TASK FORCE!

I thought police men were the most mean people in Nigeria until I witnessed the one they call “TASK FORCE”.

They move around in trucks, most times with no uniform but casual wears like every other person. I dunno what really is their job description, but on several occasions I’ve seen them destroy traders goods or otherwise forcefully seize them, no matter the amount of begging from the owner of the goods. 

One an occasion, one of these churlish nitwits overturned the basin of Garri of an old woman in the market.

He poured the whole contents of Garri on the ground and threw the empty basin into the nearby gutter (drainage). Even as he grabbed the basin of Garri, she held on to his trousers and was begging him to let her have it back,  but as cold hearted as he was, this guy refused; as soon as he threw it away he started walking away, while the other traders scurried off to hide their goods. 

The old woman threw herself on the ground so hard, rolling on the floor in tears. She was miserable! He left without even looking back. And the woman cried herself out. All of these happened so fast, as I was in a keke heading somewhere, but I stopped and watched. I was livid! 

These people are heartless!

It is possible that she’s selling that Garri in other to feed her children, and pay some petty bills; and not even minding her profit. But now, she’ll have to go back home empty handed. How will they survive?

On another day, I saw these same hooligans; this time it wasn’t in the market but at a junction, he chased this Hausa boy who was totally oblivious that someone was coming for him. The boy had a bag of chilled ‘PUREWATER’ in a small bowl on his head, hawking under the scorching sun, and when the task force guy got hold of him, he forcefully grabbed the bowl of PureWater and smashed it on the coal tar road, while the boy stood by helplessly watching in fear.

As if that was not enough, after this guy destroyed the bowl, the remaining few sachets of water that didn’t burst immediately, he picked them and took them away. Crossed over to the other side of the road, sat, and began drinking them.

My goodness!

This is too much! It is inhuman!

The little boy burst into tears and started wailing terribly. I was just about to take a cab, but I couldn’t even continue.  I stood there under the sun and watched how everything played out. 

I was so mad! What nonsense!

At first, I thought of confronting the tax force official, but as I was walking towards him, I realized that I hadn’t even had breakfast all day, what if he leaves me with a punch? I would just be left lying lifeless on the floor. And then again, I looked at him from head to toe, he was looking like a typical “AGBERO”, no wonder he acted with so much brutality. So I simply walked up to the little boy whose goods was destroyed, I needn’t ask him what happened cos I saw everything myself. A bag of PureWater is just 100 naira, and the bowl he had on his head isn’t more than 200 naira. In total, what he had wasn’t even up to 500 naira.  

I had just two thousand naira with me at the moment, so I brought out one thousand naira and gave to him. Told him to move on and go get another bowl and more bags of water, but not to return to that place again. I didn’t have to take a picture with him, but I wish I took a picture of the water and the bowl which was smashed. I dunno if this is what the government instructed them to do; destroying traders properties and brutally robbing them of their daily bread.

Is that why they’re called task “FORCE”?

If the government is unaware of this nuisance by the so called TASK FORCE, then they need to take this into consideration and do something. ASAP! But if the government have deliberately employed “AGBEROS” on the streets to manhandle people who are suffering and hustling to make ends meet legally, then it is a total SHAME on them!

We hear of tax collectors in the Bible and how ruthless they were regarded because of their exploitative and oppressive nature: Zachaeus was one of them, but regrettably, This our present day ‘Zachaeuses’ in form of TASK FORCE are far more worse than the ones mentioned in the Bible.

#REVIEWTASKFORCE!

#STOPOPPRESSION!

#ENDBRUTALLITYNOW!

#IAmProgressOberiko

#IWriteForALiving

#ItzPr0gr3X