THE GOOD MUSLIM.

"Ku sauka ku sauka, maza " was what jolted me back to reality. It was the driver frantically asking everyone to alight the vehicle. Everyone alighted and watched the bus driver zoom off. That very moment I was faced with reality: I was in the middle of a religious/political crisis.

A few days before, I had written the Post UTME exam at the university of Benin and was on my way back home to Kaduna together with my cousin when we heard about the bomb blast in Kaduna.
Later, news reached us of the reprisal attacks in Kaduna. There was no way we could enter Kaduna that day so a stop at Abuja became our only available option.

We stayed a few days in Abuja at my uncle's. It was there we caught wind that the curfew in kaduna had been lifted and so we set for kaduna the next day. I was excited that morning.I had thought that in about 2hours, I'd be with my family but little did I know what awaited me: It was to be the longest "2 hours" of my life.

We left Abuja in the early hours of the morning and headed towards Kaduna. The driver being muslim and being aware of the possible eruption of fresh crisis in the state, decided to take the safest path. well , the safest path for him.

You see, over the years, due to the killings of christains in Kaduna, the state is now divided into a christain dominanted southern Kaduna and a Muslim northern kaduna.
So, if you are a christain stuck in Northern Kaduna during a crisis, well let's just say your chances of making it home to your family alive are slim. On the other hand, If you are a Muslim stuck in Southern Kaduna during a crisis, you'd better started saying your last prayers.

Back to the story. So our driver decided to enter Kaduna through Northern Kaduna (usually drivers enter from the south) .like i said before, he took the safest path for him. It's just human nature!

So there we were, christains, far from home, stranded in Kawo, Northern kaduna and in the middle of a heated crisis. I swear what happened next felt like it was a miracle. A guy, ( he was in the bus with us) sensing our confusion and seeing the fear in our eyes asked if we had anywhere to run . "No" we said in unison. He whisked some of our luggage off the ground and beckoned on us to run with him. He was a stranger, a muslim stranger but all that didn't matter at the time for obvious reasons. We took what was remaining of our luggage and ran. I remember turning to look at my cousin at some point and she had a sea of tears running down her cheeks.

There were gunshots everywhere. It was pure chaos!  "Suna zuwa, suna zuwa-they are coming, the are coming" people shouted as they ran towards us. Well no one waited to see who was coming. You wouldn't too!

You know those difficult situations you find yourself where you promise to surrender your all to God if he would save you from the difficult situation? Well I was in my difficult situation.

We ran to a nearby Barracks for refuge but the soldiers there were ready to fire at anyone who deared to force their way into the barrack. In fact,they were firing shots into the air. Even they were scared. Scared they'd let enemies in.
So Mr stranger hid us in a store and later took us to a friend's house when it was beginning to get calm.

It was at this point we were able to answer the calls which were already pouring in from home.
"Kawo? How? God!" That was my mom shouting frantically on the phone. everyone at home was shocked we were in Kawo. They did not know there was a route that even led to kawo from Abuja. Then she seemed to realise suddenly that she wasn't asking the right questions "Where are you now?" She said. "At some guy's house. He helped us to safety" I replied. "We are safe for now" I added. She sounded a bit relieved." Who is this guy?" What I said next was the worst thing I could have said.
"He's muslim." I think she must have stood at this point. She couldn't hide her fear.

Anyway she ended the call after asking more questions which were becoming annoying at some point...cut me some slack. I was in shock.

At home, they started making efforts to get us to a safe location. My sister had contacted her friends to come take us into the barracks. They were UNIBEN graduates who were at NDA, Kaduna for a short service programme at the time. So by evening we were safe at the NDA barracks...I learnt later that it was at this point everyone at home could eat...boy! It was the longest and most terrifying day of my life!
I wasn't even admitted that year ROTFL!
What's more?
As for the "Good Samaritan" abi "Good Muslim" that was our saving grace, I'm not sure we asked for his name amidst the whole chaos...I'd probably walk past him and not recognise him not to talk of thanking him.

By
Michael Isokpehin.
Michael Isokpehin is a Christian living in Kaduna.
He is a 400 level Law Student of the University of Benin.