He told me he worked as a vigilante at night and then he has a boss so his boss has other boys too, people mostly in their youth and then some old men that life had dealth with in some type of way. So he then advised me to join the group because, one i could sleep at the Boss house since i dont have accomondation, so as long as i work with the boss, i would have a place to sleep every morning. and i would be able to take baths and wash and dry my cloth every morning because, their job starts around 8pm in the evening and then ends by 5am in the morning and then you go drop your cutlass at the boss house and sign your name.
I promised Him i would join as i didnt have a choice. So he promised that in the morning he'd take me to his boss and he told me to be rest assured, his boss would have something for me. Then ten o'clock, he then left me in that building and went into the engulfing darkness.

When Samuel left to go and resume His night watch, i didnt know when i threw myself in thoughts "assuming say i no come jamm this sam now, weting i for do?? And then i looked at the fact that what if his niceness was to traffick me or sell me for my body parts or probably get me involved in some vices thats not good. But i squashed the thoughts and leaned my mind on the more positive side of things which is the fact that Sam was just a simple guy, a simple guy like myself that life is currently screwing. His facial looks itself could pass for that of a criminal but then i know that somewhere inside him was a soft man, a man capable of love and here i was benefiting from that aspect of him.

I had already dozed off, ofcourse there was the need to stay half awake because this or here wasnt familiar teritory, and then with the zillion swarms of mosquitoes that sang, perched and did what they like with their human sacrifice for the night which was me, sleep still found a way to engulf me and then in those moments that i shutdown, anyone could have killed me if they wanted, but that wasnt the case, i had slept for two hours and i would wake up with a start and when i figured out where i was, Samuel sat by the window, munching on something and then observing the terrain. When i spoke up alerting him that i was up, he offered me groundnuts and then told me it was the only thing he could get at that time of the night from the aboki corner store with his roja (roja is a fee collected from people who returned to their homes outside the normal time). I collected the nuts and started munching. Happy that i slept off and my life was still intact.. Samuel stayed with me for close to an hour and i asked him if he wouldnt resume his watch and he said, there's a shortcut to night watching, you wouldnt need to be walking about like a ghost lol, just time yourself, do your parade, find a sleeping spot and then get up every hour to hit the iron bar signal every hour. I asked him what an iron bar signal was and he explained, stating that, so that the hood will know that their night watchman is active, the placed a tire rim in the middle of it so every hour, whoever gets assigned to the hood will have to go hit the rim at the start of every hour. Thats how they know that the Night watchman clocked in and then his doing his job. Meaning from 10pm to 5am, the Night watchman would hit the rim eight times.

After Samuel was done explaining, he asked me again if i would be up to it, i still gave him my word. Samuel slept for another hour i knew because at that point, i couldnt sleep anymore, and when he woke up, he picked his cutlass and left again and didnt return until around 5:40am. Then he asked that we head to his boss house. Then we set out.We walked through streets situated in estates in Ajah and i couldnt help but Marvel at the type of houses that sat comfortably on every plot, and i noticed how there was asphalt on every streets and then the houses there had color unlike in the trenches where, the houses there are bungalow ridden, unpainted giving it a ghost town look and then the mud roads. Here,for a newbie like me felt like London. As we trekked through the connecting streets that led to the Boss house, i was impressed by the development in these parts and oh i wont forget to mention the categories of cars that breezed in and out of Estate security posts, there's nothing anyone will tell me, if i ever get the opportunity or make it big, i will live in these parts. Then to get an idea, i asked samuel how much rent in these parts would cost and he laughed and aswered in millions. That like temporary shut down the dream of living there for me because where my papa wan see millions i thought.

We finally arrived after close to forty five minutes of trekking, and i was dissapointed in the Boss house, its a pako house situated on one side of the street, and then it was fenced with wood too, Samuel knocked and then When the baricading plank door opened from the inside, it gave way to an uncompleted building project that someone suspended for a while and then the Boss quarters was situated just by ome corner of the lot built with planks and anything they could find. So the Boss was a security guy that watched that piece of land and guided it from petty theives and then he still recruited boys and used them as watchmen for the hood. When we got in, i saw about twelve people hanging there, these guys i later got to know were working for the Boss too just like Samuel and then most of them like myself had nowhere to go or to live so they hanged around or slept in the boss place during the day just like Samuel explained. The Boss wasnt around so Samuel had to ask one of the boys to call him and inform him that he has brought someone who wanted to work.

FUEL STATION A REAL LIFE EXPERIENCE (PART 3)

I aproached this individual and it was getting dark by now let say 7pm on the dot. I didnt bring a phone with me because i didnt have one and i didnt wear a wristwatch because i didnt have one too. But i was able to guess the time by nature. I greeted him as soon as i got closer enough and was able to make out his face sitted on that chair.

