HIS mother begged him not to tell his story but he insisted in order that somebody’s life may be saved as a result.
Ten days after his ordeal, this Nigerian , Peter, who still out of fear would neither disclose his surname nor where he works in the Federal Capital Territory , was forced to claim he is a Muslim, though a Christian and that is what saved his life.
“Walahi Talahi, ka ci albaraka cin musulumi ci da azumi. Mba haka ba da na harbe ka. Kuma bana so Allah ya tambaya ni ranar tacin kiama mai ya sa na ci hakin musulumi dan uwana.”
Translated from Hausa to English, it means: “I am releasing you because you are a Muslim brother and you are a beneficiary of the spirit of Ramadan, and I will not want Allah to ask me on the last day why I hurt a fellow brother.”
The man who made the ominous declaration was an
armed security personnel in the team that go around with the President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.
On Thursday, August 9, Peter was driving along Lugbe Airport Road, to drop off some of his colleagues he had picked from the office at the Police Signpost Bus stop when he ran into security men on duty because President Jonathan would be passing through.
According to him, one of armed security men gave a signal that he should move forward .
As he made to obey, another equally armed member of the team nd ordered him to stop the car or else he would be a dead man.
Obediently, he stayed where he was , awaiting further instruction .
“By this time, I was confused. One told me to move on, another ordered me to stop or I would be a dead man.
“Then, the next thing was for the man who ordered me to stop to smash the windscreens of my car with the butt of his gun.”
In despair over his damaged car, Peter came down and asked what he did to warrant the smashing of his car and that was the mistake that almost cost him his life and which he said he would tell over and again till he died.
“He was surprised that I asked and in anger demanded what I was going to do about it.
He was speaking in Hausa and I too responded in Hausa and told him that I was not going to do anything and that all I needed was an answer to my question.
“ He began to shout at the top of his voice, demanding what I was going to do.
“I told him I could do nothing ,that he has the gun and like the helpless man I was, I would leave him to the judgment of God , the only one that could avenge what he has done to me.
“Then he got very angry and held my shirt, dragging me along, shouting that he wanted to know who my father was in this country because he was going to deal with me. “
By that time, people had started gathering to see what was going on and in order to disperse them, Peter said his assailant shot into the air, so everyone ran away.
He was then dragged and thrown into a parked black Sport Utility Van, his clothes torn .
“He told the others if I tried to move, they should shoot me, which was the word he used. I was locked in that vehicle from 5:30 pm in the evening till 7:45 pm. “Throughout my stay in that vehicle, the President had not passed.
“ So I wonder what the justification for doing that to me was. Luckily, I had my camera with me, so I was able to take pictures of myself, and the SUV was a dark tinted so they could not see what was going on in the vehicle.
“ At intervals, he would come , open the door and threaten that if I moved, he would shoot me, that I should consider myself lucky for still being alive.
“At 7:45 he came and told me in Hausa that I was a beneficiary of the Ramadan period , that I was lucky to be a Muslim brother or he would have shot me.
“He asked my name and quickly I put on my thinking cap. “You can imagine this man holding a gun on me , presuming I was a Hausa Muslim, now asking what my name was.
“If I let him realise he was mistaken, you can imagine what could have happened, so I told him I my name was Musa and he told me his name was Umar.
“He said again that on the last day God would ask him why he shed the blood of a fellow Muslim brother and that he does not want my blood on his hands and that was why he was releasing me .
“He said next time, if anyone holding a gun smashes my vehicle, I should not bother to ask why but just leave and did I know how many vehicles he had smashed that same day and none of them had the guts to ask him question?
“So he saw my asking him an insult and a confrontation, that was why he locked me up.
“He said they were trained to kill and nothing would happen.
“He said if I had not been his brother, he would have told the others with him, refereeing to them as kaffir, or unbelievers to deal with me.
“He apologized finally and walked me to my car because he thought I was his Muslim brother .
“We exchanged numbers and he told me to call him a day before Sallah, that he was going to give me some money to help in payment for the repair of my vehicle .”
Thinking that his assailant was a police man, Peter went to the office of the Inspector General of Police to make a report only to learn that the man was not in the Nigerian Police Force. With the description of what the men wore, black jeans and T-shirt with bullet proof jacket with SF boldly inscribed on it, the officer who attended to Peter in the IG’s office was able to conclude that they were men specially trained to protect the president.
The Police officer said if he were to be one of them, it would have been summary dismissal because the IG had repeatedly told his men to be careful and more humane when dealing with people.
Though Peter is not pressing charges, he believes God allowed him go through that harrowing experience and live to tell the story for a reason.
“The leadership of security operatives must know that those they send out to the field are not doing the job within the confines of the code of ethics they signed. Innocent Nigerians are maimed, killed and traumatized. I am saying this because we don’t know who the next victim would be.”
