I never did wish you… Happy New Year

“Happy New Year!!” Mr. Grin shouted as he got riddled with bullets.

“This is not a bad thing” I thought to myself, you will get to understand as you read along.

Where to start from, please don’t rush me, you won’t understand this fully, you will not get the message he was trying to pass across if you rushed me.

Okay, let’s start from the beginning. My name is Victor, Victor Adeniyi and I was just a regular student until three days ago, my life changed, my prospective to life changed and yours might too.

Three days ago, Wednesday to be exact I met Mr. Grin for the first time. Yes, his name sounded strange to me as well. Names such as Grin are not very common around here.

I was on my way back home from college, you know for the Holidays. I wanted to celebrate the New Year with my family. I had packed up my bags, the little I could, as you were able to gather, I am a final year student, and this was our First Semester Holidays.

The journey from my college to home was roughly 11 hours by road. I got my ticket for Lagos, Nigeria from Abuja, Nigeria. We picked off at 7:00am in the morning even though the scheduled time was 5:00am.

The journey was as peaceful as it could get, multiple passengers complained about the driver’s daring speed as well as his twists and turns. We were also stopped at multiple check points, and I was especially searched and questioned most probably because of my ‘hair style’. Yes, they do that here. You know, just your regular everyday complaints from travelers whose only wish is to get home in one piece.

Finally arriving at Lagos in the evening at around 8pm, I dropped at the park and booked an Uber on the Uber App. We started the trip, I was 3 hours away from Home, 3 hours away from everything turning out so different. Perhaps if I had booked a different Uber or if the driver had followed a different route, I would not be here, but I highly doubt that, because it’s the same everywhere.

About an hour into the trip, we noticed the already time consuming “go-slow” or “hold up” was more time consuming than usual. The driver looked back at me, stared at my hair for a while and looked back at the road. I immediately had a hunch, “they are on the road”.

Finally, we moved, I could now see the flash from the touch lights, I could faintly hear their voices as they extorted from drivers and passengers under the most recent guise of ‘the festivities’. You should know that if you refused to give something, your journey might get a bit much longer than anticipated, they have a more “not-peaceful” approach than you would think.

The light got brighter and it’s my turn, they flashed into the car and immediately asked me to step down. First, they searched me, then they complained about my phone, an iPhone 11 Pro, inquiring how I got the means to acquire such a device if it was not by theft or robbery. I told them my parents got it for me. They pressured me to unlock it, and they searched through my Whatsapp, Files and Pictures. The officer pointed out some pictures of foreigners which I had screenshot over the days, sometimes from movies, or they had an accessory I wished to acquire.

He concluded I was an online fraudster, I asked “how did you get to this conclusion, Sir”, he got angry and said I had agitated him, and that the screenshots, the fact that I was using an expensive device and most especially my hair style, it’s the hairstyle of robbers and online fraudsters.

You should understand, I got scared, I got worried, I was just a few minutes away from home and this happened. They requested 200,000 Naira, I honestly did not have that much with me, and I tried to appeal for a lower ‘price’. The officer did not take it well, he called on his colleagues and they arrived at the same conclusion. I was an online fraudster because of my screenshots, my device and most especially my hair style. I requested for my mobile phone to reach my parents, they refused and said I wanted to call on my fellow fraudsters.

They opened my bank apps, pressured me to input the password and if I refused, they could take me to an ATM.

At that moment I heard the clamoring, and sound of glass breaking on the floor, the officer held on to me and dragged me away from the side of the road to a nearby building. “Your people are here for you” he said.

He was hit on the back of his head, and someone took a hold of my hand, we ran to the direction he chose. I turned back and I noticed people smashing bottles on the Patrol Cars of the Officers, there was a commotion and some shots were fired.

“No … no shots were fired” an officer said. “Let him finish” his superior said to him.

“Please continue” the superior said.

We ran for some minutes, then we stopped close to an uncompleted building, we entered and came out behind it to a beer house. He sat me down “Were you shot? are you okay? … would you like something to drink?”. I was still in shock with all that had happened. “Water” I said shakily.

“We have been monitoring those set of officers for a while now…. shit… we risked everything trying to help you, but I could not just watch another person die and his organs will most probably get sold to the highest bidder... not again”.

The shock on my face made him smile, “don’t worry, we will change the world, we will change this country”. “Can I call someone?” I asked.

“You want to call your parents? You can’t do that … they have your phone, and you gave them your pin to unlock it, they would have gotten your parents contact by now…. Perhaps if I had summoned the courage to kill the officer that held on to you… shit”

“Faith… come take him to the room” he shouted, a girl walked over, she took me to a room, more like an hotel room, not very well kept though.

I went into the toilet, tried to urinate but could not, my hands were shaking, and my eyes were blurry. “panic attack” I thought to myself. The girl probably heard me panting when she brought in the water. She opened the toilet door, hugged me and turned on the shower “breathe …. Calm down … calm down … calm down” she whispered in my ear.

