Road Rage to Lagos

Travelling to Lagos by road from Abuja, has not always been an interesting spectacle because the roads have always been wrought with hidden dangers; but after several declarations by Government officials that the roads have been fixed and now safe to travel, who wouldn’t believe? But as it turned out on Friday, August 18, 2016, those statements were nothing but hoax; the stark reality on ground contrasted sharply with all the radio and television advertorials on the subject. The immediate conclusion was that the interest and safety of Nigerians was not really a priority to them, otherwise why should’nt they tell Nigerians the truth?  “I found out that it was a mistake to believe all what I heard or read in the newspapers, and this is really bad”, said Mr. S.A. Ahmed.

  Mr. Ahmed who had a meeting scheduled for 6pm in Lagos and had left Abuja at 5am on that fateful day soon became trapped along the way and the trip was almost grounded,  save for his determination and bravery. From Lokoja to Okene, it was a long dangerous stretch of huge potholes that confronted us.  The journey soon became fearsome from Okene to Okpella axis.  “I hated myself for ever believing our leaders”, the man cried.  But all that was fish out of water as their vehicle soon ran into a crushing hold up caused by huge craters that stretched from Ekpoma down to Iruekpen.

With fear building up,  the urge was no longer how to make the meeting but  to escape with his life.  By the time they crept to Oluku junction, at the outskirts of Benin, they had already “killed” 11 hours on the road with Lagos still far off.  The much better Benin – Ore Expressway produced a flicker of hope which soon evaporated when the vehicle crossed from Ore to Ijebu-Ode.  By this time it was dark and the ubiquitous security men did not help matters.  If anything, they exacerbated the ugly situation with panicky passengers now soaked in fear of the unknown.  “Pin down your windows”, the driver bawled!

  This posture rather, worsened passengers’ anxiety.  Why wouldn’t they, when the surroundings had become sinister with constant dread of sudden robbery attacks. It was already 9pm.   “This place has never had any good reputation”, one of the passengers muttered.  When the vehicle eventually crawled into the lonely Epe axis, the night was already cold and eerie.  You could hear the chirpings of birds as again,  the passengers became jittery and you could notice beads of sweat in their frightened faces.o grip my stomach.  Approaching 10.30 pm, the fear of imminent attacks refused to give way as the journey progressed.  It was 11pm in the night when the vehicle arrived Ajah, in Lagos! That experience was, if anything, a grim reality in bad leadership. Needless to say the meeting was no longer important.