The Diary Game || 25-07-24 || Encounter with the Proposed Ghanaian Man

Dear Diary,
Today was one of the times where I had to be grateful for something. I was almost kidnapped today. Let me tell you my story. I was going home from work today and this particular day, I went to work alone without my colleagues. Apparently they took the day off. After the close of work I boarded a vehicle ( keke- a tricycle with 3 passenger seats) an entered it.

They were already two men inside the keke so I sat at the last seat. Unknown to me, I was about to experience what could be the biggest shock of my life, what most people in Nigeria will refer to as 'one chance'. One Chance is a situation whereby you walk into a trap with your two eyes open and only realizing it after. As I sat there, the other passenger next to me pretended like he was lost and asked the driver about a supermarket location in my city that I was soon to find out doesn't exist.

That way, the driver will stop for him to alight, then after driving a short distance, he'll pretend like he wanted to help the man find the place, go back and pick him up and so putting me in the middle of them both. Guess what? It worked and I didn't even suspect a hint what was going on.

Next thing, the passenger that alighted which I'll refer to as 'Ghana man' and the other one by my left which I'll refer to as 'young man' started trying to engage me in a conversation, but I was on my phone so I didn't really pay attention to them. Before I knew it, the Ghana man started saying something about a trade fair and how you could get really cheap food products, while the young man acted like he was so into enthusiastic about it which to be honest did sparked my interest so I just listened.

He went on and on about how the government organized it to help people buy things from outside Nigeria, that he was a Ghanaian man coming to sell there too and that he speaks French and doesn't understand the local language.

I really don't know why I did but I started engaging in their conversation, mostly acting like a translator between two of them while the driver was still driving. I was interpreting the local language that the young man and the driver were speaking to the supposed Ghana man who didn't understand the dialect.

The Ghana man now said the government was giving free gifts to people just so you can bring your friends to participate in the trade fair too. He asked us about our shoe sizes and there and then, seeing the corporation of the driver and young man, I would have not something was amiss but I didn't.

Ghana man now said we had to follow him to the new customs office to be able to claim these gifts because it was no longer in the Old custom office. He wanted to give me a pair of sneakers, give the young man a powerbank and give the driver a new phone.
All these was their ploy but I didn't know.

By this time, the driver has already passed my stop but I couldn't tell him to stop and I don't know why so I just followed them. As he passed my stop, I tried sending a message to my friend on WhatsApp to share my location so let's just say I was still myself. Unfortunately it didn't show "sent". The Ghana man asked me what I was doing on my phone, so I just lied to him and reduce the phone's brightness so he won't see.

He further asked my school, cause of study and level so I just made things up so he would stop pestering me. The next sequence of events that unfolded was something I've only seen in Nigerian horror movies and heard in folktales by the fire but didn't' believe can happen in real life.

As we all accepted to go to the customs office to claim the gifts, the Ghana man started asking us if we were Christians and how he trusts us because we were and begged us not to scam him by running away with those gifts and not referring our friends.

Next thing I know, he started telling us how he has a bad experience when he came to Nigeria few years ago, was kidnapped, beaten up and robbed and so the experience left him bittered that when he went back to Ghana, he went to a river diety and placed an oath that whatever someone takes from him and doesn't return in good will, the person will die.

At This point, anyone hearing my experience will probably think I'm making things up. Truth is, I couldn't believe it myself till I was back to my normal self because at this point I wasn't. Ghana man said he was going to place an oath of good will on us since we were Christians so we won't scam him. He knelt down, took sand from under his shoe and rub it on the back of our palms.

I was hesitant about this superstitious act so I started praying silently because my heart was already beating so fast. The young guy then told me that this man has placed a "society oath" upon us as they called it, that the last time such an oath was placed on people going to get same gifts, they died mysteriously except one person that went back to remove the oath.

He then asked me to tell the Ghana man to remove the oath so we won't die. Ghana man just made things worse when he said that he can only remove the oath completely as long as we won't eat anything that comes out of the river like fish, crayfish. That if we did eat it, we'd die. Then I was already frantic in my mind and I started praying loudly and calling on God that they were all uncomfortable.

The Ghana man now said we should fold our hands on our laps so he can use the sand and remove the oath. I refused and I was already shouting my prayers. He quickly knelt down again and apologized saying nothing will happen to me, I shouldn't worry. I didn't speak to them again, I just tapped the driver's back and said I was coming down. Luckily he stopped It took me seconds in a daze before I finally realized where I was and what happened.

I was already shaking in terror about how I could have been spelled and kidnapped to an unknown destination or spelled and collected all the money on me . I was crying on the highway while dailing my friend's number with so much speed. She picked and I shakily told her all that just occured. I entered my church venue which fortunately I saw after they dropped me.

I prayed and thanked God for my life. It was really a traumatizing experience as well.