Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 3
The Junior Police Officer Episode Three
When Ibe closed from work that evening, he went home feeling as if he dodged a bullet. He told himself that he was not going to die a premature death. He felt like he survived a major ambush from the police DPO who appeared bent on seeing death. Ibe does not have a car, so he jumped on Lagos bus and found his way home. When he got to his street, he trekked the remaining part of the road, feeling happy that he was still alive despite all that the DPO may have planned for him.
“I don’t know if I was right but it is better to trust my insists. It is better to trust my dreams. My dreams have always come to past. I don’t know the plan the DPO had for me. But whatever it was he was planning, I have survived it and I will continue to survive. No matter how he claims to be my friend and that he was just trying to throw a birthday party for me, I know that the man does not like me. I know that he does not like the fact that I reject bribe and report whoever takes bribes at the station. I know he will do everything possible to eliminate me. So, I have to be very careful with those people at the station calling themselves my friends. I know that they are my friends. They are my enemies and I have to play safe always,” Ibe tells himself as he was approaching his house.
“This Lagos might not be too safe for me anymore, so I will watch my back. I will always pray and I will always watch those that mingle with me especially at the police station. They don’t like honesty. They want to be doing the police work with dishonesty. They just want to make money but they do not want to do the job they were employed to do. But I will be different. I will do my job with excellence. I will do my job with dedication and I will not collect bribes from anyone. I will offer my services sacrificially to Nigerians. I know that my reward will come one day. If my reward does not come here, it will come in heaven. But one is sure: I will never take bribe even if it cost me my life,” Ibe said. He opened his door and went in.
Ibe is not yet married, so he lives alone. That means he has to cook his food himself whenever he comes home from work. The time was already 9pm when he got home. The Lagos traffic always makes it impossible for him to get home on time especially if he left the police station late. It was his birthday but he did not prepare to celebrate it before the DPO called him. However, when he was returning home, he went to the restaurant and bought a plate of jollof rice and chicken for himself. When he entered the kitchen that night, he opened the rice and found out that it was cold. He put home his gas cooker, poured the jollof rice into one of his pots and warmed it.
“No matter what happened today, I will be happy. Let me eat my rice and eat my chicken and be happy. The people trying to eliminate me will eliminate themselves. I will stay alive and see my children’s children,” Ibe said as he settled down in one of the chairs in his living room and started eating the jollof rice and chicken.
As he was eating, Ibe heard a knock at the door. He really had no friends in Lagos as he just relocated there after he was transferred from Abuja. He didn’t know if he should open the door or not because he was not expecting any visitor that night. He briefly stopped eating and stood up to open the door, but something told him not to.
“I’m not expecting any visitor. I don’t have friends in Lagos. I don’t have relatives here and even my neighbours have not started talking to me. So who is knocking at my door at this time of the night. The time is already 10pm,” Ibe said in his heart. He went to his bag and brought out his gun. As a police offer, he had a personal gun which he keeps at home for security purposes. He kept the small gun at a ready position and then asked “who is knocking?’
“At first, there was silence. No one spoke from outside. Then the knocks came again. This time around, the knocks were louder than the first one. The person knocking seemed desperate to gain entry into the apartment, but Ibe was not ready to just open the door without knowing who was knocking. As a police officer, Ibe knows too well not to open his door for people he does not know.
“Who is knocking at my door by this time of the night? If you don’t say your name, I will not open my door for you,” Ibe said.
“Ibe, open the door. It’s me, Arinze, your friend and colleague at the police station. Please, open the door, I have something important to tell you about the DPO. You have to open the door and listen to me. It is very urgent and important,” someone finally spoke from outside the apartment.
Ibe knows Arinze. They work together at the station but he is not sure if he trusts him enough to let him into his house at that time of the night.
“Why are you visiting me at this time of the night? I did not invite you to my house. I wasn’t expecting you. What are you doing here?” Ibe asked.
“Ibe, please, open the door. I’m not here to harm you. Instead, I’m here to save your life. Open the door because I have something important to tell you. I’m alone. I did not come with anyone. Open the door,” Arinze said. But he was telling lies. He was not alone. He was there at the door with two other police men. It was the DPO that sent them to come and eliminate Ibe. The DPO instructed them to kill Ibe as soon as he opens his door.
Watch out for episode four
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