A war I witnessed

9TH MARCH,2022.
38TH ARTICLE IN ALL.
8TH ARTICLE IN THE MONTH.

When I think of the goodness of Jesus, and all He has done for me, my very soul shall shout hallelujah. Praise God for saving me.

I am very happy today. Do you know why? In the article I wrote about mum-escaped-death it is a year already. God preserved her life for me. I am grateful to God for that. Just few days before this incident last year, war broke out in the town we live. It was very bloody.

I had already finish secondary school so I was working in a private school awaiting admission. That fateful day, we were in school as usual. The school had closed for normal school hours. It remained only those of us that had extra lessons. We just finished the first period of the lesson and we were preparing for the second one which is the last when the proprietress came in to tell us to dismiss the pupils and lock the school. I was about to go home when the proprietress told me to go and stay in her house with the remaining pupils whose parents were not yet around. My house was only 30 minutes walk from school although, it was close to the battlefront.

I thought I would be able to get home in time but she told me that, that area will be too dangerous to stay at that time. I yeilded to her suggestion since she had once witnessed war six years ago. Students who were schooling in the direction of my parents' house were running speedily to the town. My dad was already at home. We just prayed for his safety.

I saw different people with guns, charms and clothes. It was terrible. If someone had told me while leaving the house in the morning that I would not step my feet in the house again for that day, I wouldn't have believed it. I would have even distant myself from that person.

I've never experienced something like this before so I wondered why people were running like a person being chased by masquerade. Parents were searching for their children. I was indifferent. I called my dad to inform him of the latest development but he said nothing was happening. Few minutes later, we began to hear gunshots. Then, we knew there was real trouble. The sounds of the guns were not ordinary sound.

My dad and baby sister were the only one at home. They had to lock the door and lie on the ground. We were already in the proprietor's house. He told everyone of us to get into the car and we moved out of town. He drove from kwara state to one of his children's house in osun state. We slept there overnight. My mum's heart was divided between thinking about me and then my dad. The following morning, my dad was able to leave the town but terrorists were still in the bush. Many people died in the fight. The most painful one to me was the death of an okada Rider. This man was very nice. If others would not collect 50 naira for transport fare, this man will be considerate. It was pathetic.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this.