My first time traveling to Lagos was for a work induction, which lasted for three days; Wednesday through to Friday.
Saturday came, and it was my day of leaving. I woke up very early, around 3:30am, took a quick shower, dressed up, and picked up my already-arranged back from the previous day when I returned from the last training.
The man with whom I stayed in his house saw me through to the major road, and at that dark period, everywhere was buzzing as if it were already daytime.
"So, please, be briefing me on WhatsApp about the journey."
"Yeah, I'll surely keep you updated."
We shook hands with a slight hug, and I hopped into a half-stopped bus that would take me to the bus terminal, where I would get a direct bus to Delta State.
Within 10 minutes or so, we go to the bus terminal, and I was told that a bus just moved and I need to wait for the next phase.
I was on the spot calculating whether to stay and wait for the available bus to get filled when I heard, "Lagos to Warri! One chance remaining!". It was still dark, so I listened carefully to the direction of the sound, and I saw that there's a mini-terminal close by. I walked there, and to be honest, there was just a seat remaining in the 8 seater Sienna bus, which I occupied, and we left after I paid.
I thought because it was Saturday, traffic wouldn't be much, and I was sure of meeting up for a wedding event at home.
A few minutes into the road, my phone rang, and #'FAVOUR #Calling' was displayed on the screen.
"Hello, Favour, good morning."
"Goodmorning, Kingsley. How are you doing? Please let me know the address for the wedding reception. I won't be available for the church wedding, which means I would be going to the reception alone and I don't know the direction" Favour rushed her words, which is a clear sign that she's trying to minimize her call credit.
"Okay, the address is at the Primary school ..." I paused when I noticed that she wasn't hearing. "Hello! Can you hear me?"
"The voice is cracking; please make it audible." She faintly responded, and I increased my tone, which made everyone in the bus uncomfortable, they all turned their neck one after the other to see who was shouting and I didn't care.
"You got that, right?" I kept shouting on the phone
"Yes, I heard you."
"Meanwhile, I'm on my way back from Lagos, so I would join you guys immediately I get home" When I said this at the top of my voice, the people inside the vehicle burst into laughter.
Favor was surprised as well and she asked, "did you say Lagos? And you want to meet up with the wedding? You're joking"
We ended the call, and everyone in the bus began to mock me.
"You are funny, bro. You want to meet up for a wedding ceremony from his journey?" Lots of laughter followed, and that connected everyone. I became the center of talk, with everyone cracking up jokes with that, and I was 'sharpmouthed' enough to stage up with the banter.
In a few minutes of the journey, the car broke down in the center of a waterlogged area. The driver came out and inspected the car, and we needed to push it out first before seeking out a mechanic.
We didn't allow the driver to request first before we could help. Out of the unity within us already, we folded up our trousers, pulled off our shoes, entered the slightly dirty water, and pushed out of the vehicle.
In normal circumstances, when such things happen, the passengers leave the cross for the driver to bear alone; in fact, some would even start demanding a refund, but this case was totally different; we were already bonded.
The driver got a mechanic to fix the car while we moved down to a nearby palm tree to take cover from the blazing hot sun. We were under the palm tree when we saw three young guys with muscular bodies raising their voices at the driver. One of us got up and approached the scene. What we saw next was one of the three guys raising his hand as if he wanted to slap the guy that approached them.
"Hey! Hey!" We rushed off to the spot.
"Driver, what's the situation?" The most mature man among us asked the driver, and the driver couldn't say anything reasonable; he was boiling with anger and was at his peak. We held him back because he was pushing for a fight already.
We tamed the situation down, and we found out that these three guys were indigenous task forces that go around tasking people who wrongly packed their cars on the road, even though it's a bushy area.
One of us brought out money and settled them, and they drove off in their quacky motorcycle.
Yo! I've never seen that kind of thing; the camadarie was out of this world. The combo, unity, and willingness with which we were giving out our time, energy, and resources to put everything at ease baffled me.
The journey lasted for hours, and the remaining part of the journey was smooth, with lots of jokes and the gifting of minerals bought from road hawkers.
I got home very late at night and I remembered how they were mocking me when I was on phone call with Favour saying I would meet up with the wedding.