Lagos is not a real place.

Take me out of this city 😭😭, I need somewhere real and safe.

I experienced what happened to me in late January, but this time I was an onlooker, not the victim.

I was cold, scared, and perplexed. Anxiety rushed down my spine, it was PTSD.

For some minutes I was f**** lost

***

So I took this bus going to Iyana Ipaja from Fadeyi, I was meant to take a ride but went ahead to take a commercial bus.

Just like my January experience, I noticed a man in the front seat, another on the passenger seat close to the window fidgeting with a #500 note, and the conductor with his usual bulk of naira note.

The bus was stopping and picking up passengers but wasn’t focused on carrying a full load. (filling the seats).

I was uncomfortable sitting so close to the agbero-looking man playing with his 500 naira note, so I kept my phone and wallet in my main bag.

Just then, a young Yoruba man entered the bus and was coerced by the conductor to sit in the front seat, which was already occupied by the driver and another passenger I met on the bus, instead of sitting in the back seat which has a lot of vacant space.

While the vehicle was moving, I noticed the conductor struggling with the front seat passenger door. Suddenly, he engaged the Yoruba man sitting close to the same door and asked him to come down.

All I could hear after that was the man who alighted shouting my phone, my phone, chasing the bus, and the driver speeding away…

His phone had probably been obtained when the driver distracted him with the door that automatically generated fault after he entered the bus.

I knew I’m screwed up at this point.

Another passenger asked the driver to stop the bus for the man running toward it to check for his phone, but he was ignored…

My anxiety was rising, and I began sweating and searching for my belongings…

I waited a few minutes and lied to the conductor to stop me because I had just passed my bustop.

He didn’t stop; instead, he motioned while trying to divert traffic, and asked me to come down in the middle of the road, which I did when I got the chance.

The funny thing is that the Conductor wasn’t interested in my money and didn’t collect it because he had no change.

Omo in this same Lagos!!!