Podcaster says Lagos police stopped him four times in three days, contrasting with Abuja

Ophoke Armstrong Amobi, a writer and podcaster behind KAATruths, has recounted his experiences with police officers in Abuja and Lagos, saying the difference left him ashamed of being Nigerian. Amobi said he has spent almost ten years in Abuja and during that period was stopped by police only about two or three times. In Lagos, he said, he was stopped and searched four times within just three days, including early that morning. He described the officers who stopped him as appearing like criminals and smelling as though they smoked a pack of cigarettes every hour. According to his account, one officer ordered him out of his vehicle so it could be searched. Amobi asked what reasonable suspicion justified the demand. The officer, noticing a white woman with him, became angry and told him that this was Nigeria, not America where people cite the law, and warned him not to ask questions, Amobi said. Amobi said the exchange made him feel deep shame as a Nigerian. He wrote that the officer, despite being expected to uphold the law, was openly reminding him that citizens' rights are not respected by police in the country, and seemed proud of it. After he got out, Amobi said, the officer asked what he did for a living. By the time Amobi finished answering, the officer had already turned halfway toward another person. Realising that Amobi was someone who required caution, the officer dismissed him in an unhappy tone with the words "Oga, dey go," Amobi recalled. That reaction, he said, made him even sadder. He argued it showed that an ordinary citizen without a high profile will be taken advantage of and treated in the most disrespectful and violent manner by officers who are supposed to protect vulnerable people. Amobi said police should expect to see him more often in Lagos, but for now he would rest a bit in Abuja. He added that he was still a birthday baby and not old enough for stress. He also urged the Nigeria Police Force to be careful about whom it gives uniforms and guns to, saying most of the force has become an embarrassment to its image.