Founder of IrokoTV, Jason Njoku has shared an unnerving encounter he had with police while on a business trip to Johannesburg, South Africa.
He shared this in a Twitter thread on Sunday.
He explained that he was in an Uber on the way to the airport when the cops pulled the vehicle over.
Njoku noted that the policemen conducted a thorough search on him after they asked him for his nationality and he said he was Nigerian.
According to him, the encounter became more complicated after the policemen found multiple SIM cards on him.
He said that his explanation that the SIM cards were for his work as a product manager fell on deaf ears.
Njoku stated that the policemen only left him go after he told them to conduct a Google search of his name to confirm his identity.
So I was stopped by the South African police (whilst in an uber) en route to the airport this afternoon. They asked me to see documents, I had my 🇬🇧passport in my pocket. They asked where I'm from in Africa. I said 🇳🇬. They made me come down for a thorough search. They saw sims pic.twitter.com/WnwWZzesXw
— JasonNjoku (@JasonNjoku) July 17, 2022
When they saw my dozens of sim cards & several phones they were 100% convinced I was into cyber crime. Apparently it's illegal to have so many sim cards 😂. I told them I was a product manager who travels testing different Momo across Africa. They had my passport stamps so 🤷🏾♂️
— JasonNjoku (@JasonNjoku) July 17, 2022
15mins in I literally had to force them to Google me to see I wasn't up to anything nefarious. I wondered the story I would have told if I didn't have that option. In the end they gave me their numbers to call them if I had any problems in JoBurg 😏
— JasonNjoku (@JasonNjoku) July 17, 2022
When we beat ourselves up here on tribal things I can assure you no one outside cares. We are all Nigerian 🇳🇬. When that comes to light. They treat us accordingly. In the end they're doing their job. But we all collectively benefit from a stronger 🇳🇬. So to a glorious nation 🇳🇬💪🏾
— JasonNjoku (@JasonNjoku) July 17, 2022