What do you mean!!!...? Don’t say that!!!!…. No!!!, I heard my mum shout from her room, she was speaking over the phone with her sister’s husband, who just broke the news of her death. The bad news was a rude shock to everyone, I was shaken by it. The mood for everyone both home and away was one of a sad…, really sad one. I wouldn’t want to dwell on much preambles, but this incident heralded the worst journey I ever embarked on.

The wake-keep ceremony was held in Lagos, those who could attend attended, the program went smoothly with the pastor lighting up the mood with some witty remarks added here and there. The date for the burial was slated for 28th of December in Abia state. We prepared ourselves for onward movement to the village.
……. she was survived by her husband, two sons (one in the university, the other a toddler), her step-daughter. I made arrangement to travel with the husband, the step-daughter and the toddler (of a year old). The car in which we were to travel in was undergoing repairs at the mechanic’s workshop. A date of the 23rd of December (Wednesday) was slated for departure.

To meet up with time, I arrived at their house on Tuesday evening with my belongings, looking forward to a good trip (……I was so wrong!). The driver that was supposed to be our “pilot” arrived on Tuesday with a not so smiley face, in mind I was like who face help, as far he is able to deliver… ‘to your tent o Israel’.
We retired to our beds after my in-law had a back and forth with the mechanics which lingered into the night. By 4am the driver had woken up and was set for the journey, I woke by 4:30am after battling with sleep and coming out victorious…, my cousin (aunt’s step-daughter) didn’t sleep at all, she was packing and unpacking both hers and her brother’s clothes……to cut the story short, we were ready by 7am.

I will continue if I get favourable reviews and comments

We packed all the loads into the boot of the car including the programs that were to be used for the burial ceremony, and before I knew it the car was literally almost touching the ground. Adding my weight and my cousin’s (because we are on the high side…. you get!), the car was under a lot of stress. Well, our duty was to sit and enjoy the ride, wasn’t it?

The sitting formation was 2-3 . The driver and my in-law sat in front, myself, the baby, and my cousin sat at the back. The car was ready or so we thought, we zoomed off. My in-law recalled that he wanted to change the tires of the vehicle, so the driver drove to “ladipo” were he had a reliable tyre dealer there. The tyre seller got down to the business of changing the four tyres, then we noticed that the battery was weak, cause the vehicle couldn’t start. I took a bike back home to get another battery. Well, finally the tyres were changed the vehicle was reloaded with our belongings and then we started the journey….. Sorry, we then went to the car alignment center where we had to align the tyres, after waiting behind a queue of vehicles we did ours and then started the journey.

Every year 120000 people die by suicide the major cause of suicide is stress and depression we should help people who are suffering
[URL] https://top20remedies.com/tips-relief-stress/[/url]

Kwantinue!!

Ride on op

waiting

By 10am we were already on our way to the east, as the journey progressed I noticed the driver was the fast and furious type, though he said he wanted to return to Lagos that same day using night bus, maybe that was what inspired his driving. ….my people, we had not gotten out of Lagos when the first mishap happened, around gbagada area , the driver climbed a culvert, giving that the vehicle was too low for comfort, it scratched the base of the car, and then cut one of the brake valve without our knowing.
Brake oil started leaking, we didn’t know. we only shouted in reaction to the noise the car made on impart with the ground.
The driver being a formular one fan (his driving made me conclude on this), continued with his speed, I couldn’t really relax because a formular one driver was at the wheel. I was watching the road, with my heart in my pocket, and a silent prayer of safety on my lips. My baby cousin was oblivious of what was going on, he was enjoying the moment, moving from one point to another and grabbing anything he could lay his hand on. Though I tried restraining him when he became more restless, but I couldn’t fight a battle on both fronts. My cousin drifted in and out of sleep, my in-law was watching the road with fright in his eyes, the driver sped on as if he had a spare life.

sorry for the delay, the burial is slated for today and i have been occupied with activities here and there.

