It's the kind of thing you watch in the movies(Nigerian movies
obviously) or hear on the news but you never for once imagine it will
happen to you. And for a long time I have sort of repressed the memory
of the events of that day because even as I write, I still somewhat find
it hard to believe. In fact up until now, I've only ever told this
story to two people.
During one of my brief layovers in Lagos before returning back to school after the summer break, I was asked to run an errand to the University Of Lagos.
Mind you this was my first time out on my own in Lagos and the only directions I knew was from Gbagada to UNILAG and back.
So on this fateful day I boarded a taxi at the junction with another passenger in the back seat. We drove a short distance and the taxi driver stopped by the road side to pick up a woman standing with a brown carton which was placed in the trunk of the car.
Soon after the woman( who was sitting in the front seat) started quarreling with the driver about the cab fare. Apparently she wanted to pay a lower amount. The driver who obviously didn't want any trouble stopped the car and told the woman to come down if she wasn't going to pay the standard fare.
The driver then stepped out of the taxi to open the boot for the woman so she could retrieve her carton.
Next thing I know the driver comes back inside the car with the woman in tow and we entered the road again. I exchanged puzzled looks with the other passenger beside me.
The driver then turns to the woman in the front seat and asks "Madam wetn u dey carry for carton?(what are you carrying in the carton?). If police catch us now, wetn you go talk?"
The woman, who is now very much subdued starts pleading with the driver, "Oga abeg help me...."
Ok I think I should explain a few things here cos I can tell you are already wondering. The woman had run away from her "Alhaji's house" who she claimed used her for prostitution and also forced her to sleep with dogs for money. According to her, there were other girls in the house like her.
And before she ran she stole a big carton of money which contained dollars from them. So it was this carton of money she was carrying when we picked her up.
Before I could say Jack Robinson, the driver and the male passenger beside me started negotiating with the woman how to split the money between all of us "for her own safety". The woman now explained to them that there was a charm which was put on the money by the Alhaji and so needs a pastor or spiritualist to break it before anyone can touch the money.
They started discussing between themselves where they will go to to break the charm. The driver then turn around to ask me which church I attend and if my pastor is strong enough to break the charm, and if I was interested in splitting the money with them. To be honest, I was just there mute and oh so very confused. The funny thing was that all of them confessed to be Christians.
At this point so many thoughts were running through my mind like, "This has to be a joke right? Is this a setup? Where are the cameras? Oh God, so this is how I will be kidnapped and nobody will know where I am" Believe you me, I imagined every imaginable thing that day.
I didn't want to make any wrong move lest any harm come to me. Part of me was like "are you seriously considering taking part in this"?, and the other part of me was just very curious to see how it will end.
The other passenger beside me apparently knew a spiritualist who could break the charm so he gave the driver directions to her place.
Like play like play they passed my bustop and we drove a very far distance, over an hour's journey to an area of Lagos that till this day I am not familiar with.
When we got to the street where the spiritualist lived, the car broke down. They started speculating that this was a "sign". So someone now suggested that when we get there, we should tell the spiritualist that we live together in the same compound and that in the morning we found a charm in the middle of the compound that we wanted her to break.
When we got to the house, a middle aged woman came out to greet us. The person we came to see was dead(her mother) and she was the new person in charge. She now asked us why we came and the driver started narrating the fictional story. Before he even finished talking, she got very upset and told us to get out of her premises that we were lying.
They started panicking and apologizing (I say "they" because in all this, I was very calm/mute, alarmingly so). After telling her the real story, she told us that she knows that our taxi broke down and that the lady should go and bring the money from the car where she kept it while we waited.
It was like an out of body experience for me. Like I was on the set of a badly scripted Nigerian movie.
The spiritualist started chanting and saying incantations and ringing her bell. She was of course dressed in white(she didn't disappoint there). She started asking each of us personal questions like names and stuff like that. When she got to me, I know I lied. Just to test her and see. She didn't realize a thing.
After all the theatrics, she concluded that in order to break the charm, each of us needed to bring all the money in our bank account to conduct a ritual, which was supposedly chicken fee compared to the thousands of dollars that we will each receive once the charm was broken.
But the highlight of this story is what I'm about to say next. She made us all agree, abi swear, that if any of us told anybody about what happened that day, that person will run mad or something bad like that. She also told us not to look back as were going no matter what. So we left the woman and the spiritualist with the carton of money and went on our way.
At this point, I just wanted to get out of there because a lot of time had elapsed and I was sure they were waiting for me at home with lots of questions.
As God will have it, I made it home safely. No I didn't go back to that place. And I always wonder how it ended for all of them. I'm sure if I met any of them on the street I won't recognize them.
Looking back I see it is God who protected me from my young and foolish self.
This is my testimony.
During one of my brief layovers in Lagos before returning back to school after the summer break, I was asked to run an errand to the University Of Lagos.
Mind you this was my first time out on my own in Lagos and the only directions I knew was from Gbagada to UNILAG and back.
