Chance or Destiny...Part 3 continues......

I had no plans to raise my head ,so i just grunted and nodded vigourously.

'dem don collect you'..the voice asked me
i nodded again.....

I did not trust myself to speak ,i could hardly swallow my spit,my mouth was very dry.

'as dem don collect u,i no fit help you again o,Engineer remember to thank them ........the voice said again

'no whala bros,i go thank them well well' .........i managed to answer.....

The whole show lasted for another 10 mins and it seemed like eternity as we laid on the concrete ground,the guys let out some rounds of gun shots and shouted some codes to each other.I raised my head a bit and saw them all get into their SUV's ,then all of sudden i saw a Hiace bus......i did not notice that before.From my mental calculation they were too many to fit into 2 SUV''s so it was logical that they also brought a bus.

They got into their vehicles and zoomed off........

For the next 10 mins we were still lying there,nobody dared to move.

'Dem don go?''..........everybody was asking everybody....nobody had a definite answer.

One by one everyone started getting up...

'Ha ,won ti pa oooooooooo'....someone shouted that they have killed the young man..

Everybody started running helter skelter and some people gathered round to carry the boy into a car and proceeded to drive out of the station.

From what i saw the boy was as dead as a door knob,it will only take a miracle,only a miracle......
'Omo,Jojo make we vamoose before police come o'....Wale Dog broke in..

My adrenaline kick started,Wale Dog was absolutely right,the police would come and start arresting every dick and harry.
'Omo,na true o,make we kawai o'.......i replied

I got into Dexter and signaled to Wale Dog,i turned quickly and moved out of the station ,got to the nearest bank used my ATM and proceeded to the same station that Mummy Nurse i had initially directed me to.
i got back on the queue and then i started ruminating about all that happened.

Wait a minute..........that voice.....why did i not piece it together....
'haaaaa....Omo ale ni Wahedi sha'.......that voice was Wahedi's...............that bastard!!!!!!!

Chance or Destiny ...Part 3 continues.....

I did not have to be told...

'Kilosele,Jojo?...se boy yen lo shoot?' ....Wale dog rebooted my brain with his question...asking if it was the boy that was shot.

'O da be e o'..i replied that it seems so

'Ha....ori iya mi o'....Wale dog exclaimed.

Expect if the boy was wearing a bullet proof vest which i strongly doubt,and of course if i was wrong with the type of gun used ,there was only one out come.

I crawled quickly deeper under a 504 Peugeot car,did not want to hear any story of stray bullets.Wale dog was already laid flat under his own car,no more conversation from him i bet.

'if una no value una life make i see una head up' ...one of the robbers shouted in thick ibo accent....

Well at this moment,nobody wanted to find out ,everywhere was dead silent,we could only hear the movements of the guys as they continued their operation.

Am sure Wale dog would be thinking of how very lucky he was ,it is  always a thin line between sanity and Aro,also sure that if his bladder was full that day he would have peed on himself.

Again,i heard foot steps coming my way,i hugged the ground as if i wanted to enter it,large droplets of sweat was dripping down my forehead,i started to pray.

'Lord ,pls not this way,you promised me that even though i walk through the valley of the shadow of death,you shall be with me,Lord this is a station of death,baba be with me o in Jesus name....Amen'

I heard one of the robbers asking his partner.

'Ta lo ni moto yi'.....he was asking for the owner of a particular car.
'O wu lo lie down si abe moto yen'...the second guy answered that the owner is under the a car.

For a minute,i did not know that he was refering to me but when the footsteps started coming nearer,my heart pumping increased by 100,i hugged the floor more.The guy tapped my legs like a signal for me to crawl out,i slowly turned with my head still facing the ground and crawled out.


'Engineer omo aye.....ma wo oke o'.........dont look up

Chance or Destiny...Part 3 continues...

The man that said 'na overskill kill Monkey' he know wetin him dey talk o because till today i still find it hard to put a finger on what would have been going on in the young man's head.

First i thought probably his adrenaline kicked in late and he chose to ignore logic,then again he must one of those kind of people that watch movies a lot and ultimately disconnect with reality,thirdly he made me believe that really ,witches and wizards can follow someone all the way from the village.
We were all laid down flat while the armed robbers were carrying out their operation,the young convoy driver was lying close to me,at least i could hear him breathing hard,some nights when i lay on my bed i blame myself that i should have noticed his arms twitching and probably deduce he would do something that stupid.
Its either he was born stupid or he had stupidness thrusted on him....