I drifted to sleep when I couldn’t hold it any more, my cousin in my arms had played himself to sleep, only to be woken by shouts from fellow commuters in traffic on Lagos Ibadan express way, I opened my eyes trying to grasp what was going on, before I could say “Buhari”, I saw a man jump through the widow of a vehicle beside us, I gave myself sense and bolted from the vehicle, my cousin and my in-law did the same too. We came out only to see that a car before us was about to go up in flames, smoke was coming out from the engine and some people battled in futility to put out the impending fire.
The driver zoomed off, and passed the vehicle that was going through tribulation. With the baby in my arms, I and my in-laws moved towards where our driver had parked in front, we had not taken up to fie steps, the car in distress went up in flames, and that was when the real race started.....

so sorry for your loss...I pray God comforts your family. great narrative!

We ran backwards with no direction in mind, with the baby in arms I tried preventing the smoke from getting to him, my in-law and his daughter had gotten to a safe distance. Good Samaritans rallied round to put out the fire with an extinguisher. We managed to walk past the car to where our driver had parked waiting for us albeit across the road.
We hopped into the car, the food we carried had poured on the car floor due to the melee, the driver zoomed off, joining the traffic. My cousin tried to salvage what was left from the remains on the floor, I heaved a sigh of relief seeing that none of us was hurt, including the baby. While I was pondering on the recent happening, I was jolted back to consciousness due to the loud noise that came from the impart the car made with ground, then I realized the driver had not repented and that the journey was not over. I fixed my eye on the road, with the other hand rubbing the back of my baby cousin.

Oga!! Finish this story once and for all na!!

Oga come continue this tori ooo

On getting to Ore, we noticed any time the driver applied the brakes on the vehicle, the vehicle did a little bit of swerving (as if being pushed by breeze from the side) before coming to a halt, by this time the brake light had started showing on the dash board, we kept on managing…… until we got into traffic, there was a police van in front of us, the movement in the traffic was slow, vehicles moved at relatively slow speed. Suddenly the police van in front of us moved fast and also stopped abruptly, that was how our driver followed suit, but he could not stop immediately, the next thing was a loud sound coming from the impact we had with the van….
The bonnet pressed in (looking like a mangled bread...), we came down to check the level of damage the car had incurred, surprisingly the policemen looked back from their vehicle without getting down, they zoomed off (as if to say “carry your wahala dey go”), we parked by the roadside to do a thorough check, while checking the vehicle, a towing van driver which was nearby came to assist us. We found out that the impact had made the gear oil to start leaking, and then there was almost no brake oil in the vehicle.

He offered to tow us to a nearby mechanic, we obliged. He towed the vehicle to a nearby mechanic workshop. The mechanics went into trouble shooting mode, they came out with some rings, which they said they were going to change, by this time it was 2pm. I escorted one of them to buy the ring, the ring was brought out, then I asked the price, ( omo that was when I knew that yahoo boys are learning work where benin mechanics are) the seller said it was 45,000naira only. The mechanic that took me there acted shocked, and did as if he wanted to help beat the price, I was tired.
Then he asked me to beat the price, I said he should allow me inform my in-law, and that I don’t know where to start from. We went to another shop, and the same thing repeated itself there. I told him we better get back to the work shop, he carried me on his bike back to the workshop. My baby cousin was just happy given the new freedom, he was bent on trying every ground with his legs, my in-law and the driver took time out to eat, while my niece handled the baby.
I came back with the result from the little market survey we conducted (though the sellers and the mechanics had corrupted it), my in-law was shocked on hearing the information, after making calls to lagos and bargaining with the mechanics there, we ended up paying 20k for those small rings, the mechanics got to work and then changed the rings, the panel beater came and straightened the bonnet, by this time it had gotten to 5pm. My in-law lamented to me on how the driver was the cause of our misfortune and how he recklessly caused the accident, another time the driver complained to me that my-in-law shouldn’t have put the Car on the road, without ascertaining the road worthiness of the vehicle…. well they were both right!!
After the mechanics had finished working on the vehicle, we discovered that the brake oil was still leaking from the brake valve. They referred us to a “brake master”(someone who specializes in repairing brakes), well we had to go his workshop because his tools were not in the present workshop, by this time every where had become dark and we stopped protesting about time wasting, we resigned to our fate and started looking for where to sleep. After repairs we went to a near by filling station , where we passed the night.

