(This is a real life story. This incident took place during the first Warri crisis in Delta state many years ago)
During the first Warri crisis, batches of soldiers were deployed to guard and keep peace in all the riverine communities as well as the oil installations and companies. Then a dusk to dawn curfew was imposed by the state governor. A joint taskforce comprises of all the law enforcement agencies were also on ground to patrol all the nooks and crannies of the troubled state. The real enforcer of the curfew were the army. But as the saying goes that, "Where a chicken poultry is situated, there becomes the second home of the cobra". And so our policemen soon joined themselves to enforce the curfew.
They have their own separate patrol team comprises of only policemen. They go in droves of about five to six white Hilux cars. The soldiers that guard in the riverine areas stayed up to two or three months in their various locations before they exchanged duty. They come to Warri to visit their families and others will take over from them. One day, a certain young soldier was on off duty and he used the opportunity to come down to Warri to see his family.
He put all his uniforms, shoes and beverages into a very big bag which was not a military camouflage colour and he boarded a speed boat from Escravos down to Warri. The journey from Escravos and the Forcados terminal to Warri is usually by speed boats. Now, this soldier stopped at a village closed to Warri called Ovwian. It was midnight when the speed boat dropped him off by the Ovwian market jetty. Obviously there were no vehicles at that time of the night due to the curfew in placed. But being a soldier man, He decided to find his way to a small army settlement in Warri known as "ALELE".
It is between Okere junction and the main market in Warri, after the Catholic cathedral. Now, with the heavy bag strapped to his back, he walked to the popular Orhuwhorun junction. He stood there for up to thirty minutes then a convoy of the police patrol team arrived the scene. To them, seeing a man standing on the road at that time of the night is a great offence. The police cars stopped simultaneously and they swooped on him from all sides so that he can't escape if at all he tries. Seeing him with the big oil company's bag was a clear and a good sign to the policemen that he must be an oil company's offshore worker who was on a time off. The oil workers are well known for coming down home heavily laden with all sorts of beverages and cash. To the policemen, this was one of such persons. They asked him if he doesn't know that he ought not to move about when it was six O' clock because a curfew has been imposed in town. He told them that he has been in Escravos for the past months working there and so he was not privy to news. They told him that due to the crisis, the government had put a martial law for people not to move about once it was six O' clock in the evening and any person caught after that time will either face a life imprisonment or a fine of twenty thousand naira.
They asked him to choose one of the two options. Either for him to go for life imprisonment or pay the money. The soldier acted like an illiterate person and the policemen noticed that in him and so they decided to use that to intimidate him. But the soldier was like the proverbial hunter who says, and I quote: "The hunter that wants to catch a monkey must behave funny and stupidly by lying under the trees and leaves to take cover". And so the soldier told them that he will pay the money but his ATM card was not with him. He begged them to help him to his house at Robert road in Warri so that he can take the card and withdraw the money and give to them. They told him that to follow him to his house in Robert road which was about six to eight kilometres away means he will pay an additional five thousand naira.
He assured them that the money was not his problem but to get home. This assurance gave them more confidence that the guy was really loaded with cash. A senior police officer who was sitting in the front seat of one of the cars, then left the seat for him to sit and himself went to sit at the back in the open space. Yes, this man has become a VIP and he must be treated as one. On their way to Warri, they have to drive through the Udu bridge. When they got to Udu market, there were a lot of stranded people and the police swooped on them and got all of them arrested.
They were asked to bail themselves with ten thousand naira each. The soldier man asked the policemen to set them free. He told the police that he would pay their fine. The police then calculated the number of people and times it by ten thousand naira. There were seventeen persons and that amounted to one hundred and seventy thousand naira. The same thing happened at SEDECO/ ODIBO roundabout and the popular Enerhen motel as well as Enerhen junction. All the people arrested by the police, were bailed on credit by the soldier. They have to pass through Warri Sapele road to the ever busy and popular Hausa quarters then to the Warri motor park before getting to Robert road. When the police got to Hausa quarters, they calculated all the money that the man will give to them. It has risen to up to 1.8 million naira.
The policemen became some how afraid as to whether the man will be able to truly pay them such an amount or not. They told him that if he fools them, they will immediately shoot him to death. He told them that as an oil company's worker, he was capable of paying any amount. With this last assurance, they were no longer afraid and so they could not hide their joy. They began to sing and jump inside the cars as they approached the Catholic cathedral which was just a pole from the "ALELE" army's settlement. They began to calculate the things which each of them would buy with his share of the money. Like an adage says that, "The sleeping fox counts hens in its dreams". Just as they got to the front of the ALELE, there were about a hundred of none nonsense fully combat ready, fierce and blood shot eyes soldiers with both machine guns, artillery guns, armored cars and RPG in full combat readiness to put a final stop to the heartbeat of any stubborn idiot that coughs.
There was a barricade in front of the settlement and so every vehicle must slow down. As the HILUX that carried the soldier man slowed down, he quickly opened the door and jumped down immediately. His colleagues saw him and they gave him a rousing welcome. They rushed down and carried his heavy bag. He marched briskly as he was now in the midst of his colleagues. Yes, once a fish is put back into the water after been out of the water for sometimes, it swims away very fast. He waved and thanked the police for the help.
But to the policemen, it was like a paradise lost!. They could neither drive forward nor come down from their vehicles or even say a word. Yes, one could only shout for help when the injury he sustained is minor and not when it is life threatening. They just watched 1.8 million slipped through their fingers. Their major pain was not even that of the soldier himself but that of the multitude of people which could have given them a huge amount of money that he sets freed under the guise that he will pay for their fines. To the policemen, it was like when a fox preyed on a chick. The mother hen has nothing to do but to run away fast for her dear life so that she too will not become another victim. The policemen pulled themselves together and drove to the front of the Warri central mosque and parked their cars. For them, it was a bad dream that they will soon wake up from. But behold, it was a reality!!
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