A Man Died ...or Almost

The day of reckoning finally came for me today but little did I know that it would also be a day of reckoning for a man I have never met in my entire life. Or maybe I have met him somewhere, someplace before but his face did not register because he is one of the many faces I come across on the busy streets of Lagos. A man that set out today to earn a living but whose life would be changed forever. It is crazy how the little things we take for granted turn around and change our lives.

I left my house around 7:30am for my exam venue somewhere in Ikeja. Naturally I hopped on a bike to take me to the bus stop without giving it a second thought. On getting to the bus stop I paid the bike guy and crossed to the other side of the road to board a bus. The bus was empty so I sat in front. I noticed an id card hanging and I compared it to the faces of both the driver and the conductor but there was no semblance so I assumed it was the id card of the bus owner who leased it to the driver and expecting to be settled at the end of the day depending on their arrangement. I sat back, got out my study pack and tried to glance through but my mind kept wandering to something I will talk about later which brought a smile to my face.

While I was still in Wonderland, I was jeered back to reality by a sudden clash of metal against metal. My bus took such a great hit that I exclaimed “Jesus!” Impulsively I got down from the bus as did other passengers to see what the fuss and clash was about. Lo and behold, there he was… a hausa bike rider in such a mangled position, his right leg was at a very odd angle and his bone was jutting out. And there he lay writhing in pain with his helmet still on his head which protected that area from any injury. the bike however, was bashed beyond repair. And for some strange reason, it occurred to me that I had not said a prayer this morning. Strange that I would think that right?

However protected his head was, it did not save the rest of his body and he was bleeding. Lagosians gathered and were standing there transfixed by the sights and I heard things like “thank God he had no passenger”; “where are they always rushing to?” “instead of looking, why not take him to the hospital?” to say that my blood ran cold would be an understatement as I was in shock but aware of the on goings in my environment. I wondered if he had a wife at home or somewhere up North, I wondered if he had kids, I wondered if he had aged parents or if he was just fending for himself and I also wondered if he could feel any pain but I had no answers. Cars kept passing with no one offering to take him to the hospital and I wondered what I would have done if I had a car and happened to pass by. Honestly, I had no answer to that either.

The guy was still bleeding and in a matter of minutes, a blue uniformed police officer got some young men to move him off the road to the curb. The accident victim’s mouth was moving but I’m not sure any words came out and that was when the tears came. I wondered if he could see the “light” that people that have seen death talk about, I wondered if his whole life flashed before him and I wondered why I was there at the exact time this accident happened, I mean I could have left my house earlier and not have boarded the bus or I could have been late too but as usual, I had no answers.

Eventually I got myself to move as I was running late for my exam and offered a prayer for his soul because I knew not if he would survive the ordeal. He could lose so much blood before a vehicle came. Since I had no idea where my venue was, I approached a bike guy who was at the scene and told him where I was going especially since my bus driver had since disappeared. I demanded a helmet and told him to drive slowly and he said “aunty, after what I just saw, I would be crazy not to take it easy”. I kept praying on the way that no accident would befall me. I got to the venue and while my mates were revising, I was writing my ordeal in my book.