Me:
Evening Bro

The guy:
How e be na

Me:
I just dey, bro i just dey pass ni o, but as you greet me i come decide say make i come follow you reason.

The Guy:
No lele now wetin sup.

Then i went into details how i left home to Ajah to come hustle and that i had nowhere to go and knew nobody in that terrain. As soon as i was done detailing, i looked at his face whether he was making anything of what i was saying bit my gaze met a disturb gaze.

The Guy:
So where you go crash tonight like this ah, omo Ajah no be place wey you fit just jazz come like that if you no sabi anybody na bro.

He then went ahead to explain the dangers for me and that was when i understood that this guy was a vigilante, a vigilante that has resumed work for the night, because he kept stressing it that, what if i didnt meet him that means id have been a victim of some other vigilante guys because as he explained to me he said, he resumes at that spot every night by 7pm, he then leaves the spot again by 8:30pm to get food and supplies like his weapon for the night (cutlass, mosquitoe coil and wood to make some fire at the junction). But je asked me not to panic that thank God i met him. Then sensing i was tired from the travelling, he asked me to follow him that there was a building nearby where he nested for the night of he needed to catch some fast sleep during his patrols. Thank God i breathed a sigh of relief and i followed this guy.. i didnt even know what my fate was with this guy, but then i wouldnt subject myself to a situation where id be cornered by other vigilantes that paraded and secured various estate blocks in that hood.

We came to a stop im front of a very gigantic duplex building that was uncompleted and still going through works, and then this guy led me to one of the rooms and ask me to drop my bag and then showed me an array of nine incj blocks that i could put together to make my bed for the night. He asked me if i had eating just as i got to work pilling this block together to mimick a bed. I shook my head sideways indicating i had not, next thing he asked me was if i had any money on me, i shook my head and answered that i had spent all i had in transit. He asked me to relax and feel at home that he will be back in a minute. When he left, someone came to the room i camped at and then asked me what i was doing there, thankfully i had memorized my guy's name when he told me. So i used his name and the moment the person heard his name, he said oh okay no issues. So that person left and then i got to figure out that other people occupied that uncompleted building and its where they passed the night ready for the next day. These were artisans that left their home wherever it was to come hustle in Ajah and because of transportation costs to and fro, they had to look for alternatives and hanged wherever at night. This building was one of such hideouts.

Samuel returned with a nylon package, and when he set it on the floor and unvealed the contents, it was, garri, pure water and milk buiscuits and sugar. He told me he got it on credit and that was his dinner for that night and we could share. I didnt have a choice too, he made the concoctions and handed me a spoon and then we ate im silence. Afyer we were done eating he put the plates away and then asked me what type of hustle I'd like to do because if you dont hustle in ajah, youd eotuer join the park touts or become a liability to the streets. I told him, i will have to see what the morning brings. The. He asked if i could join his line of work, i asked him for the details and he layed it all on the table. T.b.c.

FUEL STATION A REAL LIFE EXPERIENCE (PART 2)

I knew i was in Lagos when the driver stopped the bus by the side of the road for passengers alighting and then new ones onboarding and filling the empty seats, i didnt really see anything to it until one haggard looking uncomposed idiot came out of nowhere and started asking the driver for "Load Money" like Wtf?? He was serious about it and the driver arguing that he wont pay for the load. Then i realized that human beings in the Bus were reffered to as 'Load' and then the argument kept on and then like in a twinkle of an eye, the tout ripped one of the driver's wippers off his windshield and then proceeded to cross the road to the other side. The driver then put the bus in park and then went after this agbero and then another drama ensued. The driver extendend his fists and connected it to the back of the tout's head which took the guy by suprise but He quickly regained composure and then retaliated with his own double shot back at the driver but the driver was too technical, he ducked both shots and then sent 3 more connecting blows, one to the jaw, the other to the nose and then one low flying blow to the touts stomach which then brought the tout to the ground. Once he hit the earth. The driver retrieved his wiper and then returned to his bus in triumph but cursing all the way till he got in his seat and then zoomed away from the scene like nothing happened. Omo i didnt know when i blurted out in total shock "na so una dey do for here" my comment threw the whole bus into laughter and they replied my comments with Jjc, "be like say na your first time for Lagos be this abi etc" omoh i shock

We finaly arrived at Ilaje in Ajah which is like the last bustop where everyone would alight and then head to their various destinations. But before then, i had seen the wonders in Lagos as we transited. for example the third mainland bridge that i had always heard about and i couldnt but marvel, then the dreaded lekki toll gate that went viral during the end sars protests and we all know what happened there. When the bus passed through here, it felt like a grave yard of some sorts because the tolls werent working and then coupled with the fact that people actually lost their lives there and at the manner which they did made it so. When the bus went through lekki, it was the first time I'd seen a serene. traffic, traffic lights working and let me just round it up by saying the Island is beautiful.. atleast to a JJC like me who had lived all his life in Ogun/Abeokuta.

