What’s a Life Worth

The dialogue below is once upon a chat with my brother, on yahoo messenger, last year.

 

 

Me: how far?

 

Brother: was attacked by armed robbers on my way home on Thursday

 

Me: hmmm. Ur phone again? (I asked this because my brother is so glued to his phone. He lost it one night when someone just reached into the car he was sitting in, in traffic, collected the phone while he was trying to place a call, and robber disappeared. My brother saved and bought same phone again).

 

Brother: u won't believe they shot the driver and the passenger beside me

 

Me: what happened gist me

 

Brother: I took a bus from Orile. It was late and bus was scarce. I closed late from work.

 

Me: did u lose ur phone

 

Brother: so at Alakija some boys entered

 

Brother: they told the driver to stop the bus at Finiger bus stop (that bus-stop on Badagry express is one dangerous place that no bus ever stops there once it's 6pm).

 

Brother: but the driver refused so they shot him when he was on speed

 

Brother: so the bus swayed from one side of the road to the other

 

Brother: nearly killing all of us. so they told all of us to bring our phones and money out. the guy with the gun was sitting two people after me. so he collected phones from the guy close to him and came over to the guy close to me. while he was hesitating, he was shot in the stomach. by then I was confused of what to do cos I had already hidden my phone in my shoe and if I bent down to bring it out they might think I am hesitating too. so I just left myself to my fate. and guess what? The guy with the gun left my row and went to the next. I could not thank God enough

 

Me: hmmm

 

Brother: on the next row they broke somebody's head with the butt of the gun. so after that they left us

 

Me: u should thank God

 

Brother: so people were shouting at the driver to move

 

Me: driver that was shot?

 

Brother: when we checked him he just leaned on the steering wheel moaning, so I jumped through the window and ran all the way home with my phone safe and I was not hurt but my shirt was stained with blood.

 

 

Most thieves will kill for anything. Human life means absolutely nothing to them. We are in that period of the year when killings and robbing increases. So everyone, be careful. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

 

A Display Of Love

It was a Monday night and my friend O was at the wheel. We hadn't seen in a short while so I was spending two days with her at Lekki before I left Lagos for Jos. To avoid the mad traffic on Lekki express, we entered Lekki Phase 1 and was soon trying to connect the express. There was a short traffic leading to the express. Suddenly, the Nisan Black Jeep beside us made to enter our front. O didn't let her because the Nissan's lane was moving, faster than ours, and O didn't want the young girl at the wheel of the Nissan to frustrate her own movement. When we moved past the Nissan Jeep, the two girls in the ride looked at us and we at them. Then I noticed her plate numbers 'JESUS LOVE'. I said wow. Almost immediately, we nicknamed her Jesus Love.

A few distance to the roundabout, Jesus Love went past us cause her lane was faster and she entered our front and got on the express and back to her lane. We laughed at the way she went past us, like she was proving to us that she could cut us off. Back on the express, we were back in traffic but our lane was still moving, as we approached Jesus Love, she decided to leave her lane and come in front of us, but O was a better driver and O's Land Rover brushed Jesus Love's mirror.

A bit free of traffic, Jesus Love sped up to us and started raining abuses on us, just as she cut into our front and stopped. But O already predicted her move and was out from behind Jesus Love and moving. It was so funny because Jesus Love was trying to prove something. She should have entered our front before we came up close to her. But because she saw us that close, she decided late, just to block us, because O didn't let her into our front earlier. So it wasn't O's fault that Jesus Love's Mirror was touched, though not damaged.

So I told O what I have heard about supposed missionaries. You have a bumper sticker that reads 'obey traffic laws' and yet you break them. The examples I can give are much. Anyone seeing a JESUS LOVE plate number, would expect a better display of character from our Nissan driver.

When Jesus Love drove up to us again, she and her friend still raining insults on us, we returned by hailing her. 'Jesus Love. Are you showing the Love of Jesus?'She was a bit taken aback but not put off, the insults continued and she wasn't watching her fast driving, cause she had worked herself into such agitation that even her friend who started calming her down, didn't succeed. Next thing we heard, Jesus Love rammed into a car in front of her, whose booth flew open on impact, that car hit another, which hit another.

In a split second she was out of her Jeep at the same time the driver of the first car she hit got down. Jesus Love was storming towards him and pointing at us who were gone but watching from the mirror that we were to blame. What? I would have loved to see how that ended, but we couldn't cause traffic.

It was so very funny and I can't capture it in writing. But what in essence I am saying is, we should mind the image we try to give ourselves outside. With our bumper stickers and personalised plate numbers, let us try and practice exactly what we are preaching.