My Lagos Story

The dream to make Lagos a megacity was not conceived yesterday as such dreams are not even achievable overnight. To make Lagos a megacity has to come with its various prices. One of the prices it might possibly pay is organised and well planed daylight robbery with little or nobody being aware that a robbery is ongoing, no matter how small. It will get to a level where people will be robbed of personal belongings by the roadsides (not to say it’s a new thing in ‘Our Lagos’) with every other passer-by facing his own business, hence, the need for tightened security and individual alertness to his immediate environment.

Although we might feel foreign movies exaggerate their reach by showing us in movies that they have security presence in almost every nook of their city, nonetheless, it is obtainable in these places, maybe not as beautifully exaggerated but what the movie industry in every country portrays about that country largely holds water. Every megacity must be security conscious and peacefully safeguard its citizens.

It cannot be denied, the sluggish response of the Nigerian Police Force to crime scenes as portrayed by the Nigerian Movie Industry (Nollywood). Not to say the entire police force is bad, however, it speaks largely of them.

On Tuesday, 30th May, 2017 Just as I was walking down from Campbell street between Igbosere and Campos on the Island, returning from a function, a young man, most likely in his mid thirties approached me from the opposite direction. His manner of approach was relaxed as one would have thought we know each other. Almost getting to meet me, he crouched like when a familiar person sees you and tries to act like he is hailing you. Still crouching, he approached me and finally was in front of me. At first, I thought it was one of those ‘distant Uncles’ of mine who was trying to joke with me as I have relatives living around that area but one thing I was sure of was that, I don’t know nor have I seen that face before. All these thinking and reasoning happened in a twinkle of an eye. While I was still thinking and he was still crouching, he lifted my left leg off the ground (I had already stopped walking at that point), and just hung it there, still crouching. I had the ‘ahn ahn, kilo n se eleyi' (what is wrong with this one) expression on my face. It was looking like a Nigerian Home Video.

While we were both acting our drama, everyone was going on their own business. At that point, God in His mercies jolted my thinking. Immediately, I remembered I had heard of such scenarios were people had been robbed of their mobile phones in that manner; One of your legs would be raised off the ground (the one with your phone in it), which allows easy access to push your phone from your trouser pocket without you feeling the movement of the phone while the hand with which your leg was carried makes it to your behind to receive the falling phone from your pocket.

I cannot remember if I smiled but I remained calm for if I had struggled, the phone might have fallen off, screen breaks and the guys runs away... My loss. I took my hand straight to my pocket and it met with my mobile phone which was half way out of my pocket. I held it tightly, fixed my sight on him and on realising he had been ‘busted’, dropped my leg and made his way past me with nobody except for probably a few people who witnessed the ‘closing stages of the drama’ and saw me retrieve my phone, even at that, nobody made any move to potentially stop the guy from escaping. He made it to a tricycle with his eyes glued to me and vice versa with a painful look on his face, perhaps wondering how I found out his ‘scope’. Although I am not an advocate of mob justice but I respect some places in Lagos where that guy would have cursed coming out to hunt on that day. Of course he’ll not be killed but definitely handed to the appropriate authorities.

One might have wondered why I did not scream for help. I couldn’t scream because I never knew what was going on. I was only trying to figure out what was happening and perhaps, that worked out for me. Again, I was lucky to have heard of such escapades. How about those who have not had prior stories of such scenes? numerous innocents who have fallen, are falling and will fall victims of this ‘beautiful art’.? Perhaps because petty thieves are easily let off the hook after bribing their way out of the police cells, there is no deterrent to prospective thieves. The only regret I had was that it took me a while to realise that I had not taken a picture of him but I am glad my phone was not stolen.

While there is a need for government to not forget tightening security amidst its plans to create a Lagos of our dream, it is also important that we the citizens become aware of our immediate environment. In some cases, you might have to scream for help. This kind of situations are attributed to well developed cities like Lagos which also necessitates the intensification of security in the state. Maybe I forgot to mention that this happened in broad daylight, on a busy road with vehicles and pedestrian plying the road between the hours of two and three pm. I have heard of several stories of such petty daylight robberies, it was however a mixed feeling of joy and anger witnessing it first-hand.

This is my own Lagos story.
Together we can make Lagos and at Large, Nigeria a better and safer place.