I was still thinking how lucky Wale dog was,all of a sudden this young guy got up and started running ,trying to cross the express and make his way into Magodo phase one.Initially i was frozen,i could not comprehend what was happening and i had to force my brain to process the event.Before i could react ,he was off like Usain Bolt.

'Stoppppppppppp!'..one of the robbers yelled

i raised up my head a bit and saw him run out of my view

'kilon wrong pelu boy yi'...Wale dog...whispered nervously  to me.....meaning what is wrong with this boy.

'haa, o su mi o'.....i replied that i had no clue....

I trembled to think what would happen to him if he got caught,these guys were armed to the teeth ,what was the use of running ,it was not as if you had billions of naira in your car or that you were being targeted,it was obvious that the robbers came to rob the filling station ,we were just unlucky to get caught in between,i mean............

I heard 2 loud gunshots and from my little expreince with guns,the sound was not an Ak-47 and instantly i knew it was a double barrel shotgun ,no doubt.

I heard a loud yell......

and i went blank...............

Chance or Destiny...Part 3 ..Continues...

It had to be a joke or i was dreaming....the lady selling fuel at the pump dropped the nozzle and took off.

Wale dog tried to take off after her ,a guy from nowhere shouted.

'Everybody lie downnnnnnnnnnnnnn!

I spun around to ascertain what was happening ,guess what?

You remember that guy i asked if a pump was fast that he answered me 'owapa'..well he held a double barrel shotgun pointed at my chest.
'Lie down ,i say!'..........he growled at me
I did not need to be told twice,i spread on the floor as if i was in boarding house when your senior tells  you to lie down.

I heard several gunshots but i dare not raise up my head,i heard a guy screaming and a lot of running feet,i moved my head a bit to the side and i could see several men with different kinds of guns ,going through the station.I was quick to grasp that they came in 2 black SUV's and from the look of things they meant business.
Apparently ,they had already positioned themselves in the station as if they wanted to buy fuel,so it was easy for them to round up everybody ,including the guys that queued outside the station.

'wey your money?....the dude asked me

'inside the car ,inside the car'..i replied with my head still down......He ordered me to turn  around and he searched my pockets ,removed my wrist watch and my phones all the while pointing the gun at my chest.
'If u move i will waste you'
'I wont move sir'
From the corner of my eye ,i saw him go to Wale Dog and asked him where he parked,Wale pointed at his car.The guy asked some couple of questions that i did not grab but i overheard Wale saying...
'Am sorry sir,very sorry sir,forgive me ,i did not know that money was there'
the guy said 'if i shoot you now dem go say i be bad person,no be you dey lie so?'
'Am so sorry sir,na fear make me forget'...Wale replied

I nearly laughed out loud,Wale was trying to play smart with one of the armed robbers,dangerous game to play o,never argue with a gun goes a saying.........

Chance or Destiny...Part 3 Continues...

'Basket mouth wan open mouth again o!' my Fela music was blasting from Dexter's sound system
i knew i wont spend up to an hour before i got fuel,so i was very relaxed.
Suddenly ,there was a knock on my window,i moved my head to see who it was
'Jojo ,o fumble o!..came a familiar voice

'haaaaa,Wale dog,kilonsele'..it was my friend Wale dog..

we call him that because he sells dogs for a living ,he imports all kinds of breeds and sells to individuals and corporate security agencies.I had promised to patronise him some while back that was why he was shouting that i fumbled...lol

'i come dey wait for your call now'...Wale said.

'No vex ,eyan mi,na hustle,how business now,you don get boerboel dogs now?

'I dey expect by the end of the month,between and 4 and 6 months by age,if u want ,u go need to deposit o,u know say all my dogs dey get international passport'

'Kai,your mouth too sweet Wale dog'

we continued gisting and one of the young guys that were driving the convoy of new cars also joined the conversation and the queue was slowly crawling.

'you dont even come play ball again for field '..wale asked me

'i get injury ,jare,all those your boys wey still get ambition to play for super eagles at 35 yrs wan break my leg'..i replied

'hahhahahahh.omo oole'

'Na so'

'Anyway sha,we go get match on............' Wale stopped in midst sentence and his eyes got enlarged like an okpolo.His body language spoke to me in 50 different languages and it had the same meaning.

