Ebun was inside the Baba Ijebu lottery kiosk and was about to place a bet for the sure numbers he had in mind when the police van arrived. ‘’Pack them all! Pack them all!!’’ the superior police officer screamed as his men alighted from the van.
Some of the guys took to their heels at the sight of the men-in-black. This particular community is well patronized by law enforcement agencies due to its high crime rate. This time around, many knew the police or probably the army would show up anytime soon because of the post-election violence that had a pregnant woman killed.
‘Wetin I do oga?’’ Ebun asked
As he was being held by his trousers’ waist and dragged like a bag of cocoa to be put on a weighing scale. The policemen made sure they picked as many men as they could pick. The police just have to fish out those involved in the painful exit of the ward leader who was murdered in her room the night after the House of Assembly elections.
Ebun and many other young men were in police custody for questioning. ‘’I no dy vote and I no send anybody papa for this failed government. As long as I dy eat for my belle wetin concern me with politics’’ Ebun said as he was interrogated. His mouth oozed with gin as he opened his mouth and was thereby seen as a prime suspect.
‘’I’ll make you a scapegoat’’ the policeman said. His clothes were removed and he was thrown into the cell. As others joined him in the cell, he remembered the story he heard from the people of the community. He learnt that his father was the first person to be locked up in the history of the community police station.
It is a custom to lock someone up whenever a police station is being commissioned. About thirty-five years ago, Ebun’s father agreed to steal a basket of cocoa which led to the first official arrest in the police station. The drunkard father received a sum of #300 for allowing himself to be locked up which he was very proud of.
Now that Ebun has been locked up too, who knows what will happen to him? Who knows if he was really involved in the murder of the pregnant mother or his father’s record in the police station has to be broken? Well, that’s a case to watch out for.