By 3am I and my inlaw had woken up, he started lamenting about how our driver was rough and how he had incurred much expenses on the car already, and then he started welcoming the thought of our driver absconding, ‘na so we start dey find driver’ (because he didn’t sleep with us in the car). I assured him the driver will not abscond, though still searching for the guy with one eye. By 4am the driver showed up, we greeted and then restarted our journey.
The road was dark given the time we left the filling station, the driver being his usual self, drove in his usual style. When we got to a check point, the following conversation ensued between the driver, my-inlaw and the policeman.
Policeman: where are you going?
My-inlaw: we are going for a burial
Policeman to the driver: No be you I dey ask question?
Driver: no be person dey answer you
Policeman: oya park! Na me u dey bone face for?
…. that was how we parked, I and my in-law went to beg the policeman stating the reason for our journey, omo driver leave us go shit for bush, the policeman said his intention was not to stop us, but the driver was frowning his face. I told him that was how the face was, even my in-law lent his voice by saying the driver’s face wasn’t really appealing, that was how we were delayed for sometime before we were allowed to go. The journey was not all that smooth because of the constant impact the vehicle had with ground due to pot holes on the road. We stopped at asaba to refuel, when we discovered that the one of the tyre had deflated. After refueling, we looked for a vulcanizer who then repaired the leak and pumped the tyre.

We headed for Niger bridge, where we encountered a lot of traffic, the atmosphere was very hot, the air was filled with dust and smokes from exhaust pipes of vehicles vying for limited space on the road, we were so uncomfortable, the baby started acting up as we expected, we tried everything to calm him down, soon we crossed over to Onitsha, and breathed a new sign of relief.
Getting to Onitsha-Owerri road, we got into traffic, we were on the service lane when a trailer tried making a turn towards the parking lane, being that we were on the blind side of the driver and “the motor boy” didn’t caution his driver about the turn, the trailer jacked up our vehicle by the door, onlookers raised alarm… but the deed had been done. The driver of the trailer came down and saw what happened, he went back to reverse the vehicle, we came out of the vehicle and all hell was loosed……

The driver blocked the road with the vehicle, my in-law confronted the driver angrily, I started thinking whether something or some forces didn’t want us to come for the burial…, thank God, the driver of the trailer didn’t argue, he owned up to his fault, then negotiation of how much he was going to pay for damages began. He said he didn’t have money, and that we should send him our account number, we refused, and there was a back and forth about it. The driver of the trailer then directed us to where his mechanic was, and that if we will agree, he can take us there. Looking at the long stretch of traffic on that road, we opted to give him the account number and also exchanged contacts.

We were grateful none of was hurt in the incident, but we were pained that our journey was punctuated with mishaps here and there, the car was looking like one that just came from a war front in Libya, in short it was a sorry sight, and we had not even taken our bath so we looked much like the car…. We continued our journey until we got to orlu, my in-law stopped to answer the call of nature, (it was actually a long call…) while waiting for him, I bought bolt and nut to tighten the plate number that was already falling off. After spending considerable amount of time there we moved.
We got to a “not so good road”, and the worst happened , while our driver was trying to maneuver the bad road, the base of the vehicle scratched the road so bad , that it affected the brake valve again, we stopped at a filling station to refuel and then we noticed the drops of brake oil trailing us. We searched for a mechanic but this time around we couldn’t find one, we then agreed to buy brake oil and keep, just incase the one in the car dries up.
By this time the brake indicator started showing on the dash board, I begged the driver to relax his speed and also reminded him that the vehicle technically had no brake. He listened to the voice of reasoning and we drove at a moderate speed till we got home. Family members came around to welcome us and console my in-law. We parked and then proceeded to offload the vehicle, only to discover that the boot was jammed.
We had to remove the back seats so as to have access to our belongings, we entered into the house already exhausted from the tiring journey. I ruminated on the events, and concluded this has got to be my worst journey ever………………………

What an experience.

I'm very happy to see you and family arrived at the destination in one piece.

Thanks for sharing.

Touching and funny narrations here, will come to tell mine later.

That's a driver from hell! I'm glad you all made it home safely albeit with a banged up car!

My worst trip was with viator.