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.