I was backing the expressway while Wale was facing the express,i saw the change of expression in his face and i knew instantly that i was in the wrong place at the wrong time..........

Chance or Destiny...Part 3 Continues...

If you  are destined  to get fault ,no matter where you travel to or how much you run ,you go get that fault by fire by force.

Thats only how i can describe what happened to me that fateful Sunday morning,after Mummy Nurse described where i could get fuel and i got there the queue was quite long and so in my mental laboratory i cooked up  a sharp way out of this by thinking that if i drive to the express,the fuel queue there wont be this long because most of the people coming from church would probably be on this very queue.

So as a sharp guy ,i moved out of the queue and drove towards the express,got to berger swerved my way out of the traffic and exited at the express way facing towards secretariat.

I got to the Conoil but there were not selling so i moved on to the next station which was a Total station by the way .

Bingo!!! i was absolutely right,spot on! the queue was very very managable,quickly i moved into line behind some convoys of new cars being transported,tear nylon cars and the drivers were all jostling to get fuel.I remembered guessing where they were headed and i promptly concluded they must be driving all the way to the Northern part of Nigeria because i heard some of them speaking hausa.

Under 20 mins i had already gained access into the station,good enough the station had like ten functional pumps and i only have to decide which of the pumps is faster and line up there.

I  located one sharply ,i manouvered my way towards this particular pump.You know how you have a lot of people in the fuel station during fuel scarcity.

Area boys were there hustling to get fuel to buy so that they can re sell it to prospective customers that were not patient enough .People with jerry cans trying to get fuel for their generator sets.In this midst of all this cacophony there was orderly chaos,everybody knew what everybody wanted and the pump operators were having a field day, making good money by the side.

I reversed and saw one slim looking dude hanging around the pump and  i asked him.

'Alaye,se pump yi fast?' ...asking him if the pump was faster

'Owapa'...he answered...that it was fast.

Nice one,i lined up Dexter behind the next car and increased the Fela song i was listening too..............

Chance or Destiny......Part 3..starting

Throughout the duration of the site build,i had a good relationship with Olongbo and i made sure i was far off from Salewa beacause i was still shaken by what Wahedi did the other day and how they nearly killed the boy because of me.Few days later i was on site, Olongbo knew i was around and he came with his 'entourage' after gisting for a while  he asked me  if i  was taking good care of Salewa

'Engineer omo aye,mi  expect ki Sade complain o,so that kile gun yin bi mi ti promise.jor o!....Olongbo said....meanig he was expecting Salewa to complain about me so he can carry out his threat of stabbing me.

'Salewa,wa ok,baba'..i lied..telling him that Salewa was ok..i did not have the courage to tell him that i was not dating Salewa

I quickly changed the subject to avoid suspicion from him.

'Baba,ibo no Wahedi wa,mi kin ri mo'...i asked him about Wahedi's whereabout because i dont see him any longer with the gang since he was discharged

Olongbo answered ......'Ha omo ale yen?mi ti disband e'..meaning he has been disbanded and no longer part of the gang.

'kilo tun se?....i asked him what offence did he commit again.

'gbewiri lo mo yen sha,emi o de fe ole ni around me'.....meaning Wahedi have started stealing and he does not want  him around him

'ehn ehn,o ga o'...i answered in a surprising way.

'Engineer omo aye,e fin yen le,ebami ran Ahmed ni i gbo'....olongbo wanted me to send Ahmed to buy more igbo for him

Fast forward to some months after ,there was sacrcity of petrol and i was at home contemplating on where and how to get fuel on a Sunday morning when my neighbour knocked on my door.

'Mummy Nurse,good morning ma,how was church?...i asked her respectfully.

'Fine jare ,just to inform you that i got fuel to buy at Oando,opposite Solid Rock church,just in case you need to get fuel ,the queue is a bit long but its moving'

I thanked her profusely  and got into Dexter on my way to another experience...............

Chance or Destiny..Part 2 Concluding.....

I was able to get treatment for Wahedi at the clinic where the nurses asked me if he was a thief or how come he was beaten like this....
If i could see the future i would have answered in the affirmative but i could nt so i just told the nurses that he was involved in a street fight and he was my brother.

I stayed there for a while till Wahedi opened his eyes.

'Ha Engineer omo aye,mi ti fuck up,Olongbo ma kpa mi' ...Wahedi started crying....saying he knows he is a dead man walking.

