I am a Nigerian, an average Nigerian who can afford an airfare of 28,000 naira from Ilorin to Abuja today but might find it difficult to travel via the same airline by next week, because that same ticket I got for 28,000 naira is now 61,000 naira. This was my fate on July 18, 2021, just two days before the annual Ileya festival.
Immediately I saw the bogus price hike, I resorted to going to my hometown (Ilorin) by road. Mind you, it was just 8,000 naira as opposed to 61,000 naira. However, flying takes only 55 minutes, whereas the road trip takes at least 6 hours.
It was a Sunday morning; I was up as early as 5 am and was already at the motor park by half past 5. I was lucky to make it into the first bus heading to Ilorin; we set out at about 6 am, and before noon, we were already in Lokoja. We had a smooth ride from Abuja to Lokoja, and shortly towards Ekiti, our woes began.
While on an express road, we saw a roadblock ahead; it was quite distant, the outfit was somehow blurry, so it was unclear which of the security operatives were conducting a stop and search. As we moved closer, we still did not know who they were and why they were there. Something became clearer as we got closer; they were wielding weapons and fiercely looking. There was a relatively long queue, and we joined.
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Alas, as we were moving closer to them, the greatest fear and nightmare of all Nigerians became my (our) reality. The gentlemen on the highway were waiting for us; the kidnappers we had heard so much about were standing in front of us, pursuing their “daily bread” without hindrance. We were about to file out of the bus as instructed by a middle-aged man, looking rough, dirty, and smelly.
It was supposed to be a long day for us; the tales of kidnapped victims have never been a funny one, ours wasn’t meant to differ but God so good, we had the shortest encounter with these fiercely looking men. Just as we were about to move out of the bus, God came through for us! Guess what happened?
The men of the Nigerian Customs Service were in pursuit of a set of car smugglers. We had no idea where they were coming from; the smugglers were around 6 in different SUVs with the Customs officers in 2 Hilux vans blaring their siren from a far distance. The siren was enough to scare the kidnappers away and they all ran for their lives. While some ran into the bushes that surrounded the roadway, others got into their car and drove in the opposite direction.
It was until we had all left the scene we realized the Customs officers’ supposed patrol was a coincidence and a miracle for us. It was a different toll for the smugglers as they could not escape the hot pursuit of the Customs officers.
After a short while, everybody started calling their loved ones to narrate the bittersweet experience, it was indeed a thrilling experience. We arrived at the state capital of Ilorin at about 3 pm with every passenger full of gratitude to the Almighty.
About Ahmad Aluko
Ahmad is a copywriter, technical writer, columnist and certified social media handler. He has interest in tech, governance, international relations, politics and academic research.
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Wow. Alhamdulillahi for life. In that kind of moment, I’m the kind of person to beg God to help me thank God