Assistant superintendent of police Sunday Erhator says he has never shot anyone since he joined the Nigeria Police Force on June 1, 1992.
Erhator has been getting commendations for his professional conduct and restraint when assaulted by a traffic offender Victor Ebhomenyen in the Oniru area of Lagos State over the weekend.
In an interview with PUNCH published on Tuesday, when asked if he had ever shot anyone, he said: “God forbid, I have never shot anyone before.”
Pressed further, he said: “Yes, I have never. Whatever you do to somebody, somebody must do to you. In fact, I hate those sessions that require shooting. Shooting people is not a good omen. Every day, before any operation, I do pray to God that He won’t allow me to encounter a situation that would warrant me to shoot.”
Erhator said his colleagues believe he is too patient.
“I have received so many comments from my colleagues. They say I am too patient,” he said. “But I do tell them that age is already telling on me and I have no reason to be angry when I have children like the everyday person I encounter on the job. So, I treat everyone like my child or my younger siblings.”
Erhator said one of his worst days as a policeman was when a woman slapped him in Festac area of Lagos.
“We were on a skeletal stop-and-search duty along Okota road. I stopped a car, with a woman and her husband sitting in the front seats. Then the woman came down and yelled, ‘Why are you stopping us?’ Then the next thing was that she slapped me on the face,” he said.
