It was a 17-hour journey! A journey that was supposed to be 9 hours on a good day! This was one of my worst experiences travelling by road since I was born. If I had access to turn back to Lagos, I would have chosen that after seeing the red signal, but the situation was so terrible that there was no going back or going forward but just remaining completely stagnant for 5 hours at a spot. What a journey!
Life is full of experience, but there are some experiences I don't even pray for my enemies to encounter; however, we can only find a way to pull through when such experiences surface.
Yesterday, I traveled to Enugu with my son to see a particular consultant by recommendation over his health challenge. The journey started so smoothly because we left very early in the morning. Around 10 am, we were already at Ore, a place where passengers usually rest and eat before continuing their journey.
Just about 30 minutes after we left, heading down, we met other vehicles on both the left and right sides of the road, packed and without movement. There was no vehicle coming from the front or turning back; all drivers were queuing up once they reached the location until the line piled up, very lengthy. I knew there was a problem; we waited until we all came down, seeing others just seated and moving along by the roadside.
Upon inquiry, it was disclosed that at our front, let's say a 20-minute trek to the scene, Edo communities were protesting over killings in their land by the Fulani herdsmen. According to what we were told, the Fulani herdsmen killed many Edo women at their farm, just like the way they parade in communities and kill innocent souls without reason. They stormed Edo with their killing mentality; unfortunately, Edo people couldn't take it. They brought out the corpses of those women that were killed and lined them up along the road, saying no human being will drive past their community yesterday. Every traveler must share in their pain!
They were seriously protesting, chanting songs, burning tires, and well equipped with sharp objects. Some policemen, after like two hours of their protest, went to the scene to plead with them to give travelers access, but surprisingly, their women naked themselves in anger and said, "Over our bodies will they do such things. No road. Let's share with their pain..." Hmmm.The stress on the road was getting real. My son was so uncomfortable; I was equally weak. It was 4 hours then, still no movement. But then, somehow, the commissioner of police was informed, and he came with many soldiers and calmed the community down...carried the corpse too to the station, and that was when we were given access. Overall, we stayed at a spot from 11am to 4pm...5 hours of waiting!!
Moving down, our tyre burst again along the road. Bad enough, our driver had no complete instruments to fix the spare. We had to wait for a very long time for another driver to come to our aid; it was a total mess. My family member called more than 100 times, sharing in my worry; their encouragement kept me going. I used to have motion sickness too; I was throwing up so badly. I lose the strength to talk or pick up their calls. I had no strength left in me to look after my son, but some good hearts in our bus made sure he was just fine.
Overall, we reached Enugu town around 11 pm; my twin brother immediately picked us up to take us to his house, and we freshened up and slept.
Despite all the ups and downs, I am grateful to God that we were safe after all.