The Encounter

The bus driver and his conductor left home very early

He was not the bus owner and had a target to meet before handing over the keys at 12noon

The bus owner had a unique way of handling his business

Three drivers were attached to bus

Each driver was given a specific financial target to meet within the shift period

Unless the bus had a provable mechanical fault or some other problem with law enforcement which is seldom

Each driver must return the bus to the bus owner’s house 30 minutes before the end of his shift

They all had a written agreement

The bus owner didn't take kindly to excuses

The bus driver's income from the driving job had been fair

He had a wife and a baby at home

He was determined to work hard and save enough to buy his own bus before his daughter turns five or his wife gets pregnant with another baby

He had also learnt the hard way that honesty and diligence pays

They hit the highway at 5:05 AM

His conductor started calling passengers (hoping someone would call back and ask them to stop) because everywhere was still dark

He drove slowly

Many people left home in the wee hours of the day for work

Such people prefer to get ahead of the traffic that built up naturally around 7:30- 9.00AM

His conductor saw the crowd first

16 of them

Whoa!!

He parked!

The passengers boarded the bus without a word

Once they were seated, his conductor boarded the bus and started calling prices

"So and so bus stop is this amount"

"Such and such bus stop is that amount"

“It would be preferable if you give me the exact fare since it is still early in the day”

One of the passengers spoke

"My child, we are going to Badagry, kindly drive there right away"

He slammed the brakes!

"Bada-what?"

He switched on the inner light of the bus

They were in Ikorodu, his route was Ikorodu-Ketu-Mile 12

He usually plied this route 8 times to and fro before the end of his shift

He already had an expected financial target

Badagry was basically a journey from one extreme end of the state to another

The roads were very poor and his conductor didn’t call “Badagry” for the passengers!

He looked backwards from the driver’s seat

He saw a sea of white

He looked at the two passengers seated beside him

The passengers were also dressed in white

Some of them were holding local rattles, others were holding local totems

He closed his mouth

He had carried traditional idol worshippers

Worshippers of gods and demons armed with serious juju power

They were so powerful that despite the advent of Christianity in Ikorodu, they had clung to their fetish beliefs

As an institution, they insisted on doing the “Oro” ritual

A ritual that forbade women from coming outside their homes for as long as seven days

In a metropolitan state where people live everywhere and work everywhere!

They didn’t care!

Demonic invocations are a big deal to them, even the state had to cave in to their demands

Human sacrifices, money making rituals and other demonic works were their field of expertise

They were said to have the ability to command instant insanity on anybody they deemed rude

His child was still very young

He apologized to them, looked forward and drove on

He didn’t dare say what he wanted to say earlier!

Deep in his mind he started thinking

How could he escape from this quagmire?

Didn’t his conductor notice these people were fetish before picking them up?

Now that he had been commanded to embark on a 102.9 KM journey

How would he fuel the vehicle?

How would he make it back to base before 12 noon?

His conductor was equally silent

Common sense dawned on both of them in the name of fear

Any wrong word and they both could have their destinies truncated by the advocates of evil

He drove on

The passengers spoke amongst themselves

He garnered that they were having a traditional deity worship occasion at Badagry

They were all members of the same cult, the initiates!

The man who spoke earlier said “Driver, when you get us to Badagry, you will wait until we are done and drive us back to Ikorodu”

He could only nod

His voice had crouched into a hole and hidden its face

He could hear his conductor swallowing hard

That day was a total loss already!

Apart from the immediate financial loss, the backlash from not returning the bus to the owner on time might be that he and his conductor would lose their spot in the driving chain!

He desperately needed the money and the job

"God please, in any way you can, please help us!" He prayed

They left Ikorodu behind!

He branched into a petrol station

He summoned courage

“Sirs and Mas, the fuel in the bus is not sufficient to take us to Badagry, could you please pay us something to buy fuel”

The passengers looked at one another and started laughing

“Let this bus run out of fuel and see if you will ever see your little daughter again!” their spokesman said

Ha!

His daughter!

They already knew he had a daughter!

He apologized and drove to the fuel pump

He spent all the money he had on him on fuel

He needed to see the nightmare through in one piece

They got to Ketu

He turned to his conductor and asked if there was still more space

The conductor said there was space for one more

He said it is better they pick one more passenger who would pay so that they can use the passenger’s fare to buy more fuel along the way!

The conductor started calling “Oshodi – Mile 2”

The young man in jeans and T-Shirt had been at a vigil all night

He had an 8AM meeting in Festac

He decided it would be wise not to drive since he had not had much sleep

He walked to the bus stop

Flagged down a bus calling Oshodi-Mile 2

The bus stopped

He boarded

The bus took off after he settled down

He said “Good Morning”

The conductor replied “Good morning sir”

The spokesperson of the traditional worshippers’ also responded “Good morning, my son”

The young man in Jeans and T-shirt turned around, noticed that every other person in the bus were idol worshippers

Something happened

The atmosphere suddenly became charged

The driver’s hands vibrated

Goose pimples everywhere

Nobody could explain what was happening in the metaphysical realm but in the physical realm, this happened:

The young man in Jeans and T-Shirt got provoked

Young man in Jeans and T-Shirt: Who is your son? Who is your son? Do you know who I am? I am your Father! Driver park this bus.

By this time they had gotten to Ojota Bus stop

The driver parked into one of the fuel stations

Young man in Jeans and T-Shirt: All of you, get down now!

The driver couldn’t believe it

The conductor couldn’t believe it

Did this young boy want to die? Did he know he was talking to the ancestors, the deities, the priests and priesesses of the land?

These are powerful witches and wizards, the initiates who are able to do and undo

Ha!

This young man was in soup already!

And yet...

All the traditional worshipers! All 16 of them remained silent

Young man in Jeans and T-Shirt: Conductor, open the door

Conductor opened the door

The traditional worshipers started disembarking one after the other with alacrity

After all of them had alighted, their spokesperson said “We are very sorry sir” to the young man in Jeans and T-Shirt

Young man in Jeans and T-Shirt: Apology accepted.

The driver and the conductor drove off

The driver thanked the young man in Jeans and T-Shirt, explaining his ordeal since 5AM

The driver was happy God answered his prayer

The young man in Jeans and T-Shirt said he was simply provoked by the fact that one of them called him “My son”

“My son?”!

How could Belial call Jesus his son?

The driver and conductor picked fresh passengers at Oshodi and refused to collect transport fare from the young man in Jeans and T-Shirt

Above all, they were so impressed by the power of God that they gave their lives to Jesus that there and then. The young man in Jeans and T-Shirt assured them such people would never board their bus again because they now bear upon their bodies the mark of our Lord Jesus Christ

PS: This event happened in Lagos Nigeria, 2009

The young man in Jeans and T-Shirt was 2 years old as a believer at the time

If you are a believer reading this, stop acting and thinking as if you are a victim

If you are reading this as an unbeliever, there is no other power outside of Jesus. If you really want to be powerful, accept Jesus today

And if you are a witch, wizard, juju man, necromancer, demon possessed, suppressed or oppressed in any way and you believe you need help to be liberated from these bondage call on the name of Jesus now!!!