Thanks to the Dutch police my traumas and nightmares have returned
Show me a policeman with a sense of compassion and I will show you an amateur actor deserving of an Oscar award. To a policeman it does not matter if you are the victim or the criminal, you are just work. The policeman knows all his rights yet knows none of his responsibilities. This blogger is speaking from personal experience in the so-called corrupt countries of Nigeria & Kenya (oh yeah, these are African countries, so it is “normal”!). But how do you explain the same experience and working methods in Germany and The “Holier Than Thou” Netherlands?
Why is this blogger writing this in a seemingly angry tone? You might recall that a couple of months ago, 5 Dutch citizens were kidnapped in the Niger-Delta area of Nigeria. This blogger, the Creative Director of Africa Web TV, was one of them. I will spare you the details of the whole unfortunate episode (at an appropriate time, we will all tell you the whole story). However the role of the police both in Nigeria and in The Netherlands has been to say the least, extremely disappointingly amateurish, self-serving and downright negative.
One does not expect anything better from the so-called crude and rude policemen in Nigeria putting you in jail when you go them to report that you have been a victim of a horrendous kidnapping. After all, the general impression is that the Nigerian police are corrupt, inept and lazy. But how does one begin to explain the incompetence, lack of compassion, laziness, the comedy of errors and, in my opinion, the lies of the Dutch police since one returned to this country nearly 2 months ago? Let me give you a chronology of the facts.
The day I arrived back in The Netherlands (on Saturday 10 May 2014, being the first of the kidnapped to arrive back in Holland), I was shocked to just be able to pass through the security checks at Schiphol without any of the security agencies noticing that I was one of the kidnapped. It wasn’t as if we did not make the daily, national news here. I was expecting them to take me aside and ask questions but I needed not have any expectations because none even noticed me!
Thinking if the mountain does not go to Mohamed, Mohamed will go to the mountain as soon as I got home I went to the local police station in my neighbourhood to report myself. The guy there looked totally confused. In his defence, he was a volunteer agent. Of course he had read about our case in the newspapers but with me standing in front of him, he was at a loss for what to do. Finally he called his superiors who, after a very long, almost incoherent conversation, told him to send me to the police headquarters in the region. To be sure they would receive me, he called them to tell them who I was and that I was on the way.
When I got there, the ladies who were already told I was coming, were looking as unprepared as shit. After sitting there for close to 30 minutes and after one of them had made several calls, one of them was ready to jot some things down about me. I tried to explain the whole situation to her while she was jotting some things down. You have to understand this was later that same evening I arrived in back in The Netherlands. I had not had any sleep for like 24 hours yet I was standing there making statements which I thought was part of my civic duty. I was hoping this would help in a way to secure the release of the other 3 people who were still being held at that time. I thought I was being taken serious. Halfway the lady told me they would contact me at a later date. I guessed it was too much to write for her. I left wondering if it was the right thing to report this horrendous crime to the Dutch police at all.
To my utter surprise the neighbourhood agent paid a visit to my house the next day! It was Sunday and was happy to welcome him. I thought, foolishly it turned out, that the police agents were finally taking the whole thing serious. But hell no! It is after all the Dutch police! He had heard that I was at the police station to report the kidnapping in Nigeria he said. Then he added that he actually came to be check if I was not a criminally-minded publicity seeker who was trying to benefit from the whole publicity surrounding the kidnapping story! There you go! I mean I understand that part of the investigative process is to rule out things but for me it was not the best thing to say after what I’d just been through. He could still see part of my unpacked luggage and I showed him some stuff to prove to him whom I was. He looked satisfied and told me they would come back at a later date to take a formal witness statement.
I did not hear anything from the Dutch police until more than a month later. When I did hear from the police, it was not because the local police coordinated with the national police; it was the national police who got my number from one of the fellow kidnapped (and now released) persons. This is even though I had left all my credentials with the police in my local area. Above all, all my credentials are in the police database anyway as a result of my previous profession as a youth worker. One could just check on the website of Africa Web TV or in the database of the chamber of commerce. Apparently it was too much work just to check.
