The day I nearly collected bribe from a man I later sentenced

2009, I was still magistrate in Ogba. This man walked into my chambers with a Ghana-must-go bag. He said it was for my children's school fees. I looked inside. ₦2 million cash. I was earning ₦180k a month then.

I told him to sit down. Then I asked him one question. Did he know what section 98 of the Criminal Code says about corrupting a public officer? His face changed. I called the registrar to witness the bag and we logged it as exhibit.

Two years later I sentenced him for a different matter. Land fraud. The evidence was clear. He looked at me in court and shook his head. I have never forgotten that bag. Sometimes the law is not about what you gain. It is about what you refuse to lose.