The 27th and 28th of September, 2021 are days that will not be forgotten so soon. The experience, the stress and twist of event will ever remain fresh in the memory of those that placed huge value on me.

The Beginning

After the conclusion of the First Semester Examination at the College where I work as a College Teacher, I travelled back home to spend the holiday with my Family as well as Celebrate the birthday of Edric our son who clocked a decade.

The holiday was filled with fun fare and good memories as we re-united after about three months of absence from home. After spending approximately one month with my family, the vacation period approved for us came to an end hence the need for me to return back to my station and resume work for the second semester.

By the time I announced to my family that school will resume on the 20th September, 2021 and I will have to return back on Saturday so I will rest on Sunday so that I can resume work on Monday. It was not funny ooo! I met huge resistance from my wife and two sons. They revolted that I won't go until the weekend that follows- it was a coup against me. They stagged an in-house protest carrying placards with the inscription "Give us one more week".

I appealed severally to them to allow me return to my place of work and promised to be with them again twice before the end of the semester to no avail. (My family lives in Minna where my wife manage a growing school business we established there while I work as a College Lecturer at the PAN AFRICAN COLLEGE OF EDUCATION in Offa, Kwara State which is about 8 hours away from Minna).

When it became obvious that it was a rigid resolve by the trio- My Wife, Clinton and Edric, I had no alternative than to take advantage of the cordial relationship I have with my boss which they are aware of. I called my boss telling him of the situation at home, he graciously approved for me to stay back an additional week following my tireless contribution and workerholic disposition at school

The Journey

I had spent one additional week and it was time for me to return back to Offa, I packed my bag and baggages then the birthday boy- Edric began to cry. He appealed that I should Wait and leave the next day but I declined his request. I set out to the garage and boarded a Vehicle to Ilorin from where I will connect Offa.

On our way, as we were approaching (about 15km) away from Bida, we received a report of huge traffic and gridlock spanning a distance of about 30 kilometres from Bida town. We were made to understand that the Tanker Driver Association had blocked the high way as a protest against Niger state government policy on the use and ply of the state owned road by heavy duty vehicles. Should we return back home? Will the driver be willing to refund part of our monies for the trip? These disturbing rhetorical questions and many more were bothering my mind even as I said to myself- and Edric didn't want me to travel today.

As I was pondering on the next line of action, the Driver immediately followed behind some vehicle navigating a bush path. I immediately asked the driver where he was taking us to and his reply was that those ahead of us knows the route through the bush path that will lead us to avoid the hug traffic spanning 30km only. With faith and prayers, we followed and drove through a lonely bush for over two and a half hours only to gain about 25km in advancement from where we branched-off the highway to where we linked the highway again. By implication, we approximately spent Three Hours to gain 25kms and left with another 5kms to navigate in the gridlock.

It was already 12noon when we linked the highway again. There were several other smaller vehicles packed in an opened field adjacent to the bush path that linked the highway. It was as if that field was naturally provided for that purpose. At this point it was now dawned on me that we may likely be spending some days at that point after I had listened to testimonies of people on the resolve by the tanker drivers not to further allow vehicles navigate through the remaining 5km and in there resolve to achieve that, they had blocked the road at 5 points before the only bridge that linked that community and other communities ahead.

To be continued.......