Narrow escape episode 1 – end

Narrow Escape (A true life story)
EPISODE 1
May God keep us from fowlers and pestilence that lurk at noon and the darts of enemies that fly at night. This is a potent watchword I wouldn’t hesitate to appropriate every morning before setting out for the day’s work, as a spiritual fortification. My return to Jos where I had bagged my first degree ended up a nightmare; for which I have ever wished no-remembrance-of, in a lifetime.
Just so I had begun my annual leave two days ago when thoughts of revisiting Jos on my original certificate crept into my mind. All efforts put to making findings about a one-off transit to Jos proved futile. Although a handful of bays dreaded the bad roads enroute Jos, which has turned out a roller coaster ride of about 16-hour time aggregate.
In the outset of the trip, I considered a farewell with some of my friends who resided in Ibadan before continuing my journey to Jos, as I patronized the Peace mass transit on that very Sunday morning. The Journey had been quite smooth until we had a stopover at Lokoja, off Abuja.
About 5:30pm, enroute a village called Abaji, 4 gunmen, not sure whoever they were, interrupted our trip as they haul onto the road and aimed a gun spree at our bus.
It was hærd for me to believe what I had just witnessed while it all played out as though it was in a movie. Unfortunately, the driver could not entertain any thought of over speed for an escape plan from the gory scene, as the roads were worse with death-trap pot h0les. In a jiffy, we got hit in our rear tire and summersaulted. We are doomed! I panicked within me as the bus flipped to a halt.
Stop there! Get out! Everybody, get out! I heard them yelled as they sieged our scrapped bus in a circle, armed with sundry machine guns. Most of us in the bus sustain injuries from the accident. Of course, Migraine from my head collision against the door of the stumbling bus took a toll on me. Others were either steeped in blood from their foreheads or nursing injuries in their legs.
Come down! One ordered again while struggling to force the door open. The other had gone ahead to harass the driver with a slap and pulled out. My two teammates were beaten out of the wrecked bus.
After prolonged yanks at the door, one of the gunmen eventually opened the door; in detriment of my door seat position, landed on my ski-ny head a ‘factory-resetting’ slap. Those whom you could see struggling out were under pressure and coercion.
Other buses on the same road were forced to make detours upon sighting the incident kilometers away. We were compelled to sit on bare floor until everyone was out of the scrapped bus. We were stripped of all means of communication such as mobile phones. Yes! My new two-week old Tecno Camon was taken from me.
One of them whom I sensed was their leader walked up to us and shot twice into the air in an attempt to have us quiver in fear and started mouthing a vernacular which sounded like the Hausa language. After a moment when he found that he wasn’t communicating, he employed a translator of his men for pidgin English.
“Make una stand up and waka enter the bush (You all should stand up and get into the bush). He said, as he genuflexed towards the nearby bush. We all stood up reluctantly and walked into the bush. At the moment, I knew that we are in for a long haul.

Narrow Escape
EPISODE 2
We were made to walk the depth of the forest almost forever. Upon having a building popped up in sight, two of us were tempted to escape. They never covered yet few kilometers when they got shot.
Any attempt to run away, we gun you down! Understand? One of them yelled at us! After which my fear grew beyond bounds.
We got cramped in a room either 6 other people who had been held hostage for only God knows. We were kept in the dark for the rest of that night. At daybreak, we were maltreated by random kicks to get out of sleep. Of course, we had a long trip that had lasted 10 hours into an ambush.
The windows in the room was open and a beam of light found its way to brighten the room. Not until then that the identity of co-hostages became known. However, one of the guys walked in with a storage container of our phones.
Who get this phone? One of the gun men asked?

One woman raised her hands up
Do you know of anyone whom you can call to save you? He asked rashly
Ye..Ye..Yess! She said in a descending tone amidst tears which had gathered in her eyes.
Come here. Come forward! He barked and the woman stood up and walked up to him slowly.
She got her phone and dialed a number on it
Hello Daddy. She said
The gunman snatched the phone from her and demanded a ransom of N2 million naira
After much pleas, they agreed to a ransom of N1 million naira
Imagine! 1 million naira just like that. I thought within myself.
After 5 people had been called upon, they finally found my phone, summoned and thought within myself, who was I to call? Ghen Ghen

Narrow escape (a true life story)
EPISODE 3
My wife? Who was managing my fish business back home? Even if we sell all of the fishes, both processed and live ones, she could only raise close to N80, 000. My account balance is just N49, 856 with just N7, 550 in my pocket.
Mr. Man, I say who you go call? He barked at me again
Nonetheless, I resorted to calling my wife.
I dialed her number and she picked up, almost a jiffy
Thank God! She said. I have been trying your number since yesterday. Where have you been? Are you in Jos now? She asked
Errrrmmm..Woo, am not in Jos yet. I am, then the guy snatched the phone away from me.
See, madam. We are holding your husband hostage here.
Yeeee! I heard my wife scre-med in the phone
Listen and listen well. Go and look for N2 million naira or your husband dies. We are giving you 48hours to provide this money or else, you’ll be a widow. I repeat, 2 million naira. Then, he hung up.
I soon returned to my previous position brooding in thoughts. What state would my wife be in now? Oh God! While scratching my head. Should I call Mrs. Oseteru maybe the guys in the office can contribute some money for me? Ha! Kabiru my good friend. Am sure he won’t want me to die now. He can still drop N50 000. Mrs. Tope, maybe N20 000, Mr. Francis, can also drop N40 000. Kayode, Kenny, Mr. Usman and Wale should be able to raise a combined N50000 for me. Mosun? I don’t trust her at all. She might not even drop N1. Where will I raise N2 million naira within 48 hours? Am I even worth N2 million? My gratuity is not even up to half a million naira. Oh God help me.

