Respect a Woman

I and James, a co-worker, were on our way to the Computer Village at Ikeja, Lagos to purchase some computer accessories. James was driving and I sat in the front passenger seat. As usual, there was traffic congestion along the Bank Anthony Way with some policemen and LASTMA officials controlling the traffic at the junction that leads to Toyin Street, via Customs office. We were about to drive past this junction when the traffic policeman stopped our side of the traffic. The flow of traffic was cut off from our car, and so we stopped with our car being in the front and in the right lane. Another car was to our left with other cars behind us.

One female LASTMA official approached us, querying us on why our car should overshoot the one by our left. James answered her "You stopped us, and we stopped. Is that not enough?" I added, "Besides, there are no stop demarcation lines on the road. You can can't expect our car and the other one to stop exactly at the same point." Since she was on a mission, she was not satisfied with our answers. The other LASTMA officials had already joined her and before we could get down, they were already hooking our car to a towing van. I told them that it was not necessary to tow our car, and that we will follow them to their office, when they refused to listen to our entreaties. They removed the towing van and we were about to follow them in their car now parked in our front.

Suddenly, a light-skin, plump woman came out of a wine coloured Toyota car behind us. "Stop!" she commanded the LASTMA officials. "Stop, I say! I saw what happened. You can't book these men. They had committed no traffic offence." They asked her "Who are you? And what is your concern in this matter?" She answered them "If you insist on taking them to your office, I will follow you. When we reached there I will tell you who I am." She turned to the young man by her side, the one who was driving the car she came out from, and commanded "Follow these young men to wherever the LASTMA officials are taking them." With this both she and the man went and sat inside their car, waiting for us to move.

The LASTMA officials consulted among themselves, and they decided to let us go. We looked back to thank this angel of a woman for rescuing us, but she told us "Don't thank me yet. Just drive on and enter a traffic-free street. We are right behind you." We entered a traffic-free street as she instructed and they also entered and followed us. We both parked and came out of our cars. We started thanking her again. "Let me introduce myself" she said. She brought out her business cards and gave us. We gave her ours also. She said she is a printer and a graphic artist. She will be happy for any business we can give her from our office or that of our friends. And so we departed,

As we are going, I looked at the card she gave me again. A printer! I thought she is a Major General in the army or the wife of the Inspector General of Police. Who says women are not powerful? Women should be feared and respected.

Cop Paralysed by a Pointed Gun

It was drama mixed with fear and laughter yesterday at Town Planning Way, Ilupeju in Lagos when a traffic policeman stopped three men on Okada (motorcycle) for not wearing crash helmets. Unknown to the policeman, who was holding a baton, the three men riding the motorcycle are robbers. One of them brought out a gun and pointed it at the policeman.

On seeing the pointed gun, the policeman naturally became paralysed with fear and collapsed to the ground. He tried to get up from the ground, but he fell down again, and again. He started shaking and rolling on the ground. The three men rode away on their motorcycle, leaving the policeman still lying on the ground. The policeman's colleagues later came with a car and carry him to their office in order for him to calm down as he was no longer in a condition to continue working.
I bet the policeman will do a thanksgiving to God in his church on Sunday for this close shave with death.

The Prophet and the Traffic Extortionists

It was difficult not to laugh after Biola finished narrating his experience. At the same time, a shiver of fear ran through me when I saw the way some people almost ruined their lives when they tried to extort money from others by all means. My friend, Biola, is gifted with the power to see what had happened or will happen to others. He is a strong Christian and a lot of people call him prophet.

On this particular Wednesday afternoon, he pulled his car to a stop and parked well off the road around Ijaye in Lagos in other to buy a recharge card for his phone. By the time he returned to his car, some uniformed men, which he later identified as KAI (Kick Against Indiscipline) officials, were waiting by his car. They told him he committed an offence by parking beside the road and that his fine is twenty thousand naira. Biola told them they must be joking as he was not obstructing any traffic. At the long run, they towed his car to their yard in the local government office.

When they got to their office, they met their leader who ordered that one should deflate all the four tyres of Biola's car since he was not ready to co-operate with them. By now Biola had reached the end of his patience and he became angry. Biola is short-tempered and when he is angry, he can do or say anything. Most times when I'm with him, I always move quickly to checkmate his anger.

"You Mr. Man, you are ordering them to deflate my tyres?" Biola pointed at their leader angrily. "That is the next thing to do when people refuse to co-operate", the leader replied. "Listen to me", Biola stared him in the face. "If you deflate a single one of my tyres, you had deflated your wife's five months pregnancy. You can guess what will happen to her if you deflate the four tyres." The man stared back at Biola with horror and commanded the tyres to be left alone. He was visibly shaken by what he has just heard as Biola was right about his wife being five months pregnant.