Like every other person in the bus, i got off and then reality hit. Where do i go from here i asked myself. I was in deeper thoughts when a tricycle parked just beside me and was calling for passengers "Abraham Adesanya two more chance oya naw lets go" all i had left was two hundred naira. But i jumped in and when the napep filled up, it dragged us from that point and then rolled to a stop in a very busy area just like ilaje and everyone got off. Then so i wont be fingered out by all these lagos boys as a Jjc, i started walking towards one of the available streets that linked away from the bustop. I started trekking not like i knew where i was headed but i just continued walking anywhere my legs could carry me. So i went from street to street and then went through a road marked "Road 6a" it was already getting late and i was already getting exhausted and then needed to rest but i sha kept trekking. My plan was to find an uncompleted building and pass the night there and probably by morning set out again in search of any available bricklaying job to survive the day.

I went through an empty street and then before i got closer, i had seen someone sitted on a chair just outside the gate, i kept walking and then i walked past the individual just as i walked past he greeted me and i responded and then i decided to talk to him to see if i could get any help whatsoever because a closed mouth is a closed destiny they said.

FUEL STATION A REAL LIFE EXPERIENCE (PART 1)

As a guy with two kids and a baby mama at 31, Life at that point held me by the wall and screwed the shit out of me. For a complete year, my woman ran the house through her small unit plantain chips buisness where because where we lived had a shortcut and people daily plied that route that held my own side of my rented apartment that housed all of us. She capitalized on that traffic of people everyday and sold freshly fried unripe plantain chips and people patronized. One thing though, this woman, my woman, very understanding and tolerant. She never for once made me feel less of myself because as i stated earlier, she ran the house and fed myself and our two girls.. Never complained for once.. Then one morning, i got tired of the whole thing and really felt less of myself because you know, (as i said before). So That particular morning, i made up my mind that I'd travel to lagos and go search for a job, a job of any kind or anytype. As God would have it, my woman wasn't home that morning, she'd gone to somewhere in town. I went into the room, packed a few clothes, found her purse where she put it and hit the road. I just knew i was going to Lagos, but the part of Lagos i was heading to, no idea at all. Another thing, how will i do it, i didnt know anyone in the big city so to say. But it was too late a thought by the time as i was in one of these rickety (tricycle) that looked like it had withstanded a tsunami the day before.. What an unsmooth ride to the park that Maruwa..

"How much be Ajah" i queried the bus conductor who was standing by the bus entrance with his eyes blazing red. "one thouson" he retorted and then looked away. On the high side though but then not even this bus fare would stop me. It took like a moment or two and i ound myself a window seat and sat by it and waited for the bus to fill up and move. While i was waiting, i let the events in the park take me on a journey that entertained my idle mind.

One lady was trying to pay for food she had bought in a styrofoam (take away pack) when a kid approached her and begged her for alms. So in between that and trying to remove money to pay for the meal in her Aba made Lacoste bag, the kid somehow knocked the packaged food off of the table where it was placed and it took a very free fall and the content hit the earth! (spilt milk i said to myself). I looked at the lady and what i saw was touching, the kid was as frantic as the bystanders, he was on one knee on the floor and his hands on his heads almost close to tears. But this lady asked him to stand up that it was alright and that mistakes do happen then she asked the Mamaput to resell a fresh one and also sell a seperate portion for the kid and then as she was leaving, she handed the kid a clean one thousand naira bill. Wow!

Across the road, i saw a group of students trying to cross the road to the other side of the road, about six of them.. Then a Nigerian police cop who was trying to cross the road to join their patrol van that parked at the far end of the road signaled to the students to wait, he then joined up with them and wslked to the middle of the road signalling to oncoming vehicular traffic to slow down and when the traffic came to a halt, he slowly asked the students to cross the road and after they did, he joined with the patrol van and they moved. Wow!

Then my eyes traveled to a store in that park and i saw a figure, let me say i saw someone who i later came to know was our driver chai, the number of sachet ethanol (all those satchet alcholic drinks like seaman, action bitters and the likes) he had consumed damn!!! Because from time to time or everytime my eyes traveled to where he was, he was either on the verge of tearing-to-consume a new satchet or he was finishing up a previously opened satchet.

In one of the food shacks at the park, one mamaput was dragging with one agbero, he ate and didn't want to pay and the woman self no wan gree, they were really dragging it out but i didn't know how that one was sorted as our Bus moved while i was really enjoying that scene. E too pain me.

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