So on this fateful day I boarded a taxi at the junction with another passenger in the back seat. We drove a short distance and the taxi driver stopped by the road side to pick up a woman standing with a brown carton which was placed in the trunk of the car.
Soon after the woman( who was sitting in the front seat) started quarreling with the driver about the cab fare. Apparently she wanted to pay a lower amount. The driver who obviously didn't want any trouble stopped the car and told the woman to come down if she wasn't going to pay the standard fare.
The driver then stepped out of the taxi to open the boot for the woman so she could retrieve her carton.
Next thing I know the driver comes back inside the car with the woman in tow and we entered the road again. I exchanged puzzled looks with the other passenger beside me.
The driver then turns to the woman in the front seat and asks "Madam wetn u dey carry for carton?(what are you carrying in the carton?). If police catch us now, wetn you go talk?"
The woman, who is now very much subdued starts pleading with the driver, "Oga abeg help me...."
Ok I think I should explain a few things here cos I can tell you are already wondering. The woman had run away from her "Alhaji's house" who she claimed used her for prostitution and also forced her to sleep with dogs for money. According to her, there were other girls in the house like her.
And before she ran she stole a big carton of money which contained dollars from them. So it was this carton of money she was carrying when we picked her up.
Before I could say Jack Robinson, the driver and the male passenger beside me started negotiating with the woman how to split the money between all of us "for her own safety". The woman now explained to them that there was a charm which was put on the money by the Alhaji and so needs a pastor or spiritualist to break it before anyone can touch the money.
They started discussing between themselves where they will go to to break the charm. The driver then turn around to ask me which church I attend and if my pastor is strong enough to break the charm, and if I was interested in splitting the money with them. To be honest, I was just there mute and oh so very confused. The funny thing was that all of them confessed to be Christians.
At this point so many thoughts were running through my mind like, "This has to be a joke right? Is this a setup? Where are the cameras? Oh God, so this is how I will be kidnapped and nobody will know where I am" Believe you me, I imagined every imaginable thing that day.
I didn't want to make any wrong move lest any harm come to me. Part of me was like "are you seriously considering taking part in this"?, and the other part of me was just very curious to see how it will end.
The other passenger beside me apparently knew a spiritualist who could break the charm so he gave the driver directions to her place.
Like play like play they passed my bustop and we drove a very far distance, over an hour's journey to an area of Lagos that till this day I am not familiar with.
When we got to the street where the spiritualist lived, the car broke down. They started speculating that this was a "sign". So someone now suggested that when we get there, we should tell the spiritualist that we live together in the same compound and that in the morning we found a charm in the middle of the compound that we wanted her to break.
When we got to the house, a middle aged woman came out to greet us. The person we came to see was dead(her mother) and she was the new person in charge. She now asked us why we came and the driver started narrating the fictional story. Before he even finished talking, she got very upset and told us to get out of her premises that we were lying.
They started panicking and apologizing (I say "they" because in all this, I was very calm/mute, alarmingly so). After telling her the real story, she told us that she knows that our taxi broke down and that the lady should go and bring the money from the car where she kept it while we waited.
It was like an out of body experience for me. Like I was on the set of a badly scripted Nigerian movie.
The spiritualist started chanting and saying incantations and ringing her bell. She was of course dressed in white(she didn't disappoint there). She started asking each of us personal questions like names and stuff like that. When she got to me, I know I lied. Just to test her and see. She didn't realize a thing.
After all the theatrics, she concluded that in order to break the charm, each of us needed to bring all the money in our bank account to conduct a ritual, which was supposedly chicken fee compared to the thousands of dollars that we will each receive once the charm was broken.
But the highlight of this story is what I'm about to say next. She made us all agree, abi swear, that if any of us told anybody about what happened that day, that person will run mad or something bad like that. She also told us not to look back as were going no matter what. So we left the woman and the spiritualist with the carton of money and went on our way.
At this point, I just wanted to get out of there because a lot of time had elapsed and I was sure they were waiting for me at home with lots of questions.
As God will have it, I made it home safely. No I didn't go back to that place. And I always wonder how it ended for all of them. I'm sure if I met any of them on the street I won't recognize them.
Looking back I see it is God who protected me from my young and foolish self.
This is my testimony.
Interesting story. Quite curious though as to why you joined them to swear. I have heard such stories and from close people too and they have described this as an out of body experience as well, like they were not really conscious of what was happening. Do you think you're agreeing to still continue to "see where this will end" was something that was very much still under your control or something had taken over and you went along without really understanding? Just curious to know your take on this since you know on a very bad day, it could have ended on the ritualist table as you have noted
ReplyDeleteWell yeah, in retrospect, I think I wasn't really in control of the situation. In Nigerian speak, I was "jazzed" Oh and as for the swearing, I pretty much went along with it cos who knows what would have happened if....
DeleteHaha.... Awon delta boys in Lagos. You were the subject of the whole scam. Thank God jars no follow.
DeleteWhy aren't I surprised?