The national police called me to make an appointment to talk with me as a witness. It is a process they call debriefing. This was to take place in the first half of June. To put this in the right context I run my own one-man business which means I am constantly working to stay on my feet. Setting a day free without working is for me a big deal. For the police I was will to do this since being kidnapped was not an everyday occurrence. So I cancelled all my business appointments for the day and waited for them to come.
Just about 2 hours before the scheduled appointment, they left a message on my voicemail to cancel! That meant not only my day gone but a huge loss of income. Weighed against the background of me having lost almost everything during the kidnapping in Nigeria, this was a cynical police joke I couldn’t appreciate. 2 weeks later they called to make another appointment for the 4th of July (exactly 2 months since the kidnap. Good timing!)
Fast forward 4th of July and they came as promised! Before the session began, one of them told me that the reason they are talking to me is so as to be able to learn lessons from the incident. They, as the police, were not going to use the statements in anyway but send it to the Dutch Ministry of External affairs. This ministry could take our (the kidnapping) experiences into consideration while formulating future travel advice for Nigeria. Most importantly, (and please readers, remember this to be able to understand what happened at the end of my debriefing) I was clearly told that I was not obliged to co-operate or answer any question. They were going to audio record everything and take notes too. At the end of the debriefing, they were going to print out copies of my statements for me to sign if I agreed to what was written. (I could have sworn I also head them say to me that I was going to get a copy of the statement, since I was helping them formulate policy, but apparently I misheard them. Because at the end of the process, I was only allowed to sign the one printed copy which they took along with then. I asked for a copy and they said no. In my previous encounters with the Dutch police in the time I was a youth worker, I’ve always been given a copy of my statements).
Being a video journalist by profession, I asked if I could video record the whole process of my debriefing. Because of the sensitivities, I suggested that the camera was only focussed on me so they would in no way be in the video. The aim of this request is that Africa Web TV is hoping to make a reconstruction of the whole kidnapping saga and I saw a chance to answer and record questions on camera from professionals so that Africa Web TV does not have to do the same again in a couple of weeks or months. It was a long shot but the 2 agents said no and would not bulge even when I explained my motive.
This is the 2nd day I am sacrificing for these people just to fulfil my civic obligations and to do my bit in preventing future occurrence of what I went through. But, no rules are rules. I felt irritated but I had to concur. That was the first time I started realising that all the opening explanation was just bullshit. They could just have told me that as a willing and co-operating witness, I had ZERO rights. It was their way or their way! Based on my previous experience with the police, I became a bit suspicious of their intent. However, I had given my word to co-operate and people who know me or Africa Web TV know we never break our word. So I sat down and answered all their questions honestly and as far as my memory could help me.
There were times during the intense questioning (“debriefing”) that one had vivid flashbacks about the kidnapping. There were times when one broke down recalling the day and the events thereafter. I realised that the wounds were still fresh even though I had made a conscious effort to move on with my life. The 2 agents did their best to feign some understanding. They were not good actors though. They were not in the eye of the storm of did not stare death in the face like we did. They could not ever appreciate what was going through me the whole time they were making me recall those events. This is a long, detailed blog so I will spare you some of the ridiculous questions I had to answer.
In any case, after about 4 hours of questioning and “debriefing” I produced the last picture I had taken before the gun-shooting kidnappers came for us. My aim was to assist the agents in conclusively establishing the time of our kidnap. The timestamp was on the picture. It showed 04-05-2014, 16:36 hours. It was a picture I had almost paid for with my life. The police wanted this picture. This should not have been a problem in itself. It was the way they asked to take this and a film that became a problem. It is the tone of the voice, the it-is-our-rights attitude. The, if-we-want-it-we-will-take-it demeanour that was so stupendous. It was as if they were claiming their own property. I shot that film, still will pain in my forehead where bullet cases had fallen, lying down just after the kidnappers took the white Dutch nationals and just before the other boat came to pick us (the other 2 black Dutch nationals).
