ExpdonaLoaded.blogspot.com (+2348097205188): Expdonaloaded News; Day Journalists arrested policemen on highway 0

The names: Opute Pius Jnr and Ayenowon Oluwatobi Kenneth may not ring a bell in the minds of many. But mention Diplomatic OPJ and Twitwi, millions of ardent radio listeners would identify them as acclaimed on-air-personalities (OAPs) of popular radio station, Wazobia FM.
Both Twitwi and OPJ are more than broadcast journalists, they also see themselves as social crusaders. And for many years, they have educated, entertained, sensitized and scrutinized issues in their unique Pidgin English style of presentation. Their popular radio show ‘Evening Oyoyo’ has morphed to be a popular platform where they x-ray issues in a no-hold-bars manner, much to the delight of their millions of fans in Lagos and beyond.

But on 15th June, both had a nasty encounter with some policemen. Twitwi, who was the primary target of three unidentified police officers, was rough handled and slapped on the cheek by the officers. There and then, both (Twitwi and OPJ) experienced firsthand raw police brutality- one of the many pertinent issues their listeners have called their programme to complain about. How did their altercation with the men in black uniform happen?
It all started when Twitwi was driving along the Lekki-Epe expressway. He was headed to work at their radio station in Victoria Island. Suddenly a police patrol vehicle zoomed past his car, and ordered him to stop. Twitwi was shocked at the harassing manner they ordered him to stop his car on the express road. He kept calm and told the policemen to allow him park properly. But they threatened to shoot him “if he dares to move an inch”.
Narrating the incident to Saturday Sun, Twitwi disclosed that he parked wrongly to avoid being accused of trying to escape by the policemen. When he stopped his car and inquired why he was asked to stop, all hell was let loose. “It happened about 5:35pm, around Lagos Business School (LBS) at Lekki-Epe expressway. I was driving to work when I heard their siren. I thought they were on an emergency mission. But they swerved before the car in my front. Inscribed on the vehicle is ‘LAS 007- Safer Highways’. I’m not familiar with the arm of police called ‘Safer Highways’, and I never knew they were coming for me. One of them jumped out and told me to park. The place they told me to park was not safe at all. But the policeman was threatening to shoot if I move an inch, and I don’t want them to think I wanted to escape. So I packed my car even when I knew I parked at a very dangerous spot. I rolled down my glass and simply asked the police why I was stopped. But he shouted at me saying: ‘you dey craze! Who be your mate? Come down from that vehicle!’ I insisted to know why I was stopped before I would come down from the car. The officer then went to stand in front of my car, threatening to shoot me. In the process of cocking his gun, the magazine felled off his gun. Another of the police officers approached me. I suspect he is their superior; because he is a sergeant while the other that cocked his gun is a corporal. I greeted him and inquired why I was told to park. But he just said: ‘My friend, shut up! Come down and open your boot.’ I asked him how he can shout at me to shut up when he’s yet to caution one of his colleagues that allowed a magazine fell out from his gun. He again shouted at me to shut up.”
Amid the encounter, OPJ, who was driving behind Twitwi, appeared at the scene. “It was a clear case of police intimidation,” OPJ told Saturday Sun. “You know some policemen when they see a young man driving a posh car, the first thing that comes into their minds is that he must be a yahoo-yahoo boy. So probably, Twitwi’s stature inside his Acura Jeep attracted the policemen’s attention. When they told Twitwi to come out and open his boot, I came out and told him to remain in the car and unlock his boot for me to open it for the policemen. But when I opened it, the officers insisted that Twitwi must come out and open it himself. They threatened to shoot Twitwi if he doesn’t come out. Twitwi refused to be intimidated by them. That was when one of the police came and landed a ‘hot’ slap on Twitwi’s face’.
Twitwi, describing the effect of the thunderous slap disclosed that “the slap was very ‘hot’. In fact, that officer is indeed a very talented ‘slapper’. The officers dragged Twitwi out of the car, collected his car key and hauled him into the police van. He was still in their van, when he heard one of officers pretend to be calling a towing van. But after a while they asked him to come out and drive his car to their station. “They asked me to drive the car to their station, but I told them that since I’ve been placed under arrest with my car impounded, I cannot be the one to drive the car because they could accuse me of trying to escape. I told them to complete their arrest and take me to their police station. So I remained in their patrol van and refused to collect my car key.”
It was at that point OPJ called the radio station to report the incident live on air. That move proved to be a masterstroke that awakened the consciousness of the police officers. Because when they heard the report live on air from their own car stereo, they were rudely shocked as they mellowed down and started being apologetic. “We were supposed to be on air by 6pm. So I called our radio station to report why we are not yet at work. I insisted to be placed live on air, and I was broadcasting the police incident from that point. That attracted much attention from far and near. People that were driving around that area packed their cars to witness the incident. And within 10 minutes, a large crowd was already gathering there. We insisted that they police must apologize before we let them go. And it turned into a situation where we, journalists are the ones that have arrested the policemen. We had to arrest them because we knew they have erred.”
Twitwi adds further, “It was very funny, because after they heard the report on radio they all became sober. They couldn’t even move again. They were now waiting for us to tell them to go. We feared things could get out of hand; the teeming crowd was growing in number, and they could become violent and might attempt to lynch the policemen, and we don’t want that to happen. So we had to tell them go.”
The OAPs having let the policemen go does not imply that they’ve been let off the hook. Twitwi, through his legal counsel, has already petitioned the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Zone 2 and the Lagos State government. The letter signed by Barr. Oladotun Hassan for Juryman Associate Chambers, accused the three policemen of ‘threat to life, attempted murder, assault and breach of public peace and police acts’. “We submitted our petition to the AIG, and they have accepted it. We intend to wait for seven days for them to react to the petition, and take disciplinary action on those three unidentified officers. Otherwise, we would proceed to file a suit against the Lagos State Police,” Twitwi disclosed.
Justifying Twitwi’s action, OPJ expressed disappointment at improper conduct of many men in uniform. “I’m an activist and I hate injustice. So I feel very bad when I see law enforcement agents, who don’t take time to read and practise their code of ethics. So they feel that they can afford to intimidate people and extort money as they like.”
For Twitwi, one lesson he has learnt from the encounter is to learn how to start wearing corporate wears. “They probably stopped me because I was looking too casual when I was driving my car. Maybe my casual look made them see me as a nobody. That could be why they cocked their gun threatening that they can shoot me and nothing would happen to them. After the incident, I now wear suit and tie, or long sleeve shirts tucked inside my trousers whenever I’m driving to work,” he declared.