On the road of Nigeria

It was 7^th of July 2008, 3 pm, I was going to Abuja (capital of Nigeria) from Jos, Plateau (one of the State of Nigeria) to celebrate 50^th year celebration of VSO, along with my wife one Ugandan volunteer (Aloo) and a German volunteer (Sebastian) too. We left Jos at 1pm and our estimated time of arrival at Abuja was 4.30 pm.

The German volunteer had bought a second new (second hand) car in between his placement to make himself mobile in Nigeria, because car is one of the most essential vehicles in Nigeria unlike our country (India) and Sebastian is fund of traveling.

That car had been driven by the Sebastian with a controlled speed. Just after Riyom (a local government of Plateau state) we got a puncture, at that time all of us came down and started to change the Tyre and discovered that it need to be replace with a new one, because the additional Tyre was not in very good condition. There after Sebastian was very alert and drove the car less than 50km/hr (where the average Nigerian driver used to drive 100 to 150 km/hr) and it was extreme right of the road as per the rule of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

With the help of the additional changed Tyre we passed close to 50 km, where we heard a siren, and discussed among, “it might be one of the minister or transfer of money”, but latter on we discovered that it was transfer of money. Suddenly we saw a big van was coming towards us with few armed security forces along the way of our destination. Then they started kicking, striking the gun on the car and showed the gun to us, as if they are going to shoot us. All of us were shocked and heart was biting more than 100 times/minutes. Opphs. What all of these going with us?..... Immediately I asked to Sebastian to park the car and let them go ahead……………………………..Latter on we came to know that their intention was to stop our car and park it. We waited there for 20 to 30 minutes and let our heart to breath in normal. Thank god, finally we reached to a place to buy a new Tyre and reached at Abuja at 6.30 pm. We shared this dramatic and drastic experience with all of my co-Volunteers and my employer, all of them were also surprised and regretted on this experience. But please don’t worry, we all are safe and continuing the volunteering with the same fresh spirit.