice but to go to Lagos traffic radio for my afternoon shift. I was excited that I will be privileged to report the story since I work in the news room, I believed that was the little I can do to help those two young men who were a victim of police brutality and to also perform my public duty. I got into the news room, turned on my laptop and typed the story I jotted, but things did not go as planned.
immediately I finished the story, I submitted it to the senior editor in the news room to compile it into the bulletin, I was not aware that my editor was already aware of the incident. my headline for the story was "Riot at allen avenue due to police brutality". The editor went through the story, it was ok but he decided to change the headline to "Traffic equipment vandalised by hoodlums at allen avenue".
He gave me the flash drive that contained the story and asked me to take it to the studio, I knew he was going to edit the story but I never knew he was going to reframe the headline entirely, I got curious, so I inserted the flash drive into my laptop just to satisfy my curiosity. The first thing I saw was the headline, I was so devastated. so I made a judgement call which I did not have the authority to do so, I corrected the headline to what it was and took it to the studio. I'm just a sub-editor to the senior editor that action I took was beyond my authority.
I knew Lagos traffic was owned by Lagos state government, so we always avoid to say anything that will defame the authorities of Lagos state, which I believe to be unjust since we claim to practice libertarian theory of the media. I knew he was trying to enforce the In-house policy of Lagos traffic radio and ensure the story was just about traffic nothing more but I wanted the whole truth to be disseminated without gatekeeping any information
THE CONSEQUENCES OF MY ACTION
I got what I wanted with consequences ofcourse, the news story was disseminated. the attention of the senior editor was called by the management and I was fetched out as the culprit, which led to a month suspension from work after few days of disciplinary committee deliberation, I was called back but I didn't come back from the suspension I just left.
I focused on my second job at Duncan maritime limited as a risk management officer, I was satisfied with my action, the incident at allen avenue is one of the many incident posted on social media that aggravated the youths and led to the "Endsars protest"
My parents up till today never knew the reason I left Lagos traffic Radio because they knew I loved the job but they did not need a reason to ask, since they knew I wouldn't have left without a significant reason, everyone just turned a blind eye.
I'm not trying to sound like a patriot but I believe every citizen in country has a duty to perform by obeying the rules to ensure stability and eradicate injustice, I guess that was my way of standing up for what I believed in.
This write-up was inspired by weekly featured content titled "Breaking the rules" in hive learners community.
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