Tuesday June 12, 2018 was just like one of those days. I woke up earlier than I normally do and surprisingly had enough strength to rise from my bed and prepare for work. In half an hour I was set, strapped in my black polo shirt, black jeans and my thanksgiving jacket, one of my best combos. By 5:45AM, I was set for work. I trekked to UNILAG gate, hopped on a bike and in like 2 minutes I was at the junction. While waiting for a bus, I met a corporately dressed guy who looked like he was going to work, our eyes met and I gave a quick horizontal nod to save myself the stress of saying good morning, he responded affirmatively. I stuffed in my ear plugs and increased the volume, I was listening to Jaymikee’s new album.
In less than a minute a yellow danfo bus approached, it had an unusual speed for a bus keen to pick up passengers which was a bit off considering myself and a guy were waiting at the bus stop. I shouted Obalende and flagged the bus anyways, it halted few meters from where we stood. The corporate guy made a quick move to go for the bus, I did same and was faster so I got to there first. As I settled in the bus just behind the driver’s seat, I saw the “conductor” draw the door as the other guy was about to enter, there was still enough space to fit so I said, na obalende that guy dey go na, the conductor retorted he no dey go jur. At that point, I was starting to feel I entered the wrong one, I did a quick glance behind me and saw three hefty guys. I knew I was in for it, I sat up, sighed heavily and braced for impact.
Five fingers and a sweaty palm met my ears, one from the left, the other from the right, as deafening as the impact was, I could hear like I had never heard, before I could recover and process the slap, my head was in full grasp of one of the guys sited at my back, he squeezed the hell out of my neck that I felt my eyes enucleating. The show of strength landed me on the floor inside the bus, one of the guys put his leg on my head, smelt like goat shit. The interrogation then started.
Wey your phone? E dey my pocket I quickly responded. They raised me a bit to reach for my pocket but didn’t find it, one of the five guys felt like I was playing games, so he started kicking me in the stomach. I felt zero pain, my mind was elsewhere, I just hoped and prayed it was a robbery and nothing more. I then told them it must have dropped in the bus and pleaded to be spared, in my words, “abeg, I go corporate, I go corporate”. They found my phone, asked me to unlock it, each request was met with either a slap or kick. They went through my messages to see my bank alerts, they must have found nothing so they went through my bag, took my debit card and emphatically told me to give them my correct pin if I love myself. knowing what those guys are capable of doing to my face, I gave them my debit card pin, they didn’t believe so the guy who had his boot on my head added compression and the one beside him contributed few kicks, I kept begging and told them it was the correct pin. Next thing they told me to send money from my gtbank account to them, I told them I do not have money in my other account and it was not gtbank. They somehow believed me and that was the end of that.
They drove around for few more minutes, asked me to sit up gently and rearrange myself, my black shirt was torn by the side and was dusty by now. They handed me my black bag, I could feel the emptiness from the weight. The bus then halted slowly and I was ordered to get out, as I was stepping out, one of the guys behind said shey make we shoot am? I wasn’t even bothered, someone also said we no take anything from you o, they assisted me with a kick in the butt and I was somewhere in palmgroove. From my calculation the robbery took less than 20 mins, the morning was beginning to get bright. I didn’t know how to react, I tried to cry but didn’t work, I scratched my head as I looked for street signs to be sure of where I was. Moments later I saw a bike, explained what happened to him and told him I will give him money when I get home.
They took everything from me including ear piece, charger and the 650 naira change in my back pocket.
Bad experience. Lovely write-up.
ReplyDeletethanks, one to forget
ReplyDeleteJeez! That's a bad one in a good write up.
ReplyDelete