A DAY WITH THE POLICE Contd.

That same day, When I closed from work, I went to Computer Village with my friend (that was around 4:00pm). As we walked past the Police Station inside the Computer Village, I heard someone whistling (a sign of calling). At first, the lagos boy instinct in me prompted me not to look back but the curious mind that I have made me look back and by the time I realised that it was a mistake, it was too late. One of the policemen in mufti beckoned at me but I ignored him.
Seconds later, the same man tapped me on the shoulder and said "police. We'ld like to see you". Almost as if he knew the next thing I was going to say, he brought out his identity card and I just nodded in defeat. All this while, my friend who was already shoving his way ahead didn't notice all the drama so I had to shout his name among the crowd.
As a law abiding citizen who respects the uniform a lot, I followed the policeman to their post and there a asked me what was in my bag and I told him it was my laptop and he asked me to show it to him. I brought out the laptop, handed it to him (and that was another mistake). He then asked for the receipt...
At this point, I think its really better if I tell you all about the laptop itself. I bought the laptop on the second day of January 2009. I bought it at a company inside the Awolowo House Building close to the Ikeja bridge. The reason most of these policemen ask for receipts is that, they believe that any young man with a laptop probably bought it off a friend who naturally wouldn't issue any receipt for the purchase. If they confiscate your laptop because you were not able to present the receipt of purchase of the laptop, they'ld simply say that someone reported a stolen laptop case to their station earlier that day and that your laptop fits the description of the missing one. If you don't know your way out of such matters with the police(no be my mouth dem go hear say teacher mama don die), you might be on your way to being charged in a case of theft, robbery or even burglary and you know what that means?
Now, as the policeman asked for the receipt, I just kept a blank face and simply said I didn't have it on me. Immediately, he gave it to one of the constables on duty and she went inside the office. So for the second time in one day, my laptop has gone into custody.
Thoughts of the things I could do and say to the policeman just kept streaming through my mind but I noted that he would already be anticipating such move from me and that might be a mistake (take it from me, if you have better things to do, avoid arguing with a Nigerian policeman). I decided to disappoint the man.
The company where I bought the laptop was just 5 minutes away from the police station and specifically I patronise that particular company for my computer products because of their finmesse in record keeping and afer sales service.
I walked up to the lady constable and demanded that a tag be placed on my laptop and before I left, I remember telling her how much trouble she'ld find herself in if I come back to find anything has gone wrong with my laptop. It was almost 5:00; the official closing hour for most private firms. I wasn't sure if the office would still be open at that time but I couldn't leave my laptop in custody either so I sprinted over to Awolowo House across the road and to my own advantage, the company was still open and it took less than 3mins for them to find my records on their database of customers and my receipt of almost 2 years was reprinted for me and stamped.
Two interesting things happened back at the police station. First, I went to the lady constable and I showed her the receipt. What she said coupled with the expression on her face when she said it really amused me "na wa for you ooo. Why you go collect receipt now?". Although I was amused, I showed no sign of it. She still refused to release the laptop and insisted that I wait for the mufti man. When the guy came and I presented the receipt to him too, he looked at it like he wanted to tear it to pieces... The show of frustration and anger really gave me a good laugh. He scrutinized every alphabet and every word on the invoice and then he said the second dumbest thing I heard that day "shey na this one you dey call reciept?".
At the end of it all, they released my laptop to me while I laughed my way out of their tiny container turned police station...Phew!!! What a day!