Bus Tales 29 – Isaacola AA

Episode 28 here

Bus Tales 28 – Isaacola AA

Wonders shall never end with the dramas and soap opera we witness inside Lagos buses. From the hilarious to the sombre and to the ridiculously unbelievable. Here we go again with another of such happenings.

I boarded a bus from Oshodi enroute to Apapa this fateful morning hoping to bye pass all the heavy trailers as fast as possible by waking earlier than my usual time.

The bus filled up almost immediately not minding the fact that it was a ‘semi- ungodly’ hour of the day. I was grateful because I was able to perch in the front seat reading Ofili’s book on Okada books to while away time.

Unconsciously, I heard the driver saying to the bus conductor not to collect money which sounded strange but I was too absorbed in my reading to respond to whatever was happening.

The passengers who I am sure did not hear or were not paying attention to what the driver said in the front gathered the money and handed it over to the bus  conductor.

One of the passengers asked for her balance when she noticed the conductor is missing in action. The driver was livid with rage shouting with spittle flying from every angle of his mouth as he tried to explain that he didn’t know the so-called conductor. He claimed the supposed conductor only helped and that he is also a bus driver.

The reality on ground was that the fare of all the passengers had been collected by the runaway ‘conductor’ except for that of the two of us at the front and he still had to give four hundred naira balance to one of the passengers.

What a glorious mess for the driver. I looked at him and I could see disappointment and defeat carved on his features.

Isaacola AA
@newnaija