It was a Saturday, I had hurriedly finished my assignment in Lagos so as to catch a night bus back to the East. I insisted on travelling that evening so as to be able to get to my destination on Sunday. I knew that if I fail to reach on Sunday, I won't be able to tidy certain things up before getting ready for work on Monday.
Though my friend whom I stayed with that weekend was against my journey that night, I told him I was used to travelling at any time of the day. He said he was afraid of darkness because one would not be seeing far what lies ahead. I waved that idea aside, telling him I had been travelling for a long time, both day and night without problems.
As I came to the park around 8:00pm, I didn't see any vehicle going to the East. I was disappointed. The next thing was to go back and pass another night with him.
As I was about waving down a cab, a white bus came around, asking of passengers to the East. I waved at it. It stopped and I entered.
The driver said he had an urgent call to come back to the East that night. He said he came around to see if he could get one or two passengers at the park.
So, we took off without wasting time to make a journey of about 10 hours. On and on as we moved there were fewer and fewer vehicles on the road. At a particular time, it appeared as if we were the ones on the road. No vehicle was coming in the opposite direction, and none was behind us.
Apart from the stillness of the night, the depth of darkness that enveloped us was outstanding. The driver put on all his lights so as to indicate the presence of human beings around.
In the midst of our predicament, whereby we were soaked in darkness, loneliness, fear and apprehension, no one talked to anyone. I summoned courage and told the driver to turn on his radio. He replied that he didn't know why he had not done so earlier on as his radio was hardly put off.
The radio started but, only Marshal music was going on in all the stations. Their normal programmes were off the air. Within a short time, an announcer came up and pronounced a coup d'etat. A military takeover of government had taken place, and everyone was advised to remain in doors till 6:00am. The voice further clarified that as from tomorrow, the imposed curfew was going to be from 6:00pm to 6:00am.
We had no option than to stop further movement and pass the night at the place. So, we remained there throughout that night. It was only in the morning when we started seeing other vehicles did we continue on our journey to East.