Enough is enough!

There has been nothing but madness going on around the world!

I woke up yesterday to twitter buzzing with news of a young woman who went to church to study in Benin, Edo state of Nigeria. Uwa, a 22-year-old woman, was raped, her head smashed with a fire extinguisher and she was left in a pool of her blood to die…IN CHURCH! #JusticeforUwa

As I scrolled on to see more details, I read about Jennifer, an 18-year-old girl, who was gang raped by 5 men in Kaduna state. I got outraged when I googled to see if anything had been done, only to see that the family was willing to accept a settlement. That would never repair the damage that was done to her and I am glad that people are demanding that justice be served to the boys. #JusticeforJennifer

There was one more hashtag…#JusticeforTina. From what I read, Tina was 'accidentally' shot by a trigger-happy policeman who was trying to enforce the curfew in Lagos. He seemed to have been asking for a bribe to let the bus go but the driver refused and was shot, an altercation ensued, and he shot randomly into the crowd. The bullet hit Tina, a 16-year-old girl. Why do policemen need to shoot at all to pass their point? And this is not a one off incident!

Ill treatment by the Nigerian Police

So my sister, Odachi Abah was featured earlier this week on this post. But yesterday,  08.10.2014, she got asaulted by a Police woman in Lagos.

I was having lunch with a friend when a picture came into my phone. I screamed and my friend with whom I was having lunch kept asking what the matter was. I simply showed her the picture, she became so filled with rage. It was a picture from my sister with a caption: ‘ I was assaulted by a Police woman this afternoon’. It didn’t look good! I tried to speak to her but she could not talk, she was at the Police station, the unit where the woman in question works. She went to file a complaint.

Eventually Odachi wrote her account of the assault below:

"On the 8^th of October 2014 I got assaulted by a Police Woman. This is what happened. 

On my way home after my NYSC clearance from Oshodi-Isolo LGA, Lagos State, Nigeria, with a friend, Maduka Benson, our vehicle (Maduka was driving) entered a hole which pulled part of the car bumper out. The Police woman controlling traffic kept shouting at us so my friend driving was trying to tell her that our bumper had pulled out, but she insisted that he moves away from there. A gentle man asked my friend not to drive or the entire bumper would pull off the car. He crossed to the other side and helped us fix the bumper so we could move on.

Way Forward FCT?

In the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria, word has it that the city has since become a shadow of what it was six years ago… Mallam Nasir El-Rufai seems to be the best thing that happened to Abuja as there was sanity in this city while he was in power. What do you think?

Street beggars and hawkers – Driving on the roads, one has to be extremely attentive these days as beggars and hawkers are everywhere on the streets. At any traffic light, once the red light stops you, they all appear. Sad part is, hand bags and mobile phones could get missing if you have your car doors unlocked or windows down without paying attention. Once upon a time, these people would not dare show up on the streets as there were laws to ensure that such people were never around town.

Customer Service

It is almost common place to hear 'anything for the boys?' from guards to drivers, filling station attendants and worse, Policemen! I don't mean to sound . . . (can't find the appropriate word) but I always stop to wonder if they aren't paid a salary. It may not be decent but begging shamelessly, I simply can't come to terms with that and it puts me off.

Once I was travelling and thanks to a certain group of people, there are numerous military and police check points on the roads in Nigeria. I was flagged down and we greeted each other then the elderly man who happened to be a policeman standing by my car door asked, 'won't you give your father anything?' I looked him in the face, my response was 'will a father not be the one to give to his children? Besides I am travelling so I'll prefer that this father says a prayer for journey mercies for me'. It worked like magic, he said a few words then bid me farewell, I was on my way again.