It's Throwback Thursday and today, I can't help but remember an incident that happened in the year 2022.
My dad passed on in the year 2021 in the month of December and I was travelling to the village for his burial in the month of February, year 2022.
It was my first time travelling alone. For me, I love taking the night bus so that I can arrive in the morning. Travelling in the morning means I'll be getting there late at night and because I'm scared of walking at night, I'd rather travel with people at night and get to ky destination in the morning. It also saves me the stress of sitting in the bus for a long time.
The bus I boarded delayed us at the park and all the passengers were complaining. We left around past 11pm. I was already exhausted because I left the house by past 5pm and I had been sitting in the bus. It was about twenty minutes after we moved that the bus broke down.
Everybody was complaining now because, how would this people put out a bus that wasn't good enough on the road? The driver and his mechanic did a small work on it and we started moving. I was happy that at least, we were already on our way and I was already imagining myself hugging my aunt in the village. The bus broke down again. This time, we were all asked to come down.
Ah. Thankfully, there was a lady there who acted like a big sister to me. She made sure I didn't leave her sight and we were together. After almost an hour, the driver asked that we hop in as the engine was working well again. Exhausted, I climbed the bus and went to my seat.
We were still in Lagos while all these were happening. It was already past 1am. I was already dozing off when the lady tapped me, saying that the bus had broken down again. Ah ah! Almost all the men were fuming with anger. They came down from the bus and decided to walk down a bit instead of waiting for the bus. We had even suggested that the driver called the company to bring them a new bus, seeing that the one we boarded couldn't get us to our destination. He didn't listen.
Around 3am, the driver started the bus, leaving the people that came down on the road. He was meant to wait for them to hop in before moving but I wonder what came over him.
They all started running after the bus and since the door was open, they jumped in. There was a man who jumped in but while he was trying to enter, the driver increased his speed and the man lost balance. He fell back to the road and the tyres of the bus grinded him. We could hear the way his bones were breaking as the tyres climbed over him.
We all shouted that the driver stopped because he had killed someone. Those who hadn't boarded the bus were shouting on the driver to stop but he kept moving. One man even encouraged him to drive faster because a dead man was dead and there was nothing they could do about it. He told the driver to run faster so the police wouldn't arrest him. What a world!
While others were threatening the driver, he stopped qnd shivering, started running barefooted to see what he had done. But, we had gone really far from where it happened. Fortunately, a man was driving his camry and he offered to take the driver to the place where the man was. From there, they rushed his body to the hospital to see if anything could be done but there was nothing. For someone whose balls were crushed, and legs were broken, even his hands and his neck as well, I doubt if he was going to survive it.
We all came down from the bus and gave a minute silence for the young man. He was travelling to his village but the driver killed him. It was such a gory. Looking at his body, I shivered.
My phones were switched off and there was no way to reach out to my family to let them know where I was. We all stayed in the cold until it was 6am when another bus with another driver came.
The journey I thought was a night journey became a day and half journey. We travelled with his corpse because, they had to take him to his village and explain to his family, as well. They dropped us in Onitsha, his village, leaving us to find our way. I was going to Imo state and if I didn't go with enough cash, I would have been stranded because, there was no way I could make calls.
I got to my village and found out that everyone at home were scared, wondering what had happened to me. I explained to them and I just went to rest because what I had seen really affected my health.
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