So, after you think you
have seen it all, I checked in and thought I was running late. Couldn't find
somewhere to seat at the D34 KLM departure lounge. I walked towards a free-standing
space next to a wall to lean on it. When I suddenly heard two ladies, or should
I just say two female adults talking rather loudly. whilst I was still trying
to get my head around what the conversation was about, I just saw lady number
two reach over and slap lady number one hard across the face "yelling am I
your mate?!?" A typical Nigerian expression you hear during fights.
Omg it turns out that lady
number one was trying to save the seat next to her for an elderly woman who got
up to go buy water. An important fact to note about this, is that none of these
women are related to the elderly woman. So lady number two ignores lady number
ones initial comments which must have made her say something rude which
resulted in an early morning cat fight entertainment.
In a normal world where
all things were alright it would have just ended with the comment that seat
isn't free. Somewhere between the lines something must have gone wrong
and all hell broke loose, pushing, yelling louder, the Nigerian light weight
boxing match had been opened at gate D34. Please note that lady number two had
her 5-year-old son with her.
As usual when a fight
breaks out people try to separate the contending parties. Well I did what I had
learnt a long time ago, I took off and stayed clear of trouble. My mum
always advised us to stay as far as possible away from fights whilst growing
up. I still do it cos in this case having dreadlocks being en route Amsterdam
and getting involved in a fight might not do me any good.
Anyways the crowd plus the
oyibo people that were there got involved. The flight attendants managed to
finally separate them, but they were still yelling. I couldn't understand for
the love of me what had gotten into the ladies. Why would someone do stuff like
that whilst waiting to board a flight, an international flight for that matter.
We weren't waiting for a molowe or BRT?!?(local bus service in lagos)
Back to the fights
different people play different parts in this real-life drama. The peacemakers
who try to put an end to the fight, the audience that cheers on for their
entertainment and the fight accelerators who keep pouring kerosene into the
fire.
So a couple of passengers
as required in a Nigerian fight started to yell "get them off the flight “, “don't
let them board I don't feel safe". They should be more mannered, whilst
all what they were saying was true they didn't need to make the situation any
worse. The officials were already at the crime scene as I would like to call
it. The fighting ladies were led out of the boarding area and the
remaining passengers started having debates on who was right or what reaction
would have been better.
I couldn't help but ask
myself under what kind of pressure an individual would have to be to act like
that. I mean would they have done the same thing anywhere else in the world. Or
was it a scheme made to distract the airport officials from noticing sometime
else. I don't know but I guess we will never know. I believe the ladies didn't
make their flight. But this is the reality there is definitely a certain kind
of madness that sometimes comes with being Nigerian. I mean I could have
chosen to be rude back to the young immigration officer who forgot that even if
he was saying the right thing that his job and courtesy actually required him
to be polite.
It is rather sad but true
...good bye my homeland till we meet again.
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