by Kay Omar
Last weekend, we were all rushing into a bus as usual when this lady suddenly starts to yell at some guy, “Give me my phone! Give me my phone!”
Before anyone became fully aware of what was happening, the rather brief altercation ended. The lady got back on the bus almost immediately and driver drove off. It was then that she started to narrate what just happened.
Apparently, as she got on the bus, a young man (one of the agberos who was supposed to be collecting owo-load) had dipped his hand into her bag, taken out her phone and handed it over to his cohort.
According to the lady, she is a sharp girl who is always on the alert and well aware of the agberos’ tricks. As soon as she saw the hand go in and out of her bag, she grabbed the agbero and started to yell out. The speed with which she did it must have impressed them because the second guy returned her phone like they say, sharp-sharp. This was why the whole thing ended in the blink of an eye.
However, what incensed the girl (and some other people on the bus) most was the fact that neither driver nor conductor flinched, came to the girl’s aid or even made an issue of the situation seeing as these were the same guys that they “worked” with.
If I was in driver’s mind though, I would probably be thinking “Wetin concern agbero with overload?!” – agbero here being driver and conductor of course, and overload… I am sure you get it. In any case, the girl got her phone back, didn’t she? And without any help too.
It pays to be sharp in Lagos. Like they say, “shine your eyes, because for Lagos na OYO (on your own) for you”.
I had similar and a more interesting experience at Idumota some days ago. As I walked on the driveway,lots of us,we had to take brief steps because it was congested. Anyway,in my little steps I anticipated crossing the road like another lady in front of me,until we hurriedly retraced our steps as a BRT bus approached in top speed.
In those few seconds of wanting to cross and retracing my step, another young guy with beards jumped right in front of me and started acting jokingly and asking me with his hands in my front pockets if I wanted to push him into the way of the BRT. He suddenly took his both hands outta my pocket to my chest,about to round-off his little joke, while another passerby kept putting me in a haste to get off the road. At this time,my two front trouser pockets were empty of their contents- my BB,Id cards,and money. But in those same seconds, I sighted my things wrapped around his hands on my chest and I carefully took them out of his hands and we both walked away like nothing happened.
'Cos,seriously,nothing happened…it was normal in that part of town…only my reaction to him was abnormal…another victim would sure pay for my sharpness later in the day!