"Ojo gbogbo ni ti ole, Ojo kan ni ti oni nkan" A Yoruba proverb that means "Everyday is for the thief, but one day is for the owner".
That one day is today for this thief to pay the debt of his past atrocities and I will make sure he pays it to the last naira.
My name is Akpan Obasi. I am a Student of the University of Lagos, Nigeria. I should have graduated last year, but an encounter with some guys changed my story and I had an extra year.
I went home that fateful day last year to receive my school fees from my parents, so I could sit for my final examinations. On my way back to the campus to pay to the school, I was stopped by some neighborhood delinquents. They showed me a local made gun and told me to cooperate with them if I still value my life.
I obviously cooperated as I love life too much to banter with potentially armed and dangerous idiots that could be on drugs. I handed the money over to them. A total sum of 50,000 naira. I gave it to them thinking they would let me go after achieving their aim. But, it came as a surprise to me when one of them landed a factory reset slap on my face after counting the money. They took turns to slap, punch, kick and beat the living bejesus out of me. Their reason for favoring me with beatings was that I did not have enough money on me. Imagine!!! These are hoodlums that might not have seen 20,000 in their entire lives!!!
I was trembling on the ground and crying in fear. While the beating was going on, I was saying my last prayers to God, asking for forgiveness and requesting entry into his Kingdom as I thought I was going to definitely die that day. The ways these boys handled my life that day, you would have thought I had a past transgression in my past life against their forefathers that I am now paying for.
Needless to say, I missed my final exams due to injuries and hospitalization and also failure to pay the required fees and ended up having to come back this year for my last exams in this Godforsaken Nigerian Education system.
Ever since then, I have made a vow that any thief or robber I see will pay for what their colleagues did to me. That was why when I heard "Thief! Thief!! Thief!!!" From an old woman, I joined in chasing the thief without hesitation.
I was not a good runner, but my determination is definitely top notch as I did not give up chasing. The thief has already been caught when I was finally able to get to them but, I will pride myself as the very first person to land a hit on him using an object while others were just kicking and punching. I found a heavy rod from a mechanic workshop near the area he was caught and hit him squarely and evenly on his head without further ado or consideration for his life.
Judge me all you want or call me names for believing in Jungle Justice. But lack of Faith in the Nigerian Security Agencies has made a lot of people like me to believe that this is the best way to get rid of a thief.
These stupid people called Thieves don't care about the mental trauma they leave on their victims. We are all trying to survive in this country and you decide to make life harder for me without consideration or pity, so why should I care when the hand of fortune turns against them? Why?!