ReplyDeleteSomeone was getting scammed in this whole scenario, did they actually open the carton for you to see the money? And the way they acted, u can't even tell if they were all scammers hoping to get you to empty your account or only the driver and woman was in the know. But damn, they should have shared that money let each person go and disinfect (spiritually) their own share their own way. #scaryexperiencesha
ReplyDeletePls next time you find your self in that scenario jst open the car door if its convenient for you, but I pray u don't experience it ever again. Thats one experience I don't even wish upon my enemies.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in Aba and I've heard lots of stories but I laugh over it thinking its mere stories....not until it happened to my younger sis in choba, ph when she came visiting me whilst I was still at University of Port-Harcourt. We were at a fast food and around 6pm she left to buy credit and I didn't see her up till about 10pm. She lied to me at first about her whereabouts cos they made her swear an oath not to tell anybody else she'd die. I just noticed she ws behaving somehow the next day, the jazz was still controlling her and she almost met up with them the following day. When she finally got her self she said she ws stopped by someone after buying credit asking for directions and she only answered am not familiar with this area and that was how she fell under their influence and they made her go bk home to pick her atm card and withdrew her skul fees which she was stil yet to pay and took her somewhere with some other pple who claim to be victims.
Since then I've been very security conscious. Whilst I was serving in Fct, I had same experience. I was dressed in my khaki and was off for cds. I entered a taxi with an elderly man in front pretending to be reading newspaper, the driver and another passenger behind plus me behind. First the driver argued the fare with me which I told him I woukd drop if he won't take the normal charge. (I guess they were trying the effect of their jazz). It wasn't up till 3mins they startd acting up. The man sitting with me said he wanted to drop and he had load in the trunk. He gave the driver 200 naira and the driver threw it back at him saying he doesn't have change. In my mind I ws like huh, isn't that 200naira, why is he being offensive and shouting abt change. The driver started asking him why he never said he had load, bla bla bla, when the other lady dropped and he ws asking who had d load, why didn't he say he was the owner. That in their union ie taxi drivers union, they've been instructed to always check a passengers load. The man wasn't behaving like someone that wanted to drop cos he was still sittibg comfy in the taxi. The driver started asking what he was carrying and the man said clothes. At that moment the elderly man in front startd telling the driver to stop delaying us and settle with the man..(that was an attempt for me to join in their discussion) but I guess I ws led by the Holy Spirit to keep quiet. I kept saying in my mind pls am late for cds you pple should sort out your ish... the driver told the man ok shey you no wan talk wetin you carry.... where you get the hard curency you carry? (I thought to my self, is this driver a wizard? How did he know what the man was carrying). Where you get the hard currency? I go carry you go station o, the elderly man in front joined mouth as well and I was jst watching the whole thing like a movie. The man startd narrating how he served his oga for 12yrs with no settlement and he decided to steal his money, bla bla...I was like thinking in my mind, u have hard currency and you look tattered. Series of thoughts were going on in my mind until I noticed the drivers eye was steady on me from the center mirror and the man in front seat was staring at me frm the side mirror. That was when I suspected sonething fishy, i remembered stories ive heard and by Gods grace, the door wasnt on central lock, I opened and ran out and they zoomed off imm. I was lucky the car was parked while the drama was going on. And this actually happened not far from the jctn where I boarded the taxi. They parked close to the nxt bus stop where I ws picked, close becos pple were at the bus stop. I just thank God no money was extorted and that I was wise enough not to fall and that was the period I was sent half payment of my rent . I jst don't know how they know when soneone has money.
I had a similar experience in Port Hacourt, Hmmmm.. first the guy paid the taxi driver in dollars because he was not Nigerian (from Benin) and had no naira..he said he was in Nigeria helping politicians to make money. How?? He had a special paper that changed to money when put in water...he gave a live demonstration.. I saw paper change to 200 naira. He said the rest of the paper was behind a certain church and if we didn't mind we could all go there and we will would divide the money(paper) And just like that I was on my way with them..Thank God I suddenly asked the driver to stop and I came out of the taxi.. #grateful
ReplyDeleteI was in shock for over a week. Pls it's not only girls it happen to... They always use hard currency story bcos humans are greedy. A boy in my cds had such experience and he was like " oboy, we go share the money o, wey the hard currency". They extorted all the money in his account.
ReplyDeleteIn Abuja, its more. Av heard so many stories from pple I know and even testimonies about it in church.
The most recent is hailing a drop. A friend once enterd a drop and the cab man got to her gate and threatened her with a knife to drop her money and phones before she got down from the taxi and this was in broadday light. Also my sisters colleague has experienced such.. She entered a cab and the cab man picked another person pleading to help the man since he isn't dropping far she was robbed in d process with a gun and also in broad day light
Am only sharing this experiences so y'all would be security conscious, and careful. Most importantly it pays to start your day with prayer. If I hadn't prayed that morning I don't know what would have happened.
Quite the tale. Just glad and thank God it didn't end in a different way. As for the money, I can guarantee you the spiritualist and the woman shared the money if any sharing occurred.
ReplyDeleteBut tales you hear in NIgeria alone.
xo