24 hours later… Its morning already.
It’s been 24 hours after I had put a call through to my wife. My phone had been put off after the call and am sure she might have been trying to call me back but we were only fed with a plate of concortion rice in a take away plate. That was the only food we ate throughout yesterday.
Oh God help me! I am starving! And am not sure if my wife would have even raised N200, 000 yet.
About an hour later, an old woman was called upon and freed. Her ransom had been paid.
Hey. One of them beckoned me to come forward
Don’t you have any other person to call aside your wife? Ehn. He asked
I stood still not knowing what to say or who to call
Amoo! Yes, Amoo. My school mate back in Jos. He is now a police officer in Abuja and he is in the criminal investigation department. It won’t be a bad idea calling him for help.
Yes! I have a friend that I can call
Give us his number. He said
He brought out my phone and dialed in his number. He failed to pick the call at first. Coincidentally, Amoo’s returned call came in in an attempt of the gunman’s radial.
He then passed the phone back to me to speak to him
Samo! Samo! Amoo hailed on the phone
Amoo, Amoo. Please help me out. I..
I was about to make a request when he snatched my phone.
Hey, Hey, Hello Mr. Man. Your friend is in our custody since 2 days now. All we ask for is a ransom of N2 million naira or else, we will kill him. Did you hear me? We give you just 24 hours! 24 hours! Then he dropped the call and switched off the phone immediately.
Hours later, I saw two of the gunmen came in with loads of groceries, took away one old man out of the room in where we were held up.
So they considered groceries for the old man’s ransom? What a world!

Narrow escape Finale (a true life story)

EPISODE 4
It’s the following morning already. We are still held up in the room. Many of co-passengers were here stranded and couldn’t afford to buy their freedom.
On this fateful day, when we were about to be served our one-time daily meal, the gun men walked in to summon me.
Stand up. You are leaving here now
He handed me to 4 others who would esc-rt me on a long walk out of the forest and supposedly freed.
Free! I exclaimed
Who paid my ransom? I asked within myself
Or could it have been my wife…oh..oh..oh.. Hope this woman have not gone ahead to sell my land in Ikeja? Ah! I will show this woman “shege” when I get home.
I said within myself as we kept marching on
On arrival at the then kidnap scene, we continued Northward the road.
Wait here and have them deliver the ransom.
One of them brought out my phone and placed a call to someone. After a one-minute conversation with the person, he hung up.
Then I saw someone else coming in our direction.
Amoo! I scre-med out!
Shut up and wait here until the deal is closed.
Amoo kept pace towards us. He still hasn’t changed since the last time we saw back in school. He was in a short on a white vest and a bag which I suspected had money in it. But wait, when did Nigerian Police start earning much? Where did Amoo get 2 million from? Lots of question bogging my head right now.
Amoo was just few meters away from me when he signaled two winks at me that I should abscond.
Since in Unijos days, Amoo and I have a handful of improvised sign languages which we communicate with. During exam, he would wink once to stop me from leaving the hall ahead of him and other times, twice to imply otherwise.
Amoo approached the gun man and handed him the bag in exchange for my escape. The gun men couldn’t comprehend why I took to my heels until they found out that they had been conned. The monies were cleverly packed with paper notes. Boys! Amoo scre-med immediately, as a troop of policemen suddenly open a gun fire at them. I stopped halfway to witness the aftermath; from few distances afar, I was able to glimpse a police van when I felt a sharp pain in my leg and passed out.
2 days later
I opened my eyes in a hospital. Surprisingly, my wife was fitted by my side. I managed to move my left leg but the excruciating pain I suffered was unbearable.
Easy! dear, easy!. My wife said ensuring I maintained my previous position.
How did I get here? I asked in a croaky voice
Just then the door opened and Amoo entered in his police uniform
Hey Samo! You are finally awake. He said beaming with smiles
Amoo! How did you do it?
Shhhhh! It’s okay man. Relax. He said
He got himself a seat next to my bed.
Where should I start from? Amoo cleared his throat
When you called to tell me about your kidnap, I tried hacking into your line but the kidnappers were clever to put off the phone making it hærd for me to compromise their location. Then I checked out your old line, the one you used back in school, remember?
Oh my! Thought they took your phone? My wife ch¡pped in
Oh! It was in my bag. It’s my small phone with a torchlight feature. That meant I forgot to put it off. I was at Ore when the phone started ringing but I was out of network coverage. I narrated
So with the help of that line, my team and I were able to hack in and found your location before they reached out on the exchange details. Amoo said
Thanks very much brother for the timely intervention. I said
All to God Samo. We were able to capture the kidnappers and free the people held hostages too. Amoo said
Thank God that it’s just a leg wound. Perhaps, I would have become a dead meat by now. Indeed! It was a narrow escape