I Got Lucky
It is a known fact that Nigeria is one of those country famous for its corruption and Internet fraud (the whole Nigerian Prince scandal) and even though there are other countries with high level of fraud and corruption, Nigeria has always been one of the countries mentioned in most places.
It has become so common that we don't even get that offended anymore when we hear things like that and that is because we do know there's indeed a lot of fraud in the country. Things has gotten so bad that they don't only defraud foreigners, they now go for their fellow country men and women.
I've been lucky enough to have not experienced it myself, but one thing that has surely happened to me is getting extorted from not just the police, but ordinary civilians as well. But there had also been many times where I almost got extorted but got lucky.
The first was when I still was a gambler, sport betting to be exact. I was at the shop playing some games when this tout had walked up to me and demanded that I gave him some money. I didn't have any on me, which I told him but he had insisted that I was lying and began to threaten me.
I had immediately taken to my heels and when I got home, I had explained everything to my mom who got worried and took some money to go give to the guy. The dude was a known cultist and she didn't want any harm coming to her baby boy.
The second had been one night on my way back from work. I had just entered my street when I began to hear someone whistle towards me. It was pretty late at night and I knew that only guys who wanted to rob me would be on that road at that time of the night, so I made sure not to look back and increased my pace.
I was getting really close to my gate when someone tapped me on the shoulder and told me his boss wanted to speak to me. I couldn't run at this point because he had a firm grip on my shoulder, so I turned to look at his boss, only to realize it was someone I knew. He too recognised me and immediately asked the other guy to let me go.
I knew for a fact that if he didn't know who I was, he would had collected everything I had on me and even threatened me with a knife or worse, a gun. Those were the two times I got lucky. There had been many unlucky times too but today, let's focus on the days I got lucky.
The current situation in Pakistan is that the people who are here are doing a lot of stealing, stealing people's things, and are in the process of stealing people's things. Some time ago, my younger sister received a call from this unknown number and they asked for all the bank details. And they had withdrawn all the money. The situation in the city where we live is also very bad. Every day someone is killed, but thankfully no such incident has happened to me.
Wow, that is scary. I hope y'all are safe?
We did not leave our house.
It goes without saying that you survived very well and you must have been lucky in this case, because if he hadn't recognized you, something serious could have been done that day.
Yeah that's true. I most definitely would had been robbed if he hadn't recognised me.
Really, when I hear foreign people think of scammers when Nigerians cross their minds, I don't even flinch. I mean, my own fellow Nigerian scams me as well, everyday! Everywhere and every time, some Nigerians are trying to defraud people. It's so sad that this is our reality now.
I hate gangsters with a lot of passion. I mean, the fact that they think intimidating people and extorting them is the way to go is so annoying. You've been lucky, man.
This! And it's so sad because I now get scared to tell people my nationality because I don't want meaningful relationships to come to an end simply because I'm a Nigerian.
Omo! Your neighborhood seems tough. I live in Kaduna and these things are rare. There was this one time that I got robbed in broad day light with a knife to my stomach. If you can survive in this country you can survive anywhere on the planet
It's tough everywhere bro.. We all just have to stay safe.