THE UNFORGETTABLE DAY IN MY LIFE.
I have had so many experiences in my life that remains indelible and unforgettable in my life till today.
By way of introduction, my name is Ebubay Ruth and I hail from Anambra State, Nigeria and a Student of University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, but residing in Onitsha, Anambra State.
So, straight to the unforgettable day in my life.
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I and my family resides in a densely populated bussiness city called Onitsha in Anambra State of Nigeria.
Everyone in this area just hustle to make ends meet and feed their family.
So, it is a popular thing in Onitsha for residents to turn a particular place to a dumping ground, particularly when they see other residents dumping waste there and this causes environmental pollution.
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So this has led to having so many illegal waste dump sites in Onitsha of which the government is not in support of. These illegal waste dump sites makes the state look dirty and unattracting, so the government of the day took it upon himself to put a notice at each of those illegal dumping sites warning People to stop it or pay a particular fine.
The government in addition to that also set up a particular committee called the Anambra Sanitation Project Agency (ANSEPA) in order to go to these areas and apprehend defaulters.
Despite all these warnings, people still dump refuse at these sites (of which we were one of them, because there was no proper waste management system put in place for people, but residents usually pay sanitation fees) especially at night when everyone were asleep so that they won't be caught.
These ANSEPA people usually go to these sites to stay to checkmate this happenings.
So, on that fateful night of March 2002, our waste was due for disposal. It was about 11:12pm and we knew that nobody would see us at that hour. My mum who was heavily pregnant at the time insisted she was going with us, but we insited she stayed back, but after much arguement we decided to go together grudgingly.
My younger sister was the one carrying the waste bucket. When we got to the place, we saw a 16 seaters bus parked close to the refuse place with about 8 guys inside. They saw us coming with our waste, but did not say anything to us, so we assumed that they were not ANSEPA people.
Mind you that typical of ANSEPA people, they will warn you not to throw your waste when they see you coming, but these particular people did not, so we assumed otherwise.
Immediately my sister emptied our refuse there, those people jumped out of their bus saying we must enter their bus and follow them to their station because we have defaulted. After so much argument, they refused to let us go, so I and my sister started running, so I been an athlete, outran them and came back to our house.
I could not call my father because he was not in town as at then and there was no other adult at home and also judging from the time, everyone has already gone to bed. My other sister was caught and was forced to enter the car. My mum could not run because of her condition but she was just there helplessly shouting and calling for help that night, but no one came to our aid because it was already late at night.
After like about 20 minutes or thereabout, some 3 hefty looking guys came around from no where and when they saw what was happening asked for explanation and my mum explained everything in details. To our surprise, they told those guys to leave us and let us go and they agreed to leave us. Those 3 hefty guys later walked us down to our house, but we turned to thank them, but we didn't see them again. When my Dad came back, we told him and he said they Angels that came to our rescue.
But the most shocking part was this, the next day, a lady's body was dumped at the same refuse disposal site with some parts missing, but luck ran out on the guys that dumped her body as the state security people caught them red handed and Behold, it was those same guys that claimed to be ANSEPA people and wanted us to enter their bus with them to the Police Station.
Those guys later confessed that they were into killing and selling of human parts.
In summary, I and my sister would have been the ones killed but God delivered us from from death that day and I am still grateful to God for being alive till this day.
Saved by grace.
Thanks for reading my encounter.