It must have been the cold water, her warmth or her voice, after a while I got calm. We sat in the toilet for a while. “You are lucky” she said. I could not bring myself to raise up my head. “In a few days, we will be doing something big, and Grin almost ruined everything just for you… Why?” She asked, “I don’t know” I murmured.

After a few minutes, she left the toilet, then came back in to give me the bottle water.

I slept off in the toilet.

I woke up to them murmuring but could only make out the words “so that’s the plan… January 1st, will be the beginning of our revolution, enough is enough”

I stepped out of the toilet, and they stared at me, they were 5 of them, three men including Mr. Grin and two women.

On seeing me four of them left the room, leaving me with Mr. Grin.

“Come” he said, “Since the incident at the toll gate, everyone has had enough with how things are being conducted in the country especially here in Lagos, we are starting a revolution and we need your help… don’t worry, you will not be put in harm’s way. We have a simple job for you” he said to me as he walked out of the room.

Yes, I was lost as well. I hardly set eyes on anyone of the five of them, except Faith. She brought me food whilst I was kept in the room and once, she brought in a change of clothes.

On 31st, Yesterday, Mr. Grin entered the room “Today revolution will be born, and you will tell our story” he said.

“Let’s go” he added. We left the hotel, there was a bus in front.

We entered; I saw the other four of them. I noticed, it seemed Faith had been crying for a while.

It was early in the morning; at around 2:00am. We were on the move, we arrived at the toll gate, the one involved with the toll gate incident. They brought out some bags “These are explosives” Mr. Grin said to me. “What are those” I said pointing at the other bags “What do you think they are?” he chuckled.

We arrived at the toll gate at around 3:00am, it was still early so movement was minimal. They brought out new set of clothes, they looked like police uniforms after which they arranged the bags beside the pillars of the toll gate.

Three members of the group blocked off cars passing through the toll gate.

A few hours later, the police arrived, the commotion and go slow must have gotten their attention.

I could feel my heart sink, I was shivering with fear, I was not sure of what their plan was but from what I could deduce, they wanted to blow up the toll gate.

The Policemen got down from their van and were coming closer to where the group were. Mr. Grin walked towards them, meeting them half way and said some words. The Officers were obviously gripped with fear, they rushed back to their van and seemed to be making a call.

Mr. Grin came back to us smiling, “What did you say to them” I asked. “I told them we were going to blow up the toll gate at 11:59pm to celebrate the New Year”

“What!! … this is not what I signed up for… I don’t want to die” I shouted with a crackling voice. I wanted to run away from there, but Mr. Grin held on to me, pushed me to the ground and slapped me several times as hard as he could, your fellow officers as well as videos online from watchers on the scene will confirm.

He dragged me back to the edge of the toll gate.

It was now 2:00pm, about 10 hours to New Year. The news were now present, SWAT Teams, Social Media News Blogs running life feeds on multiple platforms. Everyone who was anyone around the country were tuned to what was happening.

Some idealists were present, some attempting to turn the whole incidence into a protest against the bad government, police corruption and brutality. The previous toll gate incident was dug up from the past, there was considerable distance between us and everyone from either side of the toll gate.

It was now 11:30pm, 30 minutes to New Year. Emotions were running wild, the distance between us and everyone from either side were larger. My heart beat so fast, as though wanting to beat out of my chest.

Mr. Grin walked to one of the bags with the Explosives and brought out a white cloth which had some writings on it. He brought out what seemed like a tripod, he tied the clothe on the tripod, increased the length and walked towards the front of the crowd.

He waved the clothe as though it was a flag, everyone tried to get a good view of what was written; the influencers, the news blogs, twitter idealists, everyone.

“LTGM 2020”, it was an acronym for the famous hashtag “#lekkitollgatemassacre” 2020, being the year. From where I sat, I could feel the cold air turn warm, murmuring from the crowd watching turned to screams and clapping of hands. I noticed one of the other men within the group shed tears on hearing the clamoring from the crowd of people who came to bear witness to history.

Left with only a few seconds, Mr. Grin turned to me and smiled, he gave a quick glance at his fellow compatriots of change and revolution.

He opened his hands and screamed at the top of his voice … “Happy New Year” he pressed on the detonator as the Soldiers and SWAT officers opened fire on him.

Everyone braced for the explosion but there was none, he used the tripod as a support as he knelt on the floor.

I realized I was not dead, the earlier clamoring crowd became even more wild, they attacked some of the officers, SWAT teams and Soldiers around.

All five of the bags were duds, fake explosives.

“Wait … 5 bags?” an officer asked

I ran to his side and whispered the words I am about to say to you now.

“We found only 4 bags” the superior said

He said to me “You are the perfect distraction”

“perfect distraction? … how many were arrested” The superior asked

“Five Sir”, the officer responded 

“did you include him in your count?” the superior asked

“yes Sir, he said there were 5 of them” the officer added

“yes, there were 5 of them, with him making 6!” the superior shouted

“Oh my God… there’s one left, we only arrested four of the main group … Go, rush and inform the Commander, there is a terrorist on the loose!!” the superior added on the top of this voice

The superior hastened to leave the interrogation room;

“Sir…” the superior stopped, turned to me

“I never did wish you… Happy New Year”