My Dungeon Experience

On a cold Saturday morning on the 23rd of July, 2022, upon hearing my name being called out by the security guard, I walked down to meet an unknown visitor who turned out to be a police officer sent to arrest me.

From an innocent walk to the gate to being whisked away like a common criminal, the tale of a horror Saturday began. But it would be unfair not to give you a bit of the background story of what led to this unfortunate incident.

My wife was working for one of the logistics companies with headquarters in Lekki, an elite neighborhood on the Island part of Lagos but her branch was around Yaba on the mainland axis of Lagos. The logistics company had one of the biggest e-commerce platforms in Nigeria as their client which my wife\’s office serviced with moving and delivering of goods. Turns out that despite the huge financial gains from this partnership, they couldn\’t put the right systems in place which opened the way for a porous accounts and reconciliation system, my wife being the finance hub custodian of her branch was caught in the mess of a 2.4m misappropriation that largely happened whilst she was away from work due to health complications. She noticed the figures but made the mistake of not escalating and trusting the crooks she worked with including her line manager. Things turned sour real quick and she was arrested, one of her colleagues feigned ignorance while the other one remains at large to this day. Despite official letters from her legal representatives to the company for a proper investigation, it fell on deaf ears and she was arrested and locked up until an agreement was signed for monthly repayment.

As any husband would, I stood in for my wife, but things didn\’t go well as she was told by her line manager not to come back to work (just like that after 4 years with the company). Being a struggling employee myself, I had run into debts and the monthly payments couldn\’t be made again, which led to me being picked up as I stood in for my ‘wife’ in order to secure her release after over 24 hours of detention at the police station.

Back to the arrest, I had a virtual training I was the project chairperson which was supposed to happen that morning so I was in top shape before I heard my name, I got to the gate, my wife’s line manager and the police officer (IPO) in charge of the case was at the gate. I was denied any phone call of some sort and was escorted into the car and whisked away like I was some criminal.

On getting to the police station at Sabo, Yaba Lagos, I was immediately stripped down to my underpants and it was at this point I was given access to make a call to whoever I wanted to call. Well, I had messaged my lawyers, and my dad and shared my live location with my JCI local organization board members just to be safe. Before I could say anything I was sent in to the cell with cultism and armed robbery suspects. I was fuming with anger but I couldn\’t act as my wife was heavily pregnant at the time.

As I was ushered into the cell, I was given the usual welcome ritual (chanting and singing) and asked what brought me in, when I explained my case with so much anger and pain, they felt sorry for me and just left me to myself as I was waiting for my Calgary to arrive. This was around 7 am.

Some hours later, the DPO was doing a cell round and when he got to my cell, the DCO didn\’t allow me to state what brought me here, instead, it was the version of the line manager that was played, it was then I knew what I was up against. I just smirked and walked away from both of them, the DPO was asking why I was smiling I just shook my head and ignored him as I wasn\’t ready for some banter that could lead to my wife losing another baby.

Hour after hour, I saw guardians and parents come to negotiate the bail release of their wards/kids and the severity of the conditions for release was determined by what led to their detention in the first place. I kept worshipping and praying in tongues as moves were made outside on my behalf by my friends and family. Some of them joined me whilst others stayed in their lane. One funny incident that happened was that the officer at the reception on my arrival at the station brought my wallet that if I needed to buy anything, I said no, she now begged for money from my wallet which meant she had looked into my wallet to check if I had money. I just smiled at the corrupt system we run in this country and gave her the remaining 860 nairas left in the wallet.

One thing was sacrosanct, not everyone in there was guilty, as a matter of fact, it was just a case of who has deeper pockets for some, some were just in the wrong place at the wrong time while others were actually guilty. In all I just knew that despite what I was going through some people have had it worse.

At around 5 pm later that day, the complainant (my wife\’s line manager) showed up and the negotiations for my release were agreed upon. Documents were signed and I was free to go, then my clothes were nowhere to be found, less than 12 hours in their custody, and after about 10-15 minutes of search, they were found under a pile load of dirty clothes, then came the last monetary request. They asked me to pay 2,000 for disinfectant?!?! I had to lean on the cross in order not to lose it that evening. I was persuaded to pay 500 before I was let go. I said to myself that day, come what may, I\’ll never be broke again!

The lessons I learned that day will stick with me for life, but on top of the list was a huge lesson: POLICE IS NOT YOUR FRIEND!