Same thing happened to me in my first ever visit to PortHarcourt in 2019, since then, I haven’t stepped foot in that state. At some point I even advocated for people never to visit that state because the impunity that these police operate there is something else.
Funny, when these happened even passerby’s won’t even intervene, i and my cab driver was rough-handled, and I just came off the airport.
The first thing those vampires did was to strip me off my gadgets, AirPod, Apple Watch and any device I could use to communicate, before I could ask what was going on, I was handcuffed so things blood stopped running through, I felt sudden weakness, I was stuffed into a car—
They threatened taking me to EFCC office— I obliged, they asked what I do for a living, the more I explained the more it gets confusing, I was slapped severally, they said how could I be using an iPhone, at a point I stopped answering them, I was ready to see the end of it, my face was swollen.
They knew I was weak and no longer minding them as I had exhausted myself and was thirsty, from 11am till 5pm we were literally moving and picking boys on the road, they even took me to some bush parts and said if I don’t confess I might just be killed and would be forgotten.
When they saw I was innocent and nothing to hold me down, they began to advice me, that I should give them what I had, I said I had nothing on me just 20k cash, they collected 15k from it and asked me to pay 5k to the cab man, cab man rejected it and said his money is 10k it was a big tussle till I told him when I’m free the friend I was going to visit will pay him
Other guys they stormed their houses bailed themselves with about 150k, some 200k sef. They (police) bragged about making 1M daily others said they were building houses (my cab driver was an architect so that was what brought about the discussion because they said they need his service in their properties)
When it was time to free me by 6pm, I started looking for my Apple Watch and AirPod, one of them said I should forget about it that I will buy a new one that I am a big boy— I refused, I was then directed to somewhere where I met an office who gave me the item and asked me to settle him again— I showed him my empty wallet before he let me go.
They began advising me, petting me, one said I am like a son to him, that I should be careful of night movements as they could just enter a place and open fire, they spoke like they wanted to make amends, this is after taking 7hours of my time, putting me in fear with enough beating.
Painfully, after the ordeal I came on Facebook to share my story, some people began saying thrash, that I’m a big man why won’t I travel with security, some even began to tell me that, next time I should argue with them and transfer money sharp sharp— that was when I lost hope in both the people and the force, some even felt I was making up the story that it was impossible, well, I wish anyone and their family “just” half of what I faced in 2019 with PortHarcourt police since they feel it was false.
Since then, I haven’t stepped foot in PH, imagine me a Benin guy being scared of PH, you should know what that means.
