At about 8pm tonight, I was heading home to Surulere from a fashion show rehearsal I had on the Island. Usually when I have to go to the Island (Victoria and Ikoyi), I don't go with my car, 'cos most times I leave late and I'm not very comfortable driving by myself at night, so I usually take a cab.
But today a colleague was going with me and the plan had been that we'll come back to Surulere together when we were through. But midway into the rehearsal, my dear friend disappeared. When I called him, he gave some flimsy excuse of why he had to leave early, but thankfully for me, there were two models who were headed my way. So at about 7:45, we got in my car to get back to Surulere.
Usually when I'm driving at night, I don't turn on the radio, the music kinda distracts me, but this night one of the models insisted on listening to music, so I had no choice but to turn on the radio. Just less than two minutes of tuning to Rhythm 93.7, an announcement came warning road users to avoid Eko Bridge, because there was an armed robbery operation going on in a traffic jam on the bridge. They also called on the police to go over there and help out.
By now I was just leaving kingsway Road Ikoyi heading towards the bridge. To say my heart almost stopped is an understatement. I was shaking like fish that couldn't breath. I had to stop the car to catch my breath. Eventually when I found strenght, I managed to reverse the car and head back towards Ikoyi. I stopped at the first eatery I found and parked.
I had no plans of crossing that bridge tonight, I couldn't drive across it even if I tried. The fact that a robbery had taken place there made it impossible for me to even consider going home this night. One of the girls suggested calling a friend who was in the army to come escort us, I looked at her and said even if King Leonidas and the 300 soldiers offered to escort us, nothing would make me cross that bridge tonight. My whole being had been affected by what I'd heard on the radio. Me and armed robbers don't understand each other in anyway.
I'd had an encounter with armed robbers in 2002 when Usher was here for a concert. I'd gone to see him with a friend and my younger sister. Four armed robbers attacked my car, took all three phones, messed my spirit up...that's a story for another day.
Anyway, I decided to go stay over at a friend's place on the Island. The two girls braved it and took a cab home at around 10:00 tonight. It's about eleven, I'm still waiting to hear they got home safely.
How armed robbers will have the guts to rob vehicles in a traffic jam is beyond me. Do you know how many cars they'll have to rob? Traffic in Lagos is crazy. How many robbers could there have been? And where were the police? I later heard Rhythm had been making the announcement since 7:50, I heard it at about 8:07pm.
I don't know what happened on that bridge tonight. Hopefully no one was hurt.
But its sad that we are not safe on our Lagos roads. Really sad!
