LIFESTAMPS ... lifelong lessons: PROUDLY NIGERIAN

cars. I sometimes stand outside and recall the model and make of cars that pass just to be sure that I am not missing out so much on my little acquired knowledge of automobiles. I talk about whatever it is that I love. I dreamt about driving for a long time when I could only wash my

Years past and many years past. I had gotten to a point where discussing cars was now beyond just a hobby, I had people who would ask my consent about cars before buying. Not that I was very good at telling cars but I love to read and research about whatever catches my fancy and if I am interested in a field, it means I am really interested.

I had three models of cars to choose from whenever I was ready to buy and I kept dreaming and idolizing these models. I checked their pros and cons, I read reviews and browsed websites, I met individual users and even test drove some cars I could lay my hands on. I was involved body and soul. My spirit was calm

I took a bold leap and forfeited my monthly salary for more than twelve (12) months. It wasn’t a time of pleasure or even fun. I felt I was too strict on myself for doing that but I survived it and only very few people noticed the trial-times I went through.

That done. I decided on a car to buy and I went on the internet. I joined a Peugeot forum on Nairaland and made one or two friends. In the month of November a friend alerted me that a car was coming from the Frenchman’s country and needed to be bought. I took a bolder leap and keyed into the deal as a possible buyer and negotiations started. I had never bought anything on the internet that wasn’t a virtual or softcopy or service before then. Here I was attempting to buy a product. A car. One of my life’s dream and I was…what’s the word now…gambling! It was a big gamble and here is why.

The young man sending the car was a Nigerian living in France, I’ve never met him before and all I saw where the pictures of the cars he was sending. We got in touch and spoke over the phone and he said once the cars got to Lagos, we would do a proper deal. The cars arrived safely and for me there were still pictures, not cars. I browsed and made my choice and asked him to transfer the car to a location nearer me and that was when I got the first hint of the risk I was taking. He said he wouldn’t move the car until I paid a certain sum of money (which was beyond hundreds of thousands) into a given account. My spirit woke at this point.

I thought of how long it took me to save such an amount being a civil servant and how I was going to give it over to someone I never knew and had never met. My spirit didn’t caution me beyond the normal so I transferred the money to the account and also transferred my heart to my mouth. He acknowledged the money and we agreed he would get the balance once I see the car. His brother was to deliver it.

I didn’t want them to follow a certain bad route so I asked them to move the car to Abuja. An Igbo man whom I met online and who actually connected me to this France-based Nigerian knew so much about these type of cars so I asked them to deliver it to him. I had also never met him before and we had only exchanged pictures and spoken over the phone. He graciously received the car and I transferred the balance to him to pay the ones that delivered the car.

I decided to mention my dealings to a colleague and his look when I told him simply said, “Charles you look smart but you are acting stupid”. He asked if I have ever met this Igbo man in Abuja. No. he asked if I had the car papers or the copy. No. he asked if… he couldn’t believe that my love for Information technology would make me act in such a manner as to take so great a risk. I was startled at my decisions but taking risks were already part of me and seriously I have a cautious spirit and I didn’t feel the need to do otherwise. He wasn’t impressed at all and it became a concern for him. He actually ridiculed me.

I had prayed before taking this risk. I alone knew what was involved. The time spent sourcing the funds, the risk of committing such funds to unknown “abroad-living Nigerians”, the risk of giving an already bought car to an Abuja-living Igbo man, we both, not having met before. The risk was great on all fronts. The risk however paid off.

The Igbo man certified the car ok. He paid off the delivery men. He went ahead to send me shots of the car via whatsapp. He snapped everything, speedometer, gauges, interior, exterior, everything. It was the car I saw in France and then Lagos, it was my car alright, no, no, not yet. it was still a picture.

I got his office address in Abuja and proceeded to pick up the car. On the said day, he had washed the car himself, bought the wheel spanner and jack which were missing, he had bought me a plate number and processed the car license papers, and he had filled the tank with fuel and was waiting for me.

I met him for the first time and he handed over the car keys to me. I didn’t feel like “I was lucky not to be duped”, I felt like “this world is really not so evil”. I felt like “…is this truly my car?” I didn’t know which joy to contain. That I had my dream car or that the risk paid off or that I had a testimony or that I was a Nigerian or that I was…I wasn’t speechless. I appreciated him in my little way and I knew I had made a lifelong friend. He was a born and bred Nigerian, struggling like me to make ends meet. Yet he was true, righteous, selfless, caring and he was a brother’s keeper. He was truly Nigerian.

It’s over a year now and my car still shines and the testimonies yet abound, people still don’t believe and others marvel, for me I am just living the life I’ve got. If I tell the detailed story, you might fall off your mat but you can rest assured that my tale is true and I have lived to tell it.