By Leftist Osazee Edigin
The social media space has been filled with the story and videos of a WAEC candidate who was shot by a police officer while in his father’s car on his way yesterday.
The story has it that the father took one way and was apprehended by traffic officers, and he tried to manoeuvre his way, thereby causing damage to his vehicle and that of others.
A police van came to the scene, and a policeman pulled the trigger, perhaps in a bid to demobilise the vehicle by shooting the tyres, but shot the lad.
The thrust of this post is not about the act of the man or the policeman but about what could have been a remote cause on the part of the policeman.
I have always opined and said this to police officers caught taking advantage of citizens by imposing a non-existent offence just to extort. My position has always been that it’s better and free from curse if they decide to compromise with a criminal and collect money than forcefully take money from an innocent citizen.
This is so, because any money given with grudge and bitterness is cursed. A criminal might likely even pray for a policeman that takes money from him to set him free, certainly not a man that hasn’t committed any offence but a police officer uses his position to extort money from him.
If you are a policeman that is good at forcefully taking money from innocent citizens, you might be enjoying it in the interim, however, know it that such money comes with pending curses that might cause problems for you and even your unborn children.
If you compromise with a criminal, it’s between you and the state, but if you forcefully extort an innocent citizen, it’s between you and God, and Karma doesn’t miss its target. You don’t take from everybody and have peace even criminals are usually caught for taking from the wrong persons, kill or rape during their operations.
I leave you with this to ponder on. I am not begging or forcing anyone to stop because the consequences is borne by whoever decides to go that way of extortion of innocent citizens.
Leftist Osazee Edigin AICMC
21st May, 2025
