Finally Egunje...

finally i have confirmation that the police are likely to be the same across west africa. well they all accept 'egunje'. i had my first run-in with the law since coming to the host country. i was on the phone and made a wrong turn. a policewoman spotted my mistake and signaled that i should park. she asked if i had seen the signs on the road which would make that turn illegal. i told her i was on the phone and that i didn't know the area very well hence my mistake (mind you this was the truth). she asked for my driver's license and i handed her my international driver's license which further corroborated my story. she got into the car and asked me to keep driving to their station. i was to be booked to appear in court on traffic violation. the look on my face told her i certainly didn't need a criminal record in a foreign land.

at the station she brought out the booking papers then after a while passed me to a male colleague without writing anything. i began explaining afresh my mistake and really i was sorry for breaking the law though not intentional. it was pointed out that ignorance isn't an excuse. well the bottom line is that passing me to a male colleague was a way of helping me out. seems the guys are better at collecting egunje than the women (ie only in the host country because its still fresh in memory how i was 'obtained' by a policewoman back home – another story). anyway, with this new policeman we spent ten minutes discussing about my offense and skirting around the real issues. eventually, he told me if i had anything i could just drop. being no expert at giving egunje especially internationally i had to get some tips from the policeman on how to put the egunje in my international driver's license and pass it on.

bottomline, i parted with some egunje and was allowed to go. now the difference i found was in the approach. all through the 'ordeal' the policeman and woman were very polite. the policeman didn't 'demand' for egunje rather asked 'nicely' almost embarrassingly. he didn't also specify the amount of the egunje which put me in a quagmire because i was forced to err on the side of caution. by home country standards i paid peanuts to get out of that one but then again by host country standards i may have paid too much. i was grateful anyway, better this than, trying to explain to a judge why i had to come all the way from my home country to break their laws. lesson's learnt : always use a taxi when you are going to an area you are not familiar with.