My name is Sergeant Abraham Akinola I am a Police Officer with Division F. My team was patrolling around Lagos when we got a transmission that a petty thief has been caught in an area in our jurisdiction. Immediately, we drove down to the named place at Kuda Junction and met a large crowd of angry mobs. They were beating and dragging said thief on the ground all naked and wounded.
Armed with rifles, pistols, stun guns and tear gas, we approached the crowd and demanded that the boy be handed over to us. They vehemently refused and said the boy is not going anywhere. We were made to know that the boy has sinned against the people and must be tried in the people's court. They started singing war songs as they blocked our view and passage to the suspected thief.
"We no go gree o, we no go gree..." They sang as they were waving all sorts of sticks, iron rods, and weapons in the air.
We wanted to use force but our commanding officer gave us the order to retreat. The order came as a shock to all of us in the unit. How could we leave at this crucial time? But an order is an order and orders are meant to be obeyed by Officers like us. Obedience before Complaint is the code of our work.
We could have shot our guns into the air to scare the crowd away or used teargas to disperse the crowd. But for reasons best known to Inspector Abdurafiu, he gave us the order to retreat and we have no choice but to comply and obey the order.
As we were retreating, I turned back to look at the young boy suspected to be a thief, laying down on the floor, drenched in his own blood and I had the urge to disobey my superior officer. But that was just wishful thinking. I have a wife and four kids at home. I also have aged parents and siblings that depend heavily on me. There are a lot of family responsibilities that are already heavy burdens for my meager salary to bear. Why then should I add to my woes because of a thief?
Inspector Abdurafiu told us,later, that he gave the order because it was his duty to protect lives and properties first. If we had decided to use force, he said the mob would have attacked us, stoned us and might have injured us and even damage our vehicles, while we too, will also mistakenly shoot into the crowd and more damages would have been done then. So the best thing, according to him, was to retreat, reinforce and come back well prepared.