SIMONKOLAWOLELIVE! simon.kolawole@thisdaylive.com, sms: 0805 500 1961
A phone chat with Dr Lasisi Lagunju, editor of Saturday Tribune and ace columnist, on Friday morning sent me into melancholy. He had joked that he hoped I was not in “Okunland” as he did not have N135 million to pay if I was kidnapped by bandits. Kogi West has been experiencing bandit attacks for a while. An in-law, Pastor Ranti Ige, 67, was murdered in November 2023 on his way from Lagos to Isanlu, Kogi state, for the funeral of his friend. The bandits shot at the car, killing him instantly. They kidnapped the other occupants and demanded ransom. The information sent to us was that “Fulani herdsmen” had killed the man we adoringly called “Boda Ranti” as kids. He was such a lovely soul.
Just a decade ago, if anybody had told me a time would come when road travels would come with anxiety and hypertension, I would have filed it under “exaggeration”. I used to travel by road a lot in my years as a student and as a reporter on the field. There were only two things we feared in those days: armed robbery and accidents. Robbers did not usually kill: they would just ask the passengers to declare their assets and collect whatever they considered valuable. Road accidents were common, mostly because of insane speeding and other forms of reckless driving, but the good work of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) on the highways helped in no little way to reduce the incidence.
