A Nigerian mum, Bunmi Dipo-Salami, has cried out for justice after
her 21-year-old daughter was arrested for being in possession of old
Naira currencies. Read her account of what happened below
The war on women was brought into my bedroom on Friday night when my
21-year old daughter, Temisan was arrested by the Police at the
check-point by the City Capitol hotel in Abuja at 23.23h for possession
of old Nigerian currencies - one twenty naira (N20.00) and fifty naira
(N50.00). That was three minutes after she called me she was on her way
home and had shared her Taxify trip status with me.
She had gone for dinner with her friends at the Ivory Place in Wuse 2
and was on her way back home when the Police team of four stopped the
car she was riding in, asked her to come down and started searching her
handbag. When they could not find any contraband in her bag, they pulled
her wallet apart and found the old bills. Thank God that she had the
presence of mind to call me immediately they asked her to come down from
the car and started searching her bag. They asked her to stand by the
roadside and dismissed her Taxify ride. Then she said they were taking
her 'somewhere' and she will know her offence. So she started shouting
that her mum wanted to speak with them. Then I heard the policeman say
'stupid girl, who is taking your phone? So reluctantly he took the phone
and I introduced myself as her mum and requested to know what they were
charging her for. That was when Officer Nnaman (I think that was what I
read on his tag) told me 'we found old currency in her bag so we are
taking her to the station'. When I asked where exactly that was, he
could not tell me any particular location. All he said was 'well, we are
still at City Capitol hotel for now but we will soon go'. When he said
that, I saw flashes of the manifestations of the war on Nigerian women:
women arrested on trumped up charges and raped in custody, commercial
sex workers arrested for the sexual pleasure of the Police and detained
for days, I saw women who were killed for trying to resist their Police
abductors and labelled armed robbers or girlfriends of criminals,
accused of illegal possession of hard drugs (which they would have
planted on their victims), and so on and so forth. I told God that
Temisan should not be added to the statistics and quickly threw a boubou
on my night gown, and raced out to save my daughter! In the car, I
called a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) friend of mine and
explained the situation to him. He confirmed that wasn't a criminal
offence and asked me to call him when I got to where she was being
detained.
It took less than 10 minutes to get to her but the car couldn't move
fast enough for me! We were like a minute from her when she called again
that they said 'someone' was taking her 'somewhere'. I told her not to
move since I was already seeing her silhouette. When I saw my daughter,
my heart sank. Whoever saw her where she stood by the hotel would have
said she was soliciting. Nobody would have imagined that her journey did
not originate from that location or that her Taxify driver was
dismissed by the Nigerian Police Officers on duty! She was visibly
shaken and traumatised but she was composed. I held her tight and asked
for the oic. He repeated her offence and showed me the two bills in the
photo as evidence. I requested to know if that was an offence and he
answered in the affirmative. I called the DCP and handed the phone to
officer Nnama. The spoke and all I could hear was 'yes sir, yes sir, yes
sir'. When he handed the phone back to me, he was looking like a
deflated balloon. the DCP apologised profusely on behalf of the Force.
Then we were free to go home.
In the car I couldn't stop imagining what could have happened to my
daughter and the lies the Police would have told if anything untoward
had happened to her. I could not bring myself to imagine how that would
have changed the lives of every member of the family. I wondered how the
evening would have ended if I did not have a DCP on speed dial.
It did not matter that she carried her NYSC ID card or her valid
Driver's license or her Voter's Card in her wallet - documents that
would have shown that she is a responsible, law abiding citizen. I
wondered what could have happened to her if I had been out of town or if
I did not live here in Abuja with her. I kept wondering why she decided
to ride in her friend's car instead of taking her sister's car as
planned. I had a feeling she was going to have a run-in with the Police
when she left me in the living room and I had told her the routes to
avoid when driving back home because of Police harassment on Nigerian
women. When I realised she didn't take her car, I called to ask how she
was getting home and she said she would take a Taxify. I was
uncomfortable and asked her to share her trip status with me the moment
she got in the car. I also started praying for her safety as I monitored
the trip.
We got home just before midnight.
I am THANKFUL. God loves us and I know it. I feel it every waking moment!
I am also ANGRY that we have a President that allows the war on
Nigerian women to go on and refuses to say a word. I am angry at the
innocent women whose lives have been taken or ruined due to poor
leadership and virtuous followership. I am angry that all the gains made
by women previously have been rolled back by a misogynistic leadership
who just got re-elected for yet another term.
Nigeria belongs to all of us and nobody can run me out of town. I
have joined other Nigerians to decry the war on women in the past few
months but now the battle just got PERSONAL. The battle line has been
drawn!
#EndWarOnNigerianWomen
#NigerianPoliceForceMustBePutInCheck
#NigerianWomenAreCitizensToo
#PresidentBuhariPleaseHearUs
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