This short film (about 20 seconds long) has for me become a symbol of my ordeal and survival. It is the only thing I have left that gives me a semblance of pride and self-esteem. This film has also become a source copyright/ownership tussle with some parties details of which I am at the moment not able or obliged to divulge. I had lost everything (my professional film camera, laptop, tripod, telephone, camera lens and even my glasses) on the Dodo Rivers of Bayelsa. If you were going to make a copy of this film you were going to make a superhuman effort convince me. You were at least going to ask nicely and give me time to think about it. So I politely said no. Remember I was told at the beginning I was not obliged to co-operate? It turned out it was a lie! As long as I did what I am told everything was fine. Now that I was told to release the film and I said no, the agent’s demeanour changed and then came the threat! It is either you give it to us willingly or I am going to have to impound it! I flipped!
Another official thief! You want to take something that is not yours from me. Welcome to the long list of thieves and police agents who have stolen my things in the last 2 months. The uniform might be different. The methods might be different but at the end of the day you are threatening me and you are all stealing my things only because you are in a position of power.
Spot the difference;
- The kidnappers: they stole all my equipment and my freedom. They at least came with guns
- The Nigerian police: they stole my pride, my belief and my freedom by jailing me when I went to report the crime. They were the authority.
- The Dutch police: who are threatening to impound my laptop and copy my film even though I am the victim and not the criminal? This is in my own house after robbing me of 2 days of income! Where were you when I needed you?
I can’t spot any difference! They are all thieves to me. If the agent had not threatened me I might have given her a copy. This is because it is nothing that was going to change anything. It was going to corroborate the story. How that was going to affect a travel advice to Nigeria, I don’t know. But if you start threatening a traumatised victim of kidnap and you still insist in calling yourself a cop in a so-civilised country, I am going to get mad. I gave up 2 days of my hard but necessary days and you start to threaten me after 4-5 hours of your so-called debriefing, then you are going to have to explain to me at which point I became the accused. If you are going to be so insensitive as to threaten someone who has just been through what I went through, what would you have done if I was the criminal? Civilised? Different from the Nigerian police? Non-power drunk? Don’t make me laugh!
What the so-called “debriefing” has now achieved is to set me back mentally to square 1. The Dutch police have displayed extreme incompetence (I came back into the country without any alarm bells sounding at Schiphol). I went to my neighbourhood police station to report a crime and people did not know what to do. Throughout the whole incident nobody from the government, the Ministry of External or Internal affairs got in touch with me or my family. The only person from the Dutch embassy in Nigeria who I spoke with (the day before I left Nigeria) I had to call myself. This is even though he was in touch with the other freed hostage almost on daily basis. As I am writing this; more than 2 months later, no government official has been in touch with me except the incompetent police agents who are threatening me. The government’s excuse while I was in captivity was that they did not know/have my credentials and so did not know how to contact me or my family. I think one can see through that. What is their excuse for not contacting me yet since I’ve been back? If they need to take my taxes they know where to find me.
What I have always known and relearned with this process of “debriefing” (it was more an interrogation) is the fact that the police is not your friend. Don’t believe the bullshit about having any rights even when you are being questioned as a witness/victim. The policeman is there for his own glory. You are just another box to be ticked off. He does not care a hoot about you. It is all about his personal glory. The police are almost always part of a bigger problem. What separates the Dutch police from the Nigerian police is just the distance. Their methods are the same. They have the POWER and more often than not they will MISUSE it.
If it appears as if I am angry, I can only say, that is an understatement. I am furious because since Friday 4th of July my nightmares and flashbacks have returned. I am having trouble sleeping again at night. Thank you Dutch Police. This is how you reward someone who has been a crime victim and who was willing to cooperate with you. You really have some guts to threaten me in my own house. I hope you guys can sleep well. Shame on you.
