Hello great people, I hope this story meets you well. Sometime ago in 2021, I decided to visit my friend in Lagos and something that I found very annoying as well as shocking happened on my way there.
The number of times that I’ve been to Lagos cannot have reached ten and the majority of the time, I travel down there on my own so I have experiences stored in my brain.
That morning in Ondo, I went to school to write my last paper for the semester - Pharmacology. Immediately I dropped my pen and stepped out of the school premise, I boarded a bike directly to Lagos way garage.
I went to school prepared. I had packed my travel bag the previous night with the hope of traveling from school.
The normal me would have waited behind to discuss the examination questions with my friends after submission but the excited me couldn’t even fix a minute for that.
When I got to the garage, there were only a few people in the bus so I had to wait until the bus was filled.
While waiting, I realized that I was so famished so I went outside the garage to get cooked food. By the time I got back, the car was already loaded so I joined them and we began the journey.
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In the first five minutes into the journey, everyone was quiet except the two children that sat with their parents in the first roll.
I decided to bring out my newly bought earpiece to jam one of my favorite albums. I had bought the ear piece at the beginning of the journey to keep myself far from boredom and not to disturb other passengers with music noise throughout the journey.
In my mind, I had visualized myself jamming to the Wizkid album and nodding my head in intervals to the tune of the music. I could see myself looking out through the bus window, enjoying the cool breeze and feeding my eyes on people’s activities on the route that leads to Lagos from Ondo.
I wanted my imagination to come into realization really fast but little did I know that the saying “man proposes, God disposes” would happen to me.
“Good evening, my fellow passengers,” one of the passengers in the last row said as loud as possible.
Everyone in the bus turned back in the direction of the voice. It was very loud and masculine.
I even thought he used a microphone I fixed my eyes on him until he said another statement.
“Believers, join me, let’s pray” he added.
I was quite angry that my attempt to bring my sweet imaginations to life was disturbed but..
*well well well, there’s nothing wrong with prayers”.
Although I didn’t pray with him, a few passengers joined him in saying amen to his prayers.
What got me angrier was that the prayers were too long.
What’s all these now I have nothing against prayers but moderation is required in everything.
After about 20 minutes of intense prayer, he rounded it up.
I was very happy so I plugged my earphone back in my ears and I could finally listen to my music.
I’ve barely listened to it for two minutes and the same guy raised his voice again “praise the lord”.
what again now I was boiling from inside me but there was nothing I could do since some of the passengers looked interested in him. He preached the gospel for over an hour and when he eventually finished, he started praying for everyone on the bus.
He started from the driver - “the driver driving this bus, I pray for you….”.
“The lady beside the driver,I pray for you, you shall succeed in your ways…” “the man wearing blue in the second row..” “the girl on her mother’s lap…” “the woman in yellow beside the door, I pray over your business…” and on like that until he reached the last person in the last row on the bus.
At that point, the number of people engaging him gradually dropped and tiredness was written over some of the passengers' faces. I had given up on listening to music, so I just sat there, looking outside through the window and of course, very angry.
When he eventually finished the prayer sessions for every individual in the bus, he began making references to the bible and explaining the visions he saw while praying.
I think it’s because it’s human nature to be intrigued about the future and mysteries about their lives. The number of people engaging him skyrocketed and it seemed like prophecies and visions were the reason for our gathering in the bus.
I, the driver and the lady seated beside me didn’t buy his ideas so we just kept mute.
However, over two hours into the journey, he eventually finished the whole thing and then a few persons asked him various questions and also asked him to pray over their businesses.
I sat there wondering how people could easily tell a stranger about everything going on with them and their families, even their privacies.
Long story cut short, this is the shocking part.
Just a few minutes after the whole prayer stuff, the teenage girl that sat beside him shouted at the top of her voice “don’t you dare touch my breasts again”
Ooops, everyone in the bus looked in her direction. Even the driver looked at her briefly and smiled.
One random person in the car exclaimed “so pastor too dey touch woman breasts, at the end of the day, na everybody like good thing”.
One of the women who previously engaged in the man’s discussion placed one of her hands on her head and said “ ahh aye mi”(agh my life). I bet she couldn’t believe what was happening. The person she had shared all her life secrets with was actually a pervert.
The preacher man kept on arguing with the girl that he didn’t touch her breasts but the girl explained in detail that he had been stylishly touching her breasts since the beginning of the journey. However, he had grown wings to the point of actually fondling them and that was why she voiced out.
“I was scared to talk because I wasn’t sure if everything was real or happening in my head. I saw this man as a pastor since we entered this bus and it was not easy for me to expose him” she added.
wow wow
“We know them, I’ve been driving for 20 years now, we know their type” the driver also added his dough.
So many people looked disgusted at him and I could at least read regrets on the faces of the passengers who interacted with him while he prophesied.
Till we got to Lagos, the bus remained quiet and peaceful.
Finally, I was able to jam my songs with my new earphones even though the remaining lasted for a short time until we entered the city of Lagos.
This is the end of my “Weird journey to Lagos” story.
Thank you for reading.
