It is one thing to wake up in the morning and be happy that everything around you was fine and another thing to return to bed, sad. Such was how today turned out to be for me. I followed my usual routine of praying and preparing for work and before cockcrow, I was already on the road to join the bus that would take me to school. But as soon as any goods touched the ground, I hit my leg on a log. A bad omen.
In the African parlance, for one to hit his leg while on a journey is not a good sign. I didn't hesitate to think about it, I continued to the bus stop where I would join my colleagues on the bus.
The journey to the office was stormy. The traffic jam on the third mainland bridge in Lagos was out of this world. It was so frustrating because one had to wake up early to beat the traffic. Despite that, we found ourselves in the same traffic and it took about three hours to get out of it. In the end, we couldn't find what had caused the traffic jam.
That was not the top of the day for me. We received a client who came with a huge project for us to execute in the heart of Lekki, the most expensive part of Lagos. It was a huge deal. We knew it was going to be tasking to deliver what the client was demanding but our excitement was cut short.
As a property development company, we were to visit the site and make the necessary preparations. But when we reached the location, what we met was beyond ordinary. We met se miscreant smoking hemp and sitting comfortably on a bench in the undeveloped land. As we approached, our team lead and four others including my humble self, the leader of the miscreant stood and asked us to leave at once or regret ever coming to the site.
His eyes were red, perhaps from the effects of the smoke. As he spoke allowed in his baritone voice, dragging from the burning hemp in his hands and puffing it into the air, causing it to form a moving circle shape.
I had already taken a few steps backward in case the fellas attempted to launch an attack, I would simply take to my heels but they didn't. Mr Wale, the team leader, asked them to calm down and that we were leaving immediately. As he turned, they chased us with a machete.
All this was happening in Lagos. The land of opportunities and commercial hub of Nigeria with a government.
I have never run the way I did today. Thankfully, I wasn't heavy enough to not be able to carry my body. After a few moments of running, I looked back to see that the gap between my colleagues was widening. The miscreants backed off after that dangerous chase.
All five of us reached the highway, panting for breath as we waited for a taxi to convey us back to the office. At the end of it all, no one sustained any injury. We reported to the office. The top management team would take it up from there. What a day.