On March 5, 2018, my brother, Peter, and I were returning from a mechanic workshop, where our dad’s faulty vehicle was being fixed, when the unexpected happened!
When we got to the entrance of the estate, where we live, Ire Oluwa Estate in Igbokuta, Ikorodu, Lagos State, a mobile police officer suddenly accosted us and ordered us to stop!
For no justifiable reason and without any explanation, he asked us to sit on the ground. We did as he ordered, since he was a uniformed security personnel. But immediately, we sat on the ground, the mobile policeman hit me on the head repeatedly with his AK-47 rifle, until my head began to bleed.
He also began to hit my brother and I with a thick wood, kicked us with his boots and poured water on us. While he was threatening to kill us, another mobile policeman came to the scene. But he had already corked his gun, which he pointed at us, while he was threatening to shoot us. The other mobile policeman dragged him back, raised the corked gun, thereby shifting it from where we were lying on the ground. Yet, the angry but drunk mobile policeman, who detained us, still pressed the trigger, but the sporadic gunshots went into the air.
While the other policeman was trying to disarm him, our mother came to the scene and tried to ask him what the matter was, he immediately turned the gun on her, threatening to shoot her, too!
As the matter was getting out of hand, our mother quickly ran to the nearest police station, the Imota Divisional Police Station, from where some patrol police officers were detailed to return with her to where we were being held by the drunk policeman. They were able to rescue us from the scene.
While he was threatening to kill us, another mobile policeman came to the scene. But he had already corked his gun, which he pointed at us, while he was threatening to shoot us. The other mobile policeman dragged him back, raised the corked gun, thereby shifting it from where we were lying on the ground
The policemen then asked me to unlock my phone, but I refused to do so, because I knew they had no right to pry into my private life. But I eventually unlocked my phone, especially due to the pleas by my mother. The policemen went through my phone and found nothing illegal or incriminating. I am not a “yahoo yahoo boy.” I’m a music producer and rapper.
We later confirmed that the policeman, who detained and threatened to kill us was drunk and at that same spot, he brought out hemp and started smoking it in the presence of the other policemen, who had come to rescue us from his grip.
While I was lying on the ground, I had already given up hope and had thought I was going to die in a few seconds. I was prepared for death.
But I’m happy that I’m alive today and also celebrating our narrow escape from death. We saw death, but we escaped its snare. All thanks to God for using the other mobile policemen to save our dear lives.
Peter Brill, Igbokuta, Ikorodu, Lagos
