Tiit For Tat - S01 E33

3 years ago

Tiit For Tat - S01 E33

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 33

[Mike’s Viewpoint]

In the sub-region of West Africa, the Lagos to Accra route is one of the most traveled by businessmen, students, and tourists.

“Hmmm,” I sighed when I finally cross the Nigerian border to Benin.

I passed the night at a station in Benin- Nigeria Border. Actually that wasn’t the most conventional way of traveling outside Lagos. We often take a bus from Lagos but I couldn’t go to Lagos, for obvious reasons.

My initial idea was to cross from border to border and take a rest for a night at each country we passed through but because money wasn’t exactly on my side, I had to go the direct route instead.

The next day I woke up early and hired a place to bath. Then I waited for hours before I saw a bus from Lagos going to Ghana. Quickly I stopped and enboarded it.

I was given a ticket which I paid for.

My heart leaped with Joy when the vehicle moved and we headed towards the West; to Ghana.

It was my first time going to Ghana.

I never knew going from Lagos to Ghana by road was going to be a long and exhausting journey.

My bus was from ABC transport service. There were others like Chisco was often the preferred choice for most people. The advantage of Chisco over ABC transport was that it has a restroom .

Imagine going for such a long journey and having to mentally will your bladder not to need the rest room.

I was simply lucky to have boarded the bus without prior booking. I was later told that the one seat I got was for one lady who suddenly took ill and had to be alighted from the car and sent to the hospital.

The bus was an executive express bus which is a 52 seater with AC, toilet facility and Tvs.We departed at 5.00 a.m

The cost for the executive express from Lagos to Accra was N15, 500 per person although I paid some extra fees. I paid an extra 400 Naira because I don’t have a passport even though it wasn’t a strict requirement because Nigeria belonged to ECOWAS and ECOWAS Members don’t need passport to travel within the sub- region and stay in any member country for 90 days. Well, it seemed that ECOWAS PROTOCOL was just a nicely written paper work with little or no application. I also paid an extra 2000 Naira for not having a yellow card

It felt like I would die from sitting in one place for too long with nothing to do other than sleep and wake up .

What bothered me the most was the many stops we had to do on the road with no one explaining why and what was happening. The worst offenders were older women who often stop to pee in the bush. They had no problem exposing their genitals to the full glare of inquisitive eyes when they spread their legs wide to urinate with little or no covering as the fluid gushed out freely from their organs. Afterall, it’s a free world.

We were still in Benin by 11.00 a.m which was so frustrating! The bus kept stopping on the road side for long hours that I just had to go ask the driver what was happening.

Apart from the women’s behaviour,

Which was quite irritating, our luggage was also often checked by custom officials meticulously. Some simply needed a tip off.

At some point, I would just sleep and wake up continuously only to find that we were still in Benin !

As expected, we didn’t get to Cotonou until about 4pm but crossing that border wasn’t so much stress. There was the long wait for everything to get checked at the border but at least we didn’t have to get down and cross the border by foot.

The Togo border was different!! We had to all get down from the bus to cross the border between Cotonou and Togo by Foot.

Togo border seemed like stepping into another time entirely, it was so windy and busy. For a minute , I thought I had lost the bus and it got me panicking.

We also had to get down at the Ghana border for the immigration officials to check our bags.

On the plus side, we were given food on the bus. Though I didn’t eat mine, I definitely didn’t see it coming so it was a pleasant surprise.

And we also got biscuits and juice box to go with it. The long journey was also bearable because of the TVs, they played some really good Nigerian movies on the bus so I was kept a bit entertained. I laughed more when they began showing kumasi Movies and a funny guy …what is his name..?

“yea, Lin Win came and do some real crazy stuff. He even know how to dance AZONTO.”

The road trip in itself wasn’t anything spectacular. We passed through mainly the rural areas of both countries and everywhere seemed to remind me of places in Nigeria – definitely nothing exciting.

The whole journey was relatively incident free until the Ghana Immigration Service nabbed a guy from Nigeria who hid Cocaine in his luggage. I wondered how other immigration checkpoints could have missed that…..Unless he bribed them. Yes, the many delays could be because he was busy lining the pockets of the police and immigration officers with money.

Another incidence happened on the way. “Oh…my heart..hmm.m.”

It was about ten minutes to the Ghana Border. A woman got up as usual to urinate. Before she could tell the driver she wanted to urinate, there was a loud “POP.”

The car suddenly lost its balance.

I gasped as I slided into the side of the bus. The bus driver fought hard to control the steering wheel as the bus swang from one side to another. Then an oncoming Tractor emerged. Our bus was in its lane. It began honking to warn it but the tractor driver’s eyes seemed to be immuned to honking. He remained adamant.

An ear piercing scream erupted from our lips. We began screaming to God Almighty to forgive us our trespasses as we forgave those who trespassed against us because from all indication our bus would, in the next 5 seconds had a head -on- collision with the tractor.

My heart jumped into my mouth and goose pimples sprang onto my skin. I suddenly felt weak and my knees wobbled uncontrollably. Three seconds to Impact.Tears tickled down my cheek. Involuntarily I said, “Father, Mother , Prepare a good place for me. For in two seconds time , I will join you where ever you are. Then I closed my eyes,waiting for the collision of metals and the “CLANG,

CLINGGGGGgggg, CLONNNGGG.. ” sound of the car when the two metals converted into scrap. One second to impact. I said , “Father, in your hand I place my spirit.”