The Devil wants my leg…
but God won’t let him have it.
This is a story about the three times my right leg was put in peril in Sokoto.
I’m currently in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) program and I was deployed to Sokoto. NYSC is a program by the Nigerian government that was created in 1973 to promote intercultural relations between different parts of Nigeria, foster national pride, and inspire Nigerian youth to serve the interests of nation above self.
Ideally, Youth Corps members get sent to parts of Nigeria that they have never been to in order to challenge their prejudices and encourage them to empathize with members of other cultures. In my case, a Christian from Akwa-Ibom State who was born and raised in Lagos State, was deployed to Sokoto, a predominatly Muslim state in the Northwest, way outside my comfort zone.
If you had told me a year ago that I was going to be in Northern Nigeria or even in the NYSC program, I would have said you were crazy. But, I think that’s for a separate, longer, and more personal conversation.
So, since I got out of orientation camp in Wamakko — a town to the west of the city of Sokoto, the capital of Sokoto State — I’ve been in three situations where my right leg was threatened.
Now that I think about it, the threats have actually been escalating. They say that it’s always hardest before the breakthrough, so I choose to interpret these events as a sign that something awesome is waiting on the other side.
The first time my leg was threatened, I was dismounting an okada after a trip and I got burned on the inner side of my lower leg.
An okada is a motorcycle that’s used to transport customers on trips across cities. It’s a supplement to bus and motorized tricycle transport services. The motorcyclist is popularly called an okada man, and your fate rests in his hands.
I learned that you have to be careful because you’re essentially riding on a motorcycle engine and the exhaust pipe gets superheated. The burn didn’t show at first, but two days later the patch bubbled and the skin peeled.
The second time my leg was threatened, I was getting into a car and the driver sped off before I could actually sit down.
It was one of those smaller vehicles between a Fiat 500 and a Honda Accord. It could comfortably seat four people including the driver. There were about four of us trying to fit in with the driver, so it was a tight fit, especially since I am on the bigger size.
Half of my body was in the car, so I was essentially one leg in and one leg out when the driver put his foot on the accelerator. I don’t know how my right leg managed to stay limber enough to keep pace with the moving car.
My fellow corpers, who were already seated in the car, described it as a near miracle, and could only watch in shock as they watched the neighborhood speed by outside the car door with me hanging out of it. As far as I’m concerned, my guardian angel possessed my leg and ran alongside the car with it. Of course the driver apologized profusely; he had assumed we were all seated.
The third time my leg was threatened, I was on an okada and the okada man stopped at an intersection and was trying to choose the best route forward when another okada struck us from behind.
Our bike was knocked down and were thrown off the bike and onto the tarred road. Fortunately there was very little traffic and the road was in good condition. The okada man I was with had a few scratches and a sore leg while I was virtually unharmed.
It was only when I got back to where I was staying that night that I noticed that the back of my jeans had been torn slightly where the other bike made contact as it hit us. Again, my guardian angel had been working overtime hours on my case, keeping me safe from harm.
I gave this story its title because I know that the construct of the average Nigerian I carry in my head is very superstitious. His favorite religious saying is “No weapon fashioned against me shall prosper” because he lives in constant fear of the intentions of his enemies. Moreover, life is largely about expanding his coast and providing a comfortable life for himself and his people.
Now, after experiencing these escalating threats, I am definitely more sympathetic to his worldview. I don’t think there are people conspiring to frustrate my life, but I do think God sent at least one angel to save me in Sokoto.
I hope you enjoyed my story. You can read some more of what I’ve written here.
