this morning when I saw a pack of okada men dragging some people out
of a car in front of me, two men and a woman. I was in my car
watching, thinking they must have actually bashed an okada man, as it
was the norm in Lagos state, where an offense against a bike man is an
offense against all the bike men in like 5 communities, they would
pack you down and start harassing you.
So I thought at first, until they started beating them with woods and
sticks, kicking them from all directions, while some where destroying
their car. I had to come down at this point after carefully packing my
car at a safe spot. I managed to part the
crowd, asking what happened, The shout of 'they are kidnappers' rented
the air, so I managed to go into the crowd which was swelling by the
minute to take pix of them.
After this, I asked an okada man what happened and how he knew they
were kidnappers, he managed to say
that he just saw his fellow okada men running after them, shouting
"gbomo-gbomo" (Kidnappers) and he joined the crowd. Asking around, no
one seemed to know the true story, by now the crowd had gotten to
close to 800 people, men, women, boys, girls, even school children,
all struggling to get a glimpse, everyone in small clusters, gossiping
and discussing, while some were seriously doing the beating.
At this point, sensing their anger to burn them soon, I sped with my
car to the Police station on a road, as rough as "climbing Olumo rock
in Abeokuta, Ogun State". I got to the
station and made a quick report. (Must acknowledge the quick response
of the force at this point). They jump and filled two hilux pick- ups,
and followed me back to the scene. On sighting the crowd, their gun
shot rented the air. I had parked at a safe distance, because I didn't
want to experience stray bullet.
They were able to disperse the crowd in time to rescue the victims,
Two men and a woman. At my safe distance, I could still hear people
talking about how the police would end up freeing them, and that, they
should have been burnt to serve as lessons for others with bad
intentions.
By now, different stories of what they did had emerged and none was
similar to the other. Some were
like….they snatched a woman whom was coming out of the bank with
N200,000, drove her a mile, then threw her out of the moving vehicle,
Others were like….they kidnapped 3 children, then the mother raised an
alarm, and a hot pursuit ensued. The third didn't even add up at
all…..can't even bother myself tying that.
The good thing is I let the Nigerian Police force do their work
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