I have always had an unexplained dislike
for the colour red. Perhaps, it is because somewhere in my subconscious I have
associated it with danger or blood. However, in the morning of Thursday, February
23, 2006, I put on an oxblood shirt and a red-brown-black blend tie over black
trousers to go to work which I just resumed two days before.
Having only completed my National Youth Service in September of the previous year, I thought I was rather fortunate to have landed that job, considering I did not have to stay at home for long. So it was with great expectations that I commenced training on the job. I remembered praying that morning as I always do before setting out, for God’s protection.
Having only completed my National Youth Service in September of the previous year, I thought I was rather fortunate to have landed that job, considering I did not have to stay at home for long. So it was with great expectations that I commenced training on the job. I remembered praying that morning as I always do before setting out, for God’s protection.
After a rather hitch free commuting via
public transport from Ajah to Airport road where the headquarters of the
company is located, I had an exciting day at work and before the close of
business that day, I was given an invitation to attend the company’s annual
retreat which was holding at Nike Lake resort in Enugu that year. Things were
looking great! I was excited about the retreat of the following week as I had
never been to the eastern part of Nigeria before that time.
Here was I, fresh from school with a law
degree, NYSC behind me, and a promising job ahead of me. Life was good! Those
were my thoughts as I made my way back home. At Oshodi, I boarded a non-stop
bus to Ajah. Since I was the first to
get into the vehicle, I took the front seat as it usually has more room. Soon
after, a male passenger came to join me in front and I made room for him to
take the inner seat while I retained my window seat. I would never know now,
how that decision played out.
As the now filled bus made its way
towards the third mainland bridge, the ride was smooth, things looked normal.
When the driver started to ascend the bridge, at the intersection where the
road forks towards Ibadan expressway to the left
and Lagos Island to the right, he should move
towards the right and continue on the bridge. I just started to think that the
vehicle was too close to the kerb and… (I didn’t quite finish the thought) when
everything happened in surreal slow motion in my mind. The driver violently hit the kerb with the
left wheel, which made the bus travelling at about 100 km/per hour careened out
of balance, fell on my side and continued sliding on the concrete highway till
it spent its velocity and came to an abrupt halt right in the middle of the
road. Fortunately, there was no other vehicle coming behind to run us over.
The noise of the crash was deafening. The
windshield had shattered to a thousand places sending pieces of glass fiber
everywhere. Metal had squeezed, seats were pushed into each other and there was
silence for a fraction of a second before the cries, wailings, and screams
emanated from all around as if people were zoned back into the present to
confront the horrors.