Relating With The Nigeria Police Officer: Identification

A lot of people have had very tough times with the Nigeria Police on the streets or highway, sometimes landing them at the Police Station, Police cell or even jail for an offence they may not have committed. Some innocent citizens have lost their lives to some trigger-crazy officers, in the name of accidental discharge. A major cause of these is that most citizens do not know how to relate with the men in black.

Before we continue, the saying that the Police is your friend cannot be truer. Eh! Did you say? Yes. If you don’t think so, maybe we should hold a referendum compelling President Yar’Adua to order the Inspector General of Police to withdraw his men from Nigeria streets for just 24 hours. Picturing what can happen within that period should convince you whether they are your friends or not. Well, that is not to say you don’t have enemies among the officers. There are, and they are they Criminals-in-uniform who had given and still giving the force a very bad name.

So how should you relate to the Nigeria Police Officer to avoid some of the negative experiences I earlier mentioned? I have chosen to talk about identification this time. Usually, when policemen stop anyone on the street or highway the first thing they would ask for is an identification card or anything to identify that person. Most times, this simple request had led to an argument which should not be. Simply comply with the request not minding the manner the request was made, even if rudely as applies sometimes. However, when you bring out your identity card as requested, be careful not to hand it over so fast to the man in uniform because the “officer” may just be a criminal on the road who suspecting that you have something of value could collect your ID card, destroy it, leaving you with no means of identification and give you a bad name in other to take you out of public glare to a place where he can carry out his criminal operation of dispossessing you of your valuables while you are trying to defend yourself.

Please note, do not argue with an officer who asks for your identification, just comply but be cautious when you do, watching out for the behavior of the officer.