Emmanuel Adedoyin and his wife anticipated their wedding day with bated
breath. As the date drew nearer, efforts to avoid hitches on D-Day were
made by the couple and every other family member that mattered.
Preparations rolled into anxieties as imageries of glamour
characteristic of such occasion preoccupied the minds of the young
couple like hornets glued to the eaves.
The much-awaited day
finally came. As the clock ticked 9am, Emmanuel left his residence in
Arepo – an Ogun community along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway – together
with some of his friends. His looks and resplendent flowing native dress
radiated glitz as he headed to the wedding venue, about 42 kilometres
away in Ejigbo, Lagos State.
Although the programme was to start
at 2pm, the 31-year-old was eager to be on the ground in time to tie up
loose ends. He got to the venue at 10am that Sunday, waiting patiently
for his parents to arrive so the event could start.
All along, he
never thought anything could pose a threat to the schedule.
Unfortunately, terrible traffic ensued on Lagos highways that Sunday and
turned out to be big a monster holding his parents’ car for several
hours on Ikorodu-Road.
“It is a day I can never forget,” said
Adedoyin, Emmanuel’s father. “Two relations, my wife and I were stuck in
traffic for hours and the bride price was with me,” he added.
Adedoyin
told our correspondent that he and his wife left Arepo at 12.30pm,
thinking it would be a smooth drive all the way, being a weekend when
traffic was usually free.
“We left home at that time on the
assumption that there would be no traffic,” he disclosed as he began to
narrate the troubled time he endured that day.
Back at the
wedding venue, tension continued to mount as everyone eagerly awaited
the arrival of the groom’s parents. The event was put on hold and to
douse the tension, the bride’s family had to employ the weird side. A
table tennis was quickly put together to keep the guests entertained as
some of them had started leaving the venue, Adedoyin said.
He
stated, “We started running into traffic at Seven Up, Ojota. We turned
back to link Kudirat Abiola Way and met another traffic. We then
manoeuvered until we linked the Third Mainland Bridge.
“By the
time we got to Oworonsoki junction, it was hell. The car we were in was
overheating. It was already 5pm and calls were coming in repeatedly from
my son’s in-laws. I kept on telling them we were on our way and that we
were held in traffic.
“When we got to Anthony on Ikorodu Road, I
could no longer manage the overheating. I had to park the vehicle at a
safe place. I immediately took a bus from there to Oshodi.”
At
Oshodi, embattled Adedoyin got caught up in another mess. Commercial bus
drivers were unwilling to take passengers who wanted to drop off at
Iyana Isolo. At this time, the agbada he donned elegantly when he left
home had suddenly found solace in his left arm as he waved anxiously at
any yellow buses in sight.
When it became apparent that he would
not get a bus that would stop at Iyana Isolo, where he would join
another vehicle to Ejigbo, he went the way of a smart Lagosian.
“I
boarded a bus and on getting to Charity (the bus stop next to Iyana
Isolo), I told the driver, I would alight at Iyana Isolo. The driver was
mad at me because he had already said he would not stop there.
“I
pretended as if I was a stranger in Lagos and was begging him to drop
me off. Meanwhile, I was by the door side, determined to jump down at
any slight opportunity.
“The conductor blocked the door; he
didn’t want me to disembark. Passengers joined to beg on my behalf and
he eventually stopped. It was already 7pm. I immediately took a bus to
Ejigbo. I didn’t get to