It's that time of the year, everyone is excited and so was I. I have been away from home for the last 8months. I was going to be meeting my family after a long time, it's going to be a wonderful reunion.
My phone rings and I picked it up, Osi called to know when we are leaving for the journey. Osi's distance was shorter than mine. "Osi I think we should leave by 6am , you know it will take me 10hours or more to get home" I said. Osi responded "that's true,mine is just hours".
Osi and I were doing our compulsory one year youth service program after graduating from the University. We met each other at the village we were posted to serve. Osi is a funny guy who always made sure everyone around him had a good laugh. We tagged him "The Clown". It was Christmas period and everyone just wanted to get home and spend time with their families.
I got up around 5am and prepared for the journey. I called Osi and asked if he was ready and he said yes but that Eric and Mercy were going to join us. It was okay since all of us where all going to the same direction. Mercy and I were going to Uyo, Eric was going to Port Harcourt and Osi was going to Onitsha. After from Osi, the three of us still had to take another bus to our destination since there was no direct bus from Ekiti.
We go to the park were we all joined a bus and left for our journey to Onitsha the ride was smooth and interesting. Everyone in the bus seemed nice and calm . The driver played a beautiful collection of songs and everyone teased him that he was a disc jockey pretending to be a driver. As we got to Asaba we met a gridlock just by the bridge and at first we thought it was just a minor one. But before we realized it, an hour was gone. We were lucky as the Police came and helped in sorting out the issue that caused the gridlock.
We got to Onitsha and I was happy, I love the town because of the markets there. You can practically buy anything you want. We did a little shopping and had our lunch . We said are good byes to Osi and we headed to the park were we will board buses to our destination. Eric boarded a bus and the bus left. Mercy and I were little confused about the particular bus we should board because their prices varied and that means the driver might have to drop off people at various villages before taking us to Uyo.
We saw a particular bus and it was looking beautiful and clean but my intuition kept telling me that we should not board the bus. I told Mercy about how I felt, she smiled and said "the journey is just 4hours and this is just 2pm, we should be home by 6pm". Well all she said was true. I became very uncomfortable but maybe I was just over thinking things.
We moved and the driver was cool and nice. The way he drove I was so impressed and happy. We got to Imo state and I told Mercy "in the next 2hours we should be home". She nodded and went back to sleep. I taped her and said "come down", said looked at me with her sleepy eyes and asked "why?" I informed her we had a flat tire. The driver changed the flat tire and fixed the spare tire.
We got to a lonely road, there were no houses around. Drivers don't like stopping on that road because of how dangerous it is even if you want to answer nature's call, you will be told to wait until they get to a safer location. Our driver slowed down and everyone wondered what happened. "We have another flat tire" the driver said. Everyone in the bus screamed, not on this road I thought. And there was no spare tire,as we were standing by the bus contemplating what we are going to do about the situation. We saw buses coming from the opposite direction with top speed that I wondered why. A driver slowed down and shouted armed robbers. It seems high way robbers were robbing not too far away. Fear gripped everyone, Mercy asked me "what do we do now?" I said "let's hide in the bush". That all I could think of, another bus came and stopped. The driver informed us we should leave the place that the robbers were coming towards us.
I could see fear in the eyes of the people. Mercy said to me "Your intuition was right", I looked at her and saw fear. I told her don't worry we will be safe. I said to the other passengers " let run back at least far away from this spot, when the robbers come here the will search around the bushes because If they see a broken down vehicle they would suspect that people are around". Someone shouted "what of our properties? you are saying this because you are carrying just a school bag". At that moment properties was not important but our lives. But it seems no one listened to me.
Mercy and I started jogging towards the opposite direction. We hope we would a bus that will pick up us or at least we can hide in a safer distance from the broken down bus. We kept running for close to 30munites. When we heard gunshots and fear gripped us. We heard the sound of a vehicle in the bush, we stopped and looked round. I saw a man trying to lock the back of his truck which was filled with Cassava. I told Mercy let's ask him for help she said "how do we know he won't kill us" . I told her "you wait here let me go and ask him". As I approched the man he shouted "wait there, don't come close, who are you and what are you doing here". I showed him my ID card and explained to him what happened. By this time the gunshots became louder. The man said "call your colleague and let's leave this place".
We drove from the bus into the main road, I could see some the passengers in our bus running towards us and screaming. I asked the man "wait and pick them up". He said "The back is full and besides the robbers are close". He sped off and drove like he was drunk. We got to a small village and I was happy we were safe. I kept wondering what happened to others. The man said to me "They are safe those armed robbers don't kill the just take your money and leave". I asked him "how do you know?" he said "I have encountered them so many times".
I asked Mercy if we should pass the night in the village,she said no that she has a marriage to attend the next day. I told her we had to go back to a near by town and board another vehicle. The man said his brother is a driver and can take us to Aba. And from Aba to Uyo is an hours journey. I asked him how is that possible. The man laughed at me and said "you people use the high way buy there are roads in these villages that is shorter but it's just bad". He called his brother the man came with an SUV to me surprise. Mercy and I negotiated with him and he said he would take us to Uyo. I was so happy and I thanked the man and his brother. All this while Mercy didn't say a word.
We started the journey and We got to Uyo by 9pm. We dropped Mercy off at her house and Her parents thanked me and the driver. Mercy had told them what had happened over the phone and they were happy we came back to Uyo safe. I got to my home and I met everyone up and waiting for me. They were all happy with big smiles on their faces.
I promised myself that next time I will listen to my intuition, no matter who tries to convince me not to.
Wow. That was a close shave, quite traumatic too.
I really get mad at myself when my intuition tells me something and I ignore it. 😑
I'm glad you and your colleague got out safely.
It's an experience I look back and I learn that it's always good to listen to ones intuition.
Hey! Close call right there. But I believe the man of the truck was right. They tend to do these gunshot shows so people will surrender without a fight. Still, better not to take on luck. I felt a grip in my chest just imagining how would it feel to be there... I am glad you and your friend are safe.
It was a frightening experience.
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