I was about to begin braiding my hair when he walked into the salon- a man bloody from a deep gash on his forehead and his chest. The calm air suddenly disappeared; there was tension everywhere and all of a sudden the owner began to shout
“Sir, I’m begging you please leave. I don’t want any wahala o!”
But he did not leave. He was gasping for air from running and talking between breaths
“They wan kill me. Please let me hide here abeg. They won’t come inside this place”
After much reluctance from the owner and endless pleading from the man, it was agreed that he will hide at the back of the salon until the gang left. At first, everyone acted as though nothing happened. Then the hairdressers began asking him questions. What did he do to the gang that made them want to do something so extreme? Was he the one who started the fight? Is he sure that no one saw him come into the salon?
The bloody man owed someone money. Since he could not pay the person back, the person brought his gang to kill him the following day.
“Money go destroy person’s life” said a hairdresser.
Thirty minutes passed. The gang was done beating the other thieves that stole money outdoors and was waiting for the bloody man beyond the shops. Everyone’s nervousness grew.
“What if they come inside here and find you? They won’t care o! They will scatter this salon and kill you here,” said a hairdresser.
“Oga, please go; you are scaring our customers.”
The man did not say anything. Everyone imagined what would happen if they came in and raided the salon. Another thirty minutes passed.
“Do these people not have work? How can they be waiting for one hour to kill somebody?”
“Oga, please, this man here, Mr Toni will help you find a way to leave without them knowing. Get up and go. You are scaring our customers. See there is blood on the floor.”
“How they no go see me?” said the bloody man.
“You go go through the back, then enter okada.” said a hairdresser.
“They will come and find you here. This place no safe anymore.” said another hairdresser
The bloody man left with Mr Toni and everyone sighed with relief. Business went on as usual. My mother came to the salon to wait for me to finish after she heard about the bloody man’s appearance. The hairdressers and I watched a Bollywood movie as they did my hair. A man in a yellow shirt that was interested in the movie came from another shop to watch.
“NEPA officers came today. They come say they no go bring light till 29th of May. They wan fix something.”
“A-ah, in the whole Lagos they will not bring light.” said a hairdresser
“Nooo just in some areas.”
They sat there in silence wondering which areas would go without power and how they would deal with the inconvenience. I thought about how NEPA only cut the power once a day at maximum in my neighborhood, and how when power was gone, my mother’s driver swiftly put on the generator. As we sat, Mr. Toni the man that assisted the bloody man finally came back. He had been gone for a while.
“They don kill am.”
“How do you know?” said a hairdresser, very alarmed.
“I dropped him at the back of the salon and said that he should stay there till night. He refused. He left and they caught him.”
Silence.
“That’s why fighting no good. This kind thing happen all the time. Fighting no good.” said a hairdresser
In a city of 20 million people where people hustle for employment and struggle for a space to live, gangs are almost imminent. Mostly during the night, street boys popularly known as ‘area boys’ lurk, looking for their next victim. They dress indiscreetly on purpose and are always armed; any encounter with them could be fatal. They look around for any way to make money, whether it be a man with a car stuck on the road or a woman that has just finished selling her goods in the market. The next victims they bully could be their only source of income. Some do not seek employment; they prefer the fear and attention given to them by the lower class. And how some love to punish those that commit the same crimes as them but are not in their brotherhood or cluster. Some favour beatings with a machete or maybe burning with the use of a tire. Nothing stops them, the Lagosian streets are always left to their squalor. Thus, food prices go up because most market women need to pay their ‘area boy tax’ and people cannot go out of their houses beyond a certain time due to the immense danger on the streets. With an inefficient and sometimes corrupt law enforcement system (since you may need money for local police to attend to you), the lower class of Lagos State faces almost zero security. In the hairdressers’ scenario, why did the people choose to catch the thief and kill him instead of reporting him to the police? Why did they choose to risk their own lives by killing another persons? Some area boys may feel like they have no other choice but to be this way; most people would pick to be the oppressor rather than the oppressed. It is clear that we need to work together to improve the quality of life of ALL Lagosians and not just the upper class.
Op–ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija
