Some Experience!

The bus was now tightly packed and people were still jostling for positions as far away as from the door. And then, she begins to sob. One of the robbers came close to the window where she was sitting and asked why she was crying; she replied in between sobs, “It’s not because of what you stole but because of my leg”. I started laughing. It was a sad situation we were in but i couldn’t help laughing.

Such is the way i often laugh at my problems and this will not be an exemption. I looked at the different faces of my colleagues in the bus and it was a representation of the lives of Nigerians. Some faces were dazed, some showed fright, and some have jumped out of their skins in fear while most were sad. They were sad because of the ugly incident they were forced to witness right from the moment we walked into their lair.

We were coming back late in the night on the 20th of April 21, 2009 from a movie location at Ilaa in Delta State. We had shot late into the night and were heading for home when we ran into this road block and just like we do in the movies, some young men armed with guns and machetes jumped out of the bush and surrounded our bus and ordered everybody out. We filed out of the bus and found some comfort hugging the ground tightly. They took their time going through each person and taking away personal effects; cell phones, ipods, wrist watches, shoes, clothes, wallets, handbags, jewelries. They spared nothing.

They went into the bus and commenced a methodical search which led them to its nooks and crannies where some of my colleagues hid one thing or the other. They took all. Satisfied that they had got all that we had, they asked us to go but as the driver started the bus, a woman begged them for some documents in her handbag and unexpectedly, they obliged her and that was when some other person remembered that the tape we recorded was in one of the bags they stole and begged for it. Almost everybody knew that if the tape got lost, we were going to re-shoot all we had already done and several voices joined in begging for the tape. They would have thought that the tape was one gem they had got and could have probably missed some more and immediately swung into action. They commandeered us into a bush and all hell let loose in the bus. Cries and prayers were jostling for which to reach to God first.

God heard one and touched their heart and their leader ordered us to reverse and go. The driver obeyed and in a few seconds, we were once more on our way home in a quieter style. There were no chit chats

Things happen sometimes.


And on a happy note, i really had some fun hanging out with Dammy and Oyin when she came to Nigeria. I know you guys have seen the pictures on their respective blogs but i really have to let you guys know that it was fun.