The 5th of May 2016 was a day with "3 reasons not to forget". First, it was my best friend's birthday, it was also the day I sold my first car and finally, the same day I won a promo I didn't literally do anything or involve in any contest to qualify.
The events surrounding this post are undeniably interesting and each of the 3 reasons I listed, played a role in making my winning possible.
Grab a seat, buy yourself a packet of Cabin biscuits with zobo or popcorn and coke as I thrill you with the most amazing experience I have ever had. I'll include as much pictures as I was able to grab while the experience lasted.

...make I go brush my Sme sme mouth, then I come back to update the gist.

Cc: Lalasticlala Mynd44 Rocktation Seun baba, abeg muna help me kari dis mata enter FP. Biko nu.The story is inspiring and interesting. Believe me, u will love it at the end.

..

Yes. I Don show!
As I was saying. I woke up that day like every other normal day. One thing was sure, the guy DAT bargained with me for d purchase of my old 1994 Honda Accord car was going to wire my money. At least that would set me free from the acute owu(brokeness) that was already drying my jaws and driving me wild with just #1,320 left in my bank account and lots of debts too numerous to mention.

I remember making a comment about my first car sometime in April. ***pictured below***

Kontinu reading below...

But there were two other things I never saw coming.
1. I never remembered it was my friend's birthday, even though we exchanged pleasantries that morning (his flat is directly opposite my back window).

2. I didn't foresee any pleasant surprise coming my way from anyone.

Since I was sure of getting some cash later in the day, I called a friend to borrow me #10000 with intention of using some part of it to fix a couple of things in the car and refunding him after getting paid. Almost immediately, he sent me the 10k.
Off to the ATM I zoomed.
Went straight to the ATM at Forte oil in Aba road, Portharcourt. Slotted my card, entered my pin and requested a withdrawal. My people, to my utter bewilderment, the ATM responded with the most impossible grammar: "Sorry, you have exceeded your withdrawal limit for the week"
Taaaah! Me? Withdrawal limit? Howwww? I haven't been to the ATM for over a month and you guys are telling me this.

Cc: Lalasticlala Mynd44 Rocktation Seun baba, abeg muna help me kari dis mata enter FP. Biko nu.The story is inspiring and interesting. Believe me, u will love it at the end.

Off to GTBank opposite Shell gate I went, the same story. Anger already building up. I left for Standard Chartered Bank around there.Same Story. Went to Stirling Bank, no difference. By then all my nerves and arteries were already supplying adrenaline and "anger-blood". I finally went to Zenith Bank ATM, while waiting on d queue, I decided to check my Facebook and see if I could find funny stuffs to calm myself. Behold my friend's timeline buzzing with birthday wishes. Dayum! " So today na Tom birthday sef" ,those were the words I muttered.

It was my turn to use the ATM, yea, u thought right, the ATM didn't pay me. It was d same story. I lost my mind. It was 4:30pm and my client will be coming by 7pm. I provoke! Begin shout inside ATM facility. People just dey look me like say na strange thing I dey talk. I read out what the ATM machine was displaying, but no one seemed to believe that I hadn't made any withdrawal that week or the week before. In my frustration, I left. With only #150 in my wallet. On getting to my street junction, I was confused on whether to go home or try using my card on the POS in the Supermarket. At least I could buy a couple of drinks and surprise my friend for his birthday when he comes home later at night.

I followed my guts. Came down from the loading keke and made for the supermarket across the road.
On entering, I noticed some guys wearing black T-shirts with MasterCard logo printed on them. They were all acting like they were taking stocks of the items in the supermarket. With the kind of busynesss they were displaying, I just went straight to the drinks section and began shopping. I took 8 cans of my favorite Orijin, 4 Guinness, 2 Chivita 100% juice 4 Hero. Went to the counter to pay. There I decided to call my other friend to inform him of my intention to throw a small surprise party on Tom's behalf. He bought the idea and promised to come home early for the groove.

While waiting for my turn to pay for my drinks, I got an alert on my phone. My car client just wired my money. I beamed with smiles. In my mind, "this week Don sharp".
I quickly pulled out my ATM card and handed it to the salesman at the supermarket, which he in turn slotted into the POS. I was a bit nervous now, praying in mind that I don't get the same story I got from all the bank ATM machines previously. As I was punching my pin on the POS, then came the greatest surprises.
Out of no where, I suddenly saw a camera rolling in front of me and a loud blast of UEFA Anthem " We are the champions, the champions, the chaaaaampioooons".
I maintain. Handed over the POS to d guy and the payment was successful, while the MasterCard guys kept rolling the camera on me.



Cc: Lalasticlala Mynd44 Rocktation Seun baba, abeg muna help me kari dis mata enter FP. Biko nu.The story is inspiring and interesting. Believe me, u will love it at the end.

After the anthem, they all began clapping.
One of them offered me a hand shake and asked me; "Sir, do you know you have just won yourself Priceless surprises in the MasterCard promo?"... Aah ah! Oga how do you mean? What did I do? I asked. He said " For using your MasterCard ATM in this shop today, you are entitled to free shopping of #5000, but before that, pick 10 people with MasterCard ATMs in this shop and each of them will be entitled to instant #10,000 free shopping"... My people, I paused. Wait o, is this a scam, a movie or a joke? I asked out of total surprise. All these while the camera man was still busy capturing everything.

Na so MasterCard ATM begin fly out from everywhere. Anyone I pointed, presented their MasterCards, had their names written down and it was a shopping spree... The leader of the group came to me and asked me to pick 5 more people. By then, the people inside the supermarket were out of MasterCard ATMs, immediately, news got outside and all the keke guys in the street were all over me inside the supermarket. "Bros I get MasterCard, bros I get MasterCard" was all I could hear echoing everywhere. I pointed at 5 random people, including a woman and her grown up son. They all made purchases of #10,000 each. Now to the main thing.
While the supermarket was on total lockdown as a result of the humongous crowd that had gathered, the leader of the MasterCard group now said " sir, before you go for your own shopping, its my pleasure to inform you that you have won a to and fro flight ticket to go and watch the final match between Real Madrid and Athletics Madrid and a star-studded event at Eko Hotels and Suites. The ticket is for 2 persons. You can come with anyone you choose." I almost shed tears at this point.

Following

Ehem, I don brush my sme sme mouth thus morning...
Make I kontinue from where I been pause the story last year.

While I was still amazed at the sudden turn of events of a day that I thought was going to end horribly, reality dawned on me when I was led outside and granted an official interview with the camera still rolling.
After the interview, my phone number and other details were taken by the MasterCard folks. I couldn't wait to go home and break the news to my family and friends. The party that night was hyper.

I dey come