-Guardian
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Ten days after his ordeal, this Nigerian , Peter, who still out of fear would neither disclose his surname nor where he works in the Federal Capital Territory , was forced to claim he is a Muslim, though a Christian and that is what saved his life.
“Walahi Talahi, ka ci albaraka cin musulumi ci da azumi. Mba haka ba da na harbe ka. Kuma bana so Allah ya tambaya ni ranar tacin kiama mai ya sa na ci hakin musulumi dan uwana.”
Translated from Hausa to English, it means: “I am releasing you because you are a Muslim brother and you are a beneficiary of the spirit of Ramadan, and I will not want Allah to ask me on the last day why I hurt a fellow brother.”
The man who made the ominous declaration was an
armed security personnel in the team that go around with the President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.
On Thursday, August 9, Peter was driving along Lugbe Airport Road, to drop off some of his colleagues he had picked from the office at the Police Signpost Bus stop when he ran into security men on duty because President Jonathan would be passing through.
According to him, one of armed security men gave a signal that he should move forward .
As he made to obey, another equally armed member of the team nd ordered him to stop the car or else he would be a dead man.
Obediently, he stayed where he was , awaiting further instruction .
“By this time, I was confused. One told me to move on, another ordered me to stop or I would be a dead man.
“Then, the next thing was for the man who ordered me to stop to smash the windscreens of my car with the butt of his gun.”
In despair over his damaged car, Peter came down and asked what he did to warrant the smashing of his car and that was the mistake that almost cost him his life and which he said he would tell over and again till he died.
“He was surprised that I asked and in anger demanded what I was going to do about it.
He was speaking in Hausa and I too responded in Hausa and told him that I was not going to do anything and that all I needed was an answer to my question.
“ He began to shout at the top of his voice, demanding what I was going to do.
“I told him I could do nothing ,that he has the gun and like the helpless man I was, I would leave him to the judgment of God , the only one that could avenge what he has done to me.
“Then he got very angry and held my shirt, dragging me along, shouting that he wanted to know who my father was in this country because he was going to deal with me. “
By that time, people had started gathering to see what was going on and in order to disperse them, Peter said his assailant shot into the air, so everyone ran away.
He was then dragged and thrown into a parked black Sport Utility Van, his clothes torn .
“He told the others if I tried to move, they should shoot me, which was the word he used. I was locked in that vehicle from 5:30 pm in the evening till 7:45 pm. “Throughout my stay in that vehicle, the President had not passed.
“ So I wonder what the justification for doing that to me was. Luckily, I had my camera with me, so I was able to take pictures of myself, and the SUV was a dark tinted so they could not see what was going on in the vehicle.
“ At intervals, he would come , open the door and threaten that if I moved, he would shoot me, that I should consider myself lucky for still being alive.
“At 7:45 he came and told me in Hausa that I was a beneficiary of the Ramadan period , that I was lucky to be a Muslim brother or he would have shot me.
“He asked my name and quickly I put on my thinking cap. “You can imagine this man holding a gun on me , presuming I was a Hausa Muslim, now asking what my name was.
“If I let him realise he was mistaken, you can imagine what could have happened, so I told him I my name was Musa and he told me his name was Umar.
“He said again that on the last day God would ask him why he shed the blood of a fellow Muslim brother and that he does not want my blood on his hands and that was why he was releasing me .
“He said next time, if anyone holding a gun smashes my vehicle, I should not bother to ask why but just leave and did I know how many vehicles he had smashed that same day and none of them had the guts to ask him question?
“So he saw my asking him an insult and a confrontation, that was why he locked me up.
“He said they were trained to kill and nothing would happen.
“He said if I had not been his brother, he would have told the others with him, refereeing to them as kaffir, or unbelievers to deal with me.
“He apologized finally and walked me to my car because he thought I was his Muslim brother .
“We exchanged numbers and he told me to call him a day before Sallah, that he was going to give me some money to help in payment for the repair of my vehicle .”
Thinking that his assailant was a police man, Peter went to the office of the Inspector General of Police to make a report only to learn that the man was not in the Nigerian Police Force. With the description of what the men wore, black jeans and T-shirt with bullet proof jacket with SF boldly inscribed on it, the officer who attended to Peter in the IG’s office was able to conclude that they were men specially trained to protect the president.
The Police officer said if he were to be one of them, it would have been summary dismissal because the IG had repeatedly told his men to be careful and more humane when dealing with people.
Though Peter is not pressing charges, he believes God allowed him go through that harrowing experience and live to tell the story for a reason.
“The leadership of security operatives must know that those they send out to the field are not doing the job within the confines of the code of ethics they signed. Innocent Nigerians are maimed, killed and traumatized. I am saying this because we don’t know who the next victim would be.”
-Guardian
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Share your thoughts....thanks!
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