Leye Adenle > Quotes

“You really don't get it, do you? All of us worked hard for this. We trained hard, we drilled hard and we studied hard. We cut our teeth in the field. But you: someone made a call, and now you're here living out a police-and-thief fantasy. This is not a game. People lose their lives in this job. Those men going to Kogi to look for Adams - if he has been kidnapped, some of them might not come back. Do you understand? This is not a game, so stop trying to impress anyone. You're just exposing your ignorance.”
― Leye Adenle, Cell One

“I didn't know the man; the evidence was that he was a piece of shit, but he was a human being undergoing torture live on air against the rising threat of drowning.”
― Leye Adenle, Cell One

“Stop talking unless someone asks for your opinion. The problem with people like you is that You think you're better than locals because you studied abroad. Look, we're not stupid here. Lose that know-it-all attitude before you irritate everybody.”
― Leye Adenle, Cell One

“Instinct is your best friend in this job, while doubt is your enemy. Doubt will kill you. If you feel in your body that something is wrong, you have to act immediately. It's better to be wrong ten times than to be right one time but not listen to your instinct. Instinct is your guardian angel. She will guide you well in this job.”
― Leye Adenle, Cell One

“Yes. They're even trying to fish out who did it. They don't want their market to be destroyed There's a lot you still have to learn about police work. We don't capture every criminal or solve every crime, so we partner with some of them. They let us know who is new in the business, who is doing what, who is planning what, that kind of thing.
As long as they play according to the rules - no killing, no raping, et cetera - and they keep giving us good intel, we look the other way. They mostly snitch on their rivals.”
― Leye Adenle, Cell One

“Onlookers clustered on one side of the road, with news crews stationed just ahead of them. Across the divide, by the interior gate to the property, armed officers stood with AK-47s slung across their chests, eyes scanning the crowd. The scene looked less like crowd control and more like a stand-off: the people versus the government. It was in the way the locals spoke in low tones, glaring at the officers with resentment, and in the way the officers looked back - with suspicion and quiet contempt. I realised what had unnerved me about the crowd outside the gate to the estate, and earlier with the throng of Okada riders - a riot was simmering just beneath the surface.”
― Leye Adenle, Cell One