A few years ago when i was managing a café at Ikeja GRA, I had closed for the night and was on my way home.
My car was at the mechanic’s shop so a friend dropped me off at Oando, Maryland where i could pick a Red Cab and head home.
Home was 10 minutes away.
Anthony Village to be precise.
Those were the years before Uber and Taxify.
I wanted a loaf of bread so i started walking towards the bread sellers who had their wares displayed beside the Oando Gas Station.
Right beside the lady i normally bread from, a small crowd gathered and people were looking at someone sprawled on the floor and writhing in pain.
A guy.
His head knocked out of shape.
He was bleeding too.
People had their hands in their heads yelling, ‘Ahhh! Yeeee! Oluwa oo! ‘
I asked my bread customer what had happened to the guy.
I thought he was a victim of some jungle justice.
“Motor just jam am when e dey cross road and the motor no stop”, she said.
Oh dear!
The empath in me woke up.
I walked over to where the crowd was and saw he was in distress and mumbling.
So i bent down and asked if he could hear me.
He nodded.
What is your name?
“Obinna”, he whispered.
Where do you live?
“Onitsha. Abeg help me.”
Then a lad there, a son of one of the bread sellers said to me, “Aunty, see im bag and im phone. Na me pick am when the car jam am. Na omo yibo”
I asked the lad to help me get a cab so i could take the guy to the hospital.
The lad ran off and came back with a yellow cab.
The cab refused to pick us. Saying he didn’t want ‘police wahala’.
3 others refused too and guy was losing blood.
Thankfully i saw a Baba, a cab driver who had taken me to my home on several occasions.
He said, “Aunty na because na you o. Oya make we go. Ya money na N1000.” Meanwhile the average cost from Maryland to my street was about N200.
‘No problem Baba. Make we go’.
The lad also offered to come along so we all entered.
Now, there is a hospital next door to where i lived in Anthony.
It was run by my neighbor, Dr Peterside.
I had Dr Peterside’s number so i called him and told him about the emergency.
This was about 11pm.
The OPC guys who are the security personnel on my street do not allow yellow cabs into the street after 7pm but the Doctor told them what was on ground and also when they saw me, they yelled, ‘Tuale Mama! Mama niyen! and opened the gate.
They know i ‘nice them up’ from time to time😉
It was pouring rain by the time we arrived and PHCN had done the usual. Everywhere was dark.
Pitch black.
Dr Peterside got the generator running in no time.
The cab man and the lad helped carry the victim into the hospital.
I reached my bag to pay the cab but the Baba refused to collect money.
‘Aunty, you be better person. I no know say you no sabi am. I no go collect money for ya hand. You do well”, he said.
I also offered the lad money, he refused too and handed me the guy’s phone and bag.
Then they both left.
I checked the guy’s phone and saw several missed calls from a particular number.
I called the number back and the person started yelling from the other side, Nna i di egwu o…bla bla bla
So i told him i was not Obinna.
I proceeded to explain what had happened.
The guy i called was his brother!
He asked me for the hospital’s address and said he was on his way.
Within an hour, he arrived on a bike and i asked the OPC guys to let him in.
It was about 1:30am.
We both went in and Dr Peterside had cleaned Obinna and was suturing a gash.
I went home, got a Tshirt and some food for them, exchanged numbers with the brother and went into my flat.
The next day, i checked up on him before going to work.
He was much better than he was the previous night.
Apparently he came to Lagos to buy stuff, waybilled his goods and was going to Jibowu to take the night bus to Onitsha when he got hit by a car.
His brother called me, thanked me and said he was going to settle the bills before taking his brother to a much bigger hospital.
Their Mum also called me. She wept as she prayed for me and blessed me.
Their sisters called too.
His entire village and ancestors called.
I was thankful i was at the right place at the right time and was able to save the life of a complete stranger.
A few months after this incident, the Obinna guy called to invite me to his wedding at Onitsha.
I could not attend.
I would have loved to but i just couldn’t.
May we always find help in our time of need🙏🏼
Let Love rule.
chi N. D.