Alhamdulillah. Despite his disability, Garba Bello graduated with a Second Class Lower from ADUSTECH wudil, don't be too stingy with your CONGRATULATIONS🥰🎉
My Egbon is 60!
Babajide Otitoju, veteran journalist, truth advocate, fearless crusader, a Pointblanker! Charismatic and Intelligent. The Lion of the Media in Nigeria.
Happy birthday to you, longlife, good health and prosperity ❤️
“Allah will not forgive me…”
My first visit to Northern Nigeria was in 2018 when I was posted to Nasarawa State for my one-year compulsory NYSC. Before then, I had never travelled beyond Enugu State. The North was completely new territory for me.
When my call-up letter came out and I saw Nasarawa State, I prepared myself mentally for the journey.
There was no direct vehicle from Aba to Lafia, so I was advised to travel to Makurdi, Benue State first, then continue to Nasarawa. I arrived at the park in Makurdi around 4:30pm and immediately found a vehicle loading for Lafia. I entered and waited.
For over 30 minutes, I was the only passenger.
Concerned about the time, I approached the driver and told him I might need to find an alternative since it was getting late and this was my first time traveling to the North. He begged me to stay and promised:
“No matter what happens, I will carry you to your destination.”
I trusted him and went back to my seat.
Around 6:00pm, another vehicle arrived from Enugu with six passengers heading to Lafia. The vehicle I had been sitting in could only carry six people. The loaders began transferring their luggage into my vehicle and asked one of them to board another car. The group refused — they insisted on traveling together.
Then something shocking happened.
The agberos brought out my bags and told me to find another vehicle.
I was angry and frustrated. It was getting dark. I didn’t know the town. I had already waited for over an hour. When I realized the loaders were Igbo like me, I pleaded with them in Igbo. They didn’t listen.
I walked up to the driver and reminded him of his promise. I told him it wasn’t fair to abandon me now that he had seen full passengers.
He was quiet for a moment.
Then he said something I will never forget:
“If I do this to you, Allah will not forgive me.”
He asked all six passengers to come down from his vehicle and told them to board another car.
The loaders were furious. They insulted him, calling him a bad businessman who didn’t have sense.
But the driver stood his ground.
He returned my bags into the vehicle, started the engine, and began driving, with only me as his passenger.
I couldn’t believe it.
He crossed River Benue with just me in the car and kept driving. At that point, I even started feeling sorry for him. If I were in his position, would I have done the same?
About three to five minutes into the journey, he received a call from the park. Another vehicle had just arrived with five passengers going to Lafia.
He looked at me and asked, “Should I turn back?”
I said yes.
He reversed, returned to the park, picked up the five passengers, and we finally headed to Lafia.
That was my first personal encounter with a Muslim man in the North.
Till today, I still think about the spirit that made that driver willing to carry just one passenger — at his own loss — simply because he gave his word.
You may be Christian.
You may be Muslim.
You may be a traditional worshipper.
But before anything else, we are human beings.
There are good people in every religion.
There are bad people in every religion.
Your prayer should simply be this:
May you never meet a bad person irrespective of religion or tribe.
Kalu Kelechi Kalu