'Ma worry mi ti ba Olongbo soro,wo ni fi owo kan mo'..i assured him that i have pleaded with Olongbo and i was sure they wont touch him again.

'haaaa,ese Engineer omo aye,e ma binu si mi o,mi like Salewa gan ni'...asking me for forgiveness.

'Ma worry Wahedi,o ma discharge ni sin'...told him to forget about it and he will soon be discharged.

Couple of hours later ,i gave Wahedi some money and entered Dexter, i was so tired from the activities of the day and all i wanted to do was smoke some B& H,take some bottles of stout with a bowl of Nkwobi and go straight to bed.I have had enough igbo smoke for the whole year.Salewa vanished from my mind straight,i dont want no trouble with any area boy o.

Little did i know that the kind gesture i extended to Wahedi would save my life in the future.........

Chance or Destiny...Part 2 continued.....

well ,some bowls of garri and Sister Tope the nurse were able to calm me that day,my journey with cannabis shall be discussed in another symposium...lol

Wahedi was so high that he attacked me immediately,u know how police people grab your trousers when you are a suspect?Wahedi grabbed my trousers,pushed me against Dexter (my car) and attemped to clear my legs from under (ifase or kafa).
Unfortunately for Wahedi,Olongbo and the rest of his boys were also exiting the site at the same time.

'wahediiiii,o ya weere ni' ....Pako shouted from afar ,drawing the attention of the rest of the crew towards where i was struggling with Wahedi

Olongbo must have processed it in his mind that Wahedi is about to spoil a good
deal for him so naturally his instinct would be to protect his investment.

'eyin eru iku,Wahedi ti ya weere o,e bo ooo'..olongbo instructed his boys to lynch Wahedi.

All this while Wahedi was not even aware people were running towards him,all he wanted to do was hurt me and because he was very high,i was able to grab his hands while we were struggling.

By the time Wahedi realised he was in deep shit and the igbo clear small for him eye ,it was too late.

Gbossaaaaaaa!

Picture when u have a lot of ants on a cube of sugar,that was exactly what happened to Wahedi.it was only Wahedi's shout of help i was hearing.

'Engineer,e ma worry,igbo yen ma da loju e ni sin' Olongbo was assuring me that Wahedi will soon become sober.

The way they were beating Wahedi,i had a serious fear they might wound him or even kill him,so i started pleading with Olongbo to forgive him.

'haaaaaa Engineer ,e ti ni oju anu ju jor' ...Olngbo was upset with me that i was always too quick to beg on someone's behalf.

I was actaully calculating on how not to have crisis on my site so Olongbo wouldnt understand my sentiments.

Anyways ,i was able to persuade them to leave Wahedi alone,he was already bleeding,his lips was cut into pieces and he could hardly walk.
I pulled Pako aside and asked him where the nearest clinic was,he was reluctant to tell me but after giving him 'cola',he gave me directions.
I bundled Wahedi into Dexter and drove him there..................

Chance or Destiny..Part 2 continued.....

i turned around
'Engineer omo aye ,mi like owo ti e gbe yen o' saying he did not like my actions
'ahn ahn wahedi,kilo gbe yen wa?' ..i asked him what the issue was?
'elle mi ni omo Salewa yen o' wahedi replied...meaning salewa is his girl
'Bawo ni yen wa se kan mi?'..i harassed him telling him that it was none of business

ok.... i should n't have said that...why? the guy was high on paraga and igbo

I remembered the first time i tasted igbo,i was sitting under a shed with 3 of my boys back then in school,and one of them gave me a joint to light up for them (set up).I took the joint and lit it up,i quickly dragged like a toke(for my mind,se na the igbo be dis,,mshewwwww),i took another drag and another drag.

'ehn ,give me my smoke jor' my friend collected it from me

5 mins after,i felt a tingling feeling from my head to my toes and i noticed that any time they say a joke, i laugh loudest and hardest.
Apparently ,they noticed this and kept on whining me.
Then two voices started speaking to me,one was saying i can run very well,the second was saying i should not run that people will think it is the igbo that is working
All of a sudden i jumped down from where i sat, and challenged all the guys that i could run faster than them,they looked at each other and of course they all understood what was happening.

one of them said 'its a lie jor,oya on ur marks'

in my igbo infested brain i did not notice that i was the only one doing on your marks.

'get ready!' he shouted

i got ready.

'Go!!!'.......................................