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Happy New Year Guys!

I’m so sorry for not posting all these while, its a new year and that’s going to change as I have plenty Lagos gist for you :). Lets start with this.

Not sure what to make of this experience. My sister said that I was being over dramatic but I’ll tell you the story and let you judge for yourself.

Do you still remember my colleague who lives in Yaba and whom I usually join home on days that I work late?

So I joined him on this said day and he dropped me off at Sabo Yaba as usual. I was wearing my organization’s branded T-shirt and carrying a laptop in my backpack. Out of caution and for security reasons,  I carried the backpack on my chest (this also helped to cover the branded company logo on my T-Shirt)…

I got to the bus stop where I’ll catch a bus going towards my destination and observed that many of the buses were empty of passengers. There was however, one bus with a driver, two female occupants sitting in the front row of the back section and a conductor who was calling for passengers.

I got into the bus and sat on the second road behind the two ladies. However, what got me agitated was that shortly after I boarded the bus, the driver sped off at an instant (note we were only 3 occupants in an 18 sitter bus). I inquired from the bus conductor the reason for speeding off before the bus was fully boarded with passengers, and he said the police was chasing them. I looked behind but couldn’t find any police presence. I told him I couldn’t find any police vehicles after us but he responded that they were in a private vehicle about 2 cars behind us. I sat down wondering what was going on and overtly conscious of this situation (partly also because of the t-shirt I was wearing). Then the unexpected happened.

We got to Domino area and the driver turned the bus at full speed sharply into the street on the right. I scream out to the driver, “Where are you going? Please drop me!” The conductor said they were trying to hide from the police and will turn back shortly…. I stood up anxiously and said I wanted to get down from the bus… The two female passengers in front tried to convince me to calm down saying the bus will soon turn around. At this point, I started screaming increasingly and pushing the bus conductor who stood barring the door….. Eventually, the conductor moved aside and asked the driver to stop for me to alight. I moved to the edge of the door, the driver slowed down (didn’t stop completely) and I immediately jump down from the bus.

I thanked God for life and started walking towards the road, looking out for when the bus will turn back (I still cannot see the police and can’t understand why the bus won’t turn back).

I walked back to the beginning of the street, got another bus and that was the last I saw of the initial one.

What do you think of this?

Leaving in Lagos and our experiences as Lagos Commuters are so interesting that I can’t help but write about.

Check the archive for previous stories and hit the follow button to follow this blog for more stories of my Lagos experience.