We often think that humanity is a lost cause, but then something happens and you’re given a reason to believe that there’s still hope. In Nigeria, the saying “The Police is your friend” is actually ironic.

Nobody believes it. Coming across a good, selfless police officer is the same as seeing a blue moon. But something happened recently that impressed us and we’re sure it’ll impress you too.

Remember Edward Ezekiel Onoriode, the police officer who defuses bombs for a living?

He’s the stuff of Hollywood action movies are made of.

Edward has given us another reason to love police officers.

He discovered a purse, at Ikeja Shopping Mall, containing valuables and really expensive items such as: cash in local and foreign currencies, recharge cards worth N2000, nine ATM cards, international passport, international and local drivers licenses, a national ID card, voters card and a gold necklace. Edward had the opportunity to keep everything for himself, or return the purse with some articles missing and he would’t be held accountable if he said that he found it that way. But he got in contact with and returned the purse to the owner.

The lady who couldn’t believe her luck offered Edward monetary compensation, which he promptly turned down, because he believes “It’s good to do the right thing, not because of any reward that comes with it, but because its the right thing to do.”

Could any police officer get better than that?

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I was at Ikeja shopping mall two days ago on duty where I recovered a missing purse at the parking lot. The purse…

Posted by Edward Ezekiel Onoriode on Friday, December 4, 2015

I was at Ikeja shopping mall two days ago on duty where I recovered a missing purse at the parking lot. The purse contained; some cash both local and foreign currencies, recharge cards worth about N2000, nine ATM cards, complementary cards, valuable documents, international passport, international and local drivers license, national ID card, voters card and a gold necklace. I took the missing purse to the security office where all lost but found items are being kept for the owners to claim should in case the owners lodge a formal complaint that their items at the mall went missing for possibly claim after identification. At the security office where we went through all the items inside the purse for record purpose, one of the security men told me point blank that if he’s the one that recovered the missing purse, he’d remove the money, gold necklace and recharge card before bringing the purse to the office for record purpose. I wasn’t disappointed with his misguided speech because that’s the normal character of most Nigerians when they recover a missing item. Somehow, I decide to trace the owner of the purse via her complimentary card and put a call across to her. Open receiving the call, she screamed at the background jubilating that her missing purse has been recovered. She drove straight to the mall, tracing me through my mobile number I used in calling her. When we met, she didn’t mind we were in public, she gave me a warm hug and thanked me and prayed for me. I took her to the office where the purse was kept. She checked her purse and discovered that nothing was missing. She was astonished. She asked me again if I was the one that saw the item and I said yes. She told me that she was already in the bank filling forms to block her ATM cards. She said in those ATM cards, she have over N200m in there and the necklace in the purse is valued at N1.8m. She also said, I just removed a heavy burden from her neck because life would have been miserable for her missing her international passport, international and local drivers licence including other documents. She kept thanking me and almost knelling down. She was awed and she told me that she least expected a Police officer to recover a missing item containing cash and still return that missing item intact without removing a dime out of it mostly in this harsh economy. She kept staring at me like am a God. To cut the long story short, she gave me some cash which I rejected. I told her am doing my job and taking money from her for recovering her missing purse is wrong on my part. I also made her to understand that we can become friends and maybe in the future she can appreciate my nice gesture to her but I won’t take anything from her for doing my job at the moment. She became speechless and asked me which church am i attending? I smiled and told her “am irreligious. In fact, am a freethinker” that’s the exact words I told her. She stood their for minutes without knowing the next word to say. Anyway, we are now friends and she just introduced me to her husband this morning on phone. Her husband was so excited and has invited me and my family to join them on a dinner in any of my off days. Is good to do the right thing not because of any reward that comes with it but because its the right thing to do. NOTE: IF ANY OF YOU ARE IN DOUBT OF THIS STORY, THE ADDRESS WHERE THIS INCIDENCE TOOK PLACE IS IKEJA SHOPPING MALL ALAUSA LAGOS. GO THERE AND INVESTIGATE RIGHT FROM THE ENTRANCE GATE AND THE SECURITY STAND. Good morning.

As Edward says,

Your being in uniform is to protect the lives of civilians while the civilians are to pay you via tax to the government that employed you. You don’t disrespect those that pay you so, respect the civilians and they’d respect you in return.

Edward and his family has made two friends for life.

We hope that Edward will serve as a poster boy for police officers everywhere.