Someone shared the story below with me sometime ago.
This happened at the Palms Shopping Mall in Victoria Island Lagos; This is very scary and could happen to any of us. Seems like every nice thing people do for one another can be perverted. This is a new twist to kidnapping from a very smart survivor.
About a week ago, there was a woman standing by the mall entrance passing out flyers to all the women going in. The woman had written the flyer herself to tell about an experience she had, so that she might warn other women. The previous day, this woman had finished shopping, went out to her car and discovered that she had a flat tyre. She got the jack out of the trunk and began to change the flat tyre.
A nice man dressed in a business suit and carrying a briefcase walked up to her and said, “I noticed you’re changing a flat tire. Would you like me to take care of it for you?”
The woman was grateful for his offer and accepted his help. They chatted amiably while the man changed the flat, and then put the flat tire and the jack in the trunk, shut it and dusted his hands off. The woman thanked him profusely, and as she was about to get in her car, the man told her that he left his car around on the other side of the mall, and asked if she would mind giving him a lift to his car.
She was a little surprised and she asked him why his car was on other side. He explained that he had seen an old friend in the mall that he hadn’t seen for some time and they had a bite to eat, visited for a while, and he got turned around in the mall and left through the wrong exit, and now he was running late. The woman hated to tell him “no” because he had just rescued her from having to change her flat tire all by herself, but she felt uneasy. (Trust that gut feeling!) Then she remembered seeing the man put his briefcase in her trunk before shutting it and before he asked her for a ride to his car.
She told him that she’d be happy to drive him around to his car, but she just remembered one last thing she needed to buy.
Smart woman!! She said she would only be a few minutes; he could sit down in her car and wait for her; she would be as quick as she could be. She hurried into the mall, and told a security guard! What had happened, the guard came out to her car with her, but the man had left. They opened the trunk, took out his locked briefcase and took it down to the police station. The police opened it (ostensibly to look for ID so they could return it to the man). What they found was rope, duct tape, and knives.
When the police checked her “flat” tire, there was nothing wrong with it; the air had simply been let out. It was obvious what the man’s intention was, and obvious that he had carefully thought it out in advance.
The woman was blessed to have escaped harm. (Amen thank you, God!) How much worse it would have been if she had children with her and had them wait in the car while the man fixed the tire, or if she had a baby strapped into a car seat or if she’d gone against her judgment and given him a lift?
I’d like you to forward this to all those you know that may need to be reminded that the world we live in has a lot of deviants in it. It may save a life. Better to be safe than sorry.
A candle is not dimmed by lighting another candle. I was going to send this to the ladies only; but men, if you love your mothers, wives, sisters, daughters and indeed everyone, you may want to pass it on to them, as well.
However, I think there is still hope for humanity. We should not lose faith in humanity.
The story above brought an incident that happened to me and my husband yo mind.
Let me share...
On 31st December, 2015, when we were in Nigeria. We were on our way back to Apata from Akobo area, in Ibadan, around 6:30p.m. We took the highway and the traffic became very bad.
We were going to be stuck, we needed to go get ready for watch night service in church.
Cars were turning back...It was a mess. We were able turning back to go take Iwo road, but the traffic was beginning to build up as well. That's how this guy who was hawking soap, I think, came to our car asked us where we were headed and was giving us directions to take academy area etc, but of course, we were obviously clueless. He offered to take us to the nearest junction.
We had just a few seconds to respond because there were 2 big trailers heading our way and would block the only exit we had.
Anyway, he got into the backseat, and gave us directions. All the while, I was praying and asking him questions just to keep him talking and at the same time accessing him. At a point, he had to comment in yoruba " Aunty yi, e ma beru, e n'igbagbo ninu Olorun" meaning "Don't be afraid. Have faith in God, you this aunty" . My anxiety and fear were that obvious.
He led through the detour (proper interior Ibadan). It had gotten dark by then. He thought we were from Lagos. The only thing he wanted was transport fare back to where we picked him from.
...There are still good people out there...
