Hi, I’m Sam,
Click here to read part 1
After I got into the university, it wasn’t even up to a year and everything went up in flames. It was supposed to be a peaceful Monday at the beginning of my first year second semester. I had a full day of lectures and practicals; I left my lodge around 7 am. I had textbooks to buy so unlike me I went out with my wallet
which had my ATM cards in it so that I could withdraw some money and buy the books. After the lectures, it was time for practical; as the practical was going on I got a credit Alert and the money was from my mum. I was excited but I couldn’t call her immediately to thank her, I decided to do that once I got back to my lodge before attending a birthday party I had planned to attend. After the practical, I left so that I could get a little bit of rest before the birthday party. I also promised to bring wine to the party. On my way home I decided to stop by the wine shop to buy the wine before they closed. As I was in the wine store selecting the wine I wanted, my mum called, I answered and was telling her how grateful I was for the money she paid into my account. As I was walking out of the store still on the call with my mum a young guy walked up to me. I told my mum I’d call her back when I got back to my lodge.The young guy said to me that my face
looked familiar, that he knew me from somewhere. I wasn’t surprised because a
lot of my seniors from secondary school were in the same school but I didn’t
remember his face. I told him I didn’t remember his face and that I had to
leave, he followed me and asked me if he could make a call with my phone; at
the back of my mind, I knew I was about to be robbed but didn’t bother because
there were a lot of people around. In an attempt to get away from him, I
entered another shop, stayed there a little and after a while I thought he had
left I came and he dragged me to the back of a truck parked in front of an
uncompleted building where he showed me his gun and told me the name of his
cult group and he asked “are you the Samuel”, surprised, I asked him what he
meant by that, he answered that it was none of my business and that they were
not the only ones after me. He asked me where I lived, I lied and told him I
stayed in the school hostel and he asked me what I was doing in the off-campus
lodge area. I told him I was visiting a friend. He pointed to the people he
came with and told me that if I yelled and they got caught others would come;
right there and then I knew my stay in the school was over.
He told me to walk with him which I
did, we started going the opposite way to my lodge; we passed some of my
coursemates and my neighbor who wanted to tag along to where I was going but he
made me shake him off. We got to a lonely place and he took my wallet out of my
back pocket and started going through everything inside. The others gathered
and one asked where I stayed, and the first guy told him I was staying in the
school hostel. One told them it was a lie and he mentioned the name of my lodge
building and my room number; that was when I knew it was an arranged robbery.
The first guy who pulled a gun on me slapped me and asked me why I lied to him.
He took my phone and started going through my messages, he saw the credit alert
I received earlier that day and he asked me how much I had in my account, at
first I wanted to lie but I thought to myself what’s the point when he has my
phone; so I answered “I don’t know” he continued to search my backpack and he
saw the wine I had bought that evening and they took it. After everything he
asked for my ATM PIN and I told him then a slap from nowhere again landed on my
face and I asked what was the slap for and he said that was for lying about my
ATM PIN, I told him I didn’t lie and I repeated the same pin to him. One of
them left with the ATM card and after a few minutes debit alert came into my
phone Lo and behold, my account was empty. As they left I remembered how hard I
worked to get my driver’s license so I begged them to give me my license which
was in my wallet. Luckily for me, one of them threw the license at me and I
happily picked it up from the mud.
After the thing had happened, I was
still in disbelief wondering if the most popular stories I’d heard about
university life had just happened to me. I couldn’t cry despite the slaps I was
given and trust me it was not because I was strong. I was confused as to how I
went from having a lot of money in my account to having none in a matter of
minutes. As I walked back to my lodge I kept thinking of things I should’ve
done to have avoided the incident. As I got to my room I locked myself inside
and my neighbor came and knocked, I didn’t want to answer at first but I
figured there was nothing I could do; I didn’t have any money to go to school
the next day and my identity was compromised, they knew where I lived and my
department, I couldn’t hide from them any longer. I answered the door and he
just knew something was off he asked me what happened and I told him I had just
been robbed. He was surprised, asking me when and where and I told him I was
robbed by the person he saw me with as he was coming back from school that
evening. I asked him if I could use his phone to make a call; I wanted to call
my brother but I didn’t have his number by heart. I only had my number, my
mum's, and my oldest sister’s number by heart. So I called my mum and asked to
speak to my brother, I told him I had been robbed and he asked if I was hurt, I
told him no and I didn’t have any money, that in addition to withdrawing all
the money in my bank account, they also took the ones I had in my wallet and
they can’t pay in money into my account because those guys still had my phone
and my ATM card. He told me to find someone to lend me money so that I could
leave school and go to his friend's place. My neighbor was generous enough to
give me the money I needed; I had a small phone in my room so I used it to
contact my brother so that he wouldn’t need to call my neighbor again. My
neighbor and his roommate gathered some people and they tried to go after the
people that robbed me but I wasn’t helping matters; they asked me if I could
remember their faces if I saw them but I told them no despite the fact I could
remember the face of the guy that pulled a gun on me, that’s not something you
forget. I packed a few things into my backpack and I left. As I was in the park
my dad called to say that my brother had told them what happened and as
expected my mum was freaking out. He asked if I was hurt, I answered no and he
said “I’m not sure you’d be going back to that school after this” I thought he
was joking and he hung up. I got to my brother’s friend’s place a bit late in
the night, I had dinner and slept off.
The next morning my dad called and told
me to make my way home, that wasn’t the original plan, I thought I would stay
here till I rectify things with my bank and go back to school but my parents
had other plans. I happily went home; any chance to enjoy a home-cooked meal
I’d take it and I would be over-pampered more than usual because of the
terrible ordeal I just suffered. I got home and as expected everyone was
treating me like I was delicate which I could get used to. My dad now said for
certain that I wasn’t going back to that school. None of my coursemates knew
what had happened and I begged my neighbor not to tell anyone and my dad wanted
it to remain that way. Just like that days turned to weeks and weeks turned to
months and I ended up not writing my second-semester exams; that was when I
knew my parents were serious about me not going back there. Surprisingly, one
morning my parents called me and asked me if I wanted to go back to my old
school I answered “no” and that even if I wanted to, because I missed a
semester examination I would have an extra year added to the five years I was
already meant to spend there, which meant I won’t graduate with my mates, no
thanks. So they asked me to look for a school I’d like to attend outside of
Nigeria; they said they didn’t want that incident to repeat itself. I now had a
big decision to make; I’ve never desired to study outside Nigeria, the only
time I desired to travel outside Nigeria was for work or vacation, not studies.
So I decided to apply to the University of Johannesburg, South Africa to study
Software Engineering, which was just 3 years while I had 4 years plus in my
former school not adding the strikes.
So the process started, I filled out
every form I was supposed to fill, paid the necessary fees, and got the
documents needed, but months into the whole thing, I got cold feet and decided
to change my mind about the whole studying outside thing. I couldn’t really
explain why I changed my mind but I just didn’t want to go; only the thought
left me numb inside, I guess maybe it was because it just wasn’t the right
decision at the time. I was now left with explaining what I’d do now that I
wasn’t leaving the country. Before I made the decision I asked my brother what
he thought and he said ultimately I was the one to make the final decision, if
it was something I wanted to do then I should but if it wasn’t then I shouldn’t.
So I made the decision not to go and run an online programme which is very
flexible and the best decision I ever made when it came to my education.