Millitary Encounter; Lesson Learned.

 

 
I think I can now say I have an opinion on military personnels because I have had to interact with them on three different occasions and the situations were not palatable.

I could remember a day like that, it was a really long time ago, say about 7 years ago. I was travelling down from the school where I went to write my POST UTME. It was a bus full of different people of different tribe. I could even say that, I was the youngest in the bus.

Along the way, if I could remember very well, I'd say, after Ibadan a little bit, we encountered hold-ups. Oh boy! It wasn't even a small one, it was quite long. Almost every driver started to look for different ways to get out of the traffic. Some kept entering into an available line, all to the end that they move forward.

Our driver unfortunately, was one of the unfortunate ones. He saw a military zone, that has a demarcation that leads to their territory and head into it, with the intention to move his car from the back to the front.

"Hey, stop there!" One of the military personnel shouted.

Immediately, the driver stopped and he was asked to come down.

That was when I decided to look around me, and I noticed that indeed we've trespassed. Because lying in different position of punishment were other drivers like ours who flout the rules. I just knew we have entered it already 😅.

He was told to remove his clothes, sit on the floor, and look at the sun.

Oh dear!

That very day, the sun chose to be really angry because it was shining in all its glory!

The occupant of the bus tried to beg them, but it yielded no results. After a really long time, he was allowed to go.

His eyes, ha! Mouth cannot say.

At some point, I was even thinking someone else will drive us home because how will he see the road? I really can't remember much beyond this anyways, but it was an experience that has stayed with me for a really long time.

And trust me, it keeps popping up different questions in my mind.

Like "Was there a rule already that you can't pass through their demarcation and it was our driver who flouted the rules. Because if that there were no rules about it, and just assumed that drivers should know, I think it is being unfair from their end to punish the drivers. Because an adage once said, "a city without a rule, there is no sin."

My other question is "why can't phone calls be made whenever we are close to a military zone? "

Your honest opinion will really go a long way.