But one of the officials said that Biola was merely guessing and they should not allow themselves to be deceived by him. He insisted he is going outside to deflate the tyres. Biola said to him calmly, "You can go and deflate my tyres at your own risk. Did you remember having a stomach pain before leaving home this morning? That was just a warning to you to be careful, and now you want to put your head in the hornet’s net. Go ahead if you want." The man knees buckled with fear as he quickly held on to a chair for support. "How... did you... know... know that?" he stammered back at Biola.

At the long run, Biola's car was released to him without him making any payment. They prostrated and apologised to him for their mistake and they asked him to pray for them, which he did. They collected his telephone number and whenever they or their friends need prayers and spiritual counseling, they called him and he is always happy to pray for them.

Remove This Decoration

It is time someone tell the owner or driver of this vehicle to change or totally remove this decoration. If he is not ashamed, then I'm ashamed for him. Is it by force to decorate your vehicle? This curtain has long expired.

Let Him Go! He is a Frustrated Man

Tony was driving home from work three days ago. He was driving a company’s car, which was an unbranded latest model of Toyota Avensis. When he reached the Agric junction, he was in the innermost lane and wanted to change to the outer lane when he was stopped from doing so by policemen on duty.  He was commanded to maintain his current lane till he reaches under the bridge and make a U-Turn. This is not what Tony intended to do. He wanted to go straight.

"But I'm going straight and I don't want to turn under the bridge" he tried to explain to the most senior of the police officers standing beside the road, a Deputy Superintendent of Police ((DSP). "Then you should have followed the outer or middle lane. Go and turn under the bridge, Mr. Man, and stop disturbing the flow of the traffic", the DSP shouted at him. Tony decided to stay put because to go and turn under the bridge meant going back half-way to where he was coming from. Besides, the portion of the road under the bridge is very deplorable. 


Soon other vehicles coming from behind Tony started skirting around him in order to drive past him. He was like that for almost five minutes when the police officer, who had moved away from him by this time, shouted to the one besides Tony’s car, "Let Him Go! He's a Frustrated Man." At this, the policeman left his position and Tony drove off not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

A Checking Too Many

It was a Saturday morning, and Tunde was driving to his office in Yaba, coming from Agege. When he reached Oba Akran at Ikeja, beside Guinness, he met a detachment of Policemen doing some checking. They flagged him and he stopped a few metres away from them. One of them, a Police Constable came over to him. He demanded for his driver's license which Tunde extracted from his purse and silently gave him, while Tunde remained sitting inside the car. Satisfied with that, he returned his driver's license and demanded for the vehicle's particulars. Tunde extracted this from the glove compartment of the car and handed them over without a word. Tunde, driving a brand new company's car, believes he doesn't have anything to fear when it comes to Police Checking.

"Where is your custom paper?" bellowed the Police Constable. "What? Do you expect me to have the custom papers?" Tunde was pissed off. "Look, I'm not the importer or owner. This is a company's car, so I don’t have it" he explained like one talking to a child. "Ok, where is your CMR?" demanded the police man. "What is CMR?" queriedTunde. "Since you don't have CMR, you better come and see my boss" declared the policeman, ignoring Tunde’s question, while pointing to a Police Sergeant chatting with another officer beside a patrol vehicle parked a few metres away. Tunde learnt later that CMR means Police Central Motor Registry.

Tunde did a quick thinking. These policemen will ruin his day if care is not taken. He has to do something fast. He got out and locked the car. He took a few steps to follow the policeman. He stopped and said, "Look, let me park my car well off the road. I don't want any trailer or tanker to run into it. The policeman agreed and waited for him. Tunde entered his car, and turned on the ignition. He engaged the central lock of the car, thereby locking all the doors of the car. He pulled out of the road and zoomed off. He stopped the car some safe metres away from the policeman, rolled down his side glass halfway, looked back at the astonished policeman, made faces at him, and zoomed off laughing like someone demented.

OGD Intervention

About this time last year, Ogun State Ministry of works’ men came with caterpillars and bulldozers to grade this road. This was broadcast live on the television, especially AIT, to draw attention of the public to what Ogun state government was doing at Ota. The workmen dubbed it as "OGD Intervention."  However, they failed to provide effective drainage for the road, which is actually the most important thing needed by this road. Now the road is completely unusable and totally abandoned by all vehicles. It is currently in a worse state than that of last year before the repairs.

This portion of road is called the Plaza junction, about 400 metres from Sango-Ota overhead bridge. If you are coming from the Lagos-Abeokuta old toll-gate, this road serves as an alternative road to Abeokuta if you want to avoid passing through the Sango-Ota junction, or you want to go straight to Ijoko or Agbado. This road is now completely impassable to any vehicle at all due to poor drainage.

Sango-Ota is an important part of Ogun state boasting of many companies that generate revenues for the state. This is apart from residents and small business owners that also contribute to the development of the area. Let Ogun state government focus more attention on Sango-Ota area and help to rehabilitate the major roads. This is an appeal to the Otunba Gbenga Daniel (OGD) administration.