Framed for abduction.

I have been on earth for quite some time and I have experienced a lot of things that left me stunned but there is a particular one that still makes me laugh today. It wasn't a funny experience the day it happened and I thank God for my life because a lot of people have become prisoners for crimes they never committed. It could have been a different case if not for God, I would have been cheated on and still suffer for it, that should give you a feel of how damaged our security system in the country is.

I was either 16 or 17, I can't remember the exact age. After I left my first teaching job, I did phone calls and recharge card business for a while before going into another teaching business.

Everyone loved me in that community and I made good sales because of my relationship with people. I was using small space and I had this long bench that made people hang around me in the evening.

Among those we do keep my company then was a girl named Lade, she was my junior in school but I didn't know her when I was in school. Her friend was dating my friend and my place was their regular spot so it made her come to my shop regularly. We became very close, I treated her as a junior and she referred to me as an older brother.

After sometime, sales dropped because phones were becoming very affordable so I quit and went for a better teaching job. I returned home from work in the evening on a particular day, I changed into military camouflage shorts and settle to eat when my brother who still attended the same school as Lade told me that she was missing.

I was worried and kept praying that nothing evil happened to her. After the meal, I heard a knock on the door and checked, it turned out to be police officers. I greeted them and they started questioning me about the girl, I told them I haven't seen her since I stopped working in her area. I answered every question truthfully and they left.

I was outside wondering what could be going on because it must be a serious issue since the police are involved. I returned to the house and heard someone knocking again within a short time. The police showed up and said, they got information that I abducted the girl.

They forced their way into the house and turn everywhere upside down, one of them hit me while I was insisting that I dress properly since they wanted to take me away even though they didn't find the girl. My neighbors came out and told me not to argue with them, I was allowed to wear my clothes and I followed them.

The moment I got out of the compound, the people on my street were surprised and they followed the police van to the station. An IPO was assigned to me, they told me to write a statement and I wrote how the police falsely accused me of abduction, they didn't take it from me and insisted I wrote about the love affair I was having with the girl.

The IPO who was handling the case asked for my age and she abandoned the case immediately after I told her my age. She requested that they allowed my mom into the station, a police officer asked who my mother was among the people who followed me and said they all said that they were my mother, the police got confused.

While the interrogation was going on, my mom reached the station because she was at work when everything happened. I couldn't hold back tears when I saw her because I don't like her going through any form of trouble.

After several interrogations, they told my mom to get a lawyer who was going to represent me in court.

I was like just like that, a lawyer?

I was kept on their counter and I couldn't stop crying because I knew mom's heart was troubled, she wouldn't let me stay there a second more if she had the power to do so. She reached out to her brother who worked as a CID, he came to the station immediately, and his involvement turned things around.

I was granted bail which surprised me because I didn't do anything wrong and I was told to report to the station the next morning for court processing.

I went the next day and the IPO didn't show up so I just hang around at the station, I noticed some people who had cases there were struggling to put down their statements so I helped them out.

I wrote statements for a few people and learned lessons from different stories.

The IPO who turned down the case initially saw me and came over, she asked me a few questions, and after I answered, she told me not to worry myself and that she was certain I had nothing to do with the missing girl. I kept reporting to the station every morning few that week and on a faithful morning, I was told by the DPO not to come again.

I was happy at the news because I couldn't go to work for that period, I missed my students and my life. I went to the girl's area to find out what was really happening and I discovered a lot of things that shocked me.

Firstly, it was the elder brother of the girl's boyfriend that led the police to my place. This was someone I respect a lot but he did that to protect his brother, I wondered why he did that if they weren't hiding anything.

Secondly, there was no proof of my involvement in the girl's disappearance but her mother took the step because she was dating a senior police officer who initiated the arrest without looking into the situation.

Thirdly, the mother was the reason why the girl went missing. She scolded her for something and the girl ran away after that.

Fourthly there has been a rumor about me dating her because we were close which was wrong.

I told my mom and she intended to sue them for defamation but I persuaded her not to because we didn't have the finance to keep dragging the case and we can end up being targeted because of the police's dirty involvement.

The girl didn't show up until 4 months later, I was happy she was found. She came back home pregnant with claims that a man kidnapped her when she was wandering around at night and kept her somewhere far from town.

She was told everything her mother did and she came looking for me at work. She knelt on the road begging and I felt embarrassed, I never had any grudges with her but I made her understand that seeing her would only make me develop more hate for her mother so I cut the connection between us and every person who suggested that I was the one who abducted her.

These shouldn't be anything serious if the police had done their job right and it would interest you to know that a lot of people have been sent to jail for something they were innocent about.

I learned my lesson and tried to keep friendship at distance after the incident but it was difficult because I am very opened minded and caring to anyone I refer to as a friend. I still encountered problems with letting people get too close to me and I hope I don't get punished severely for that someday because I haven't changed that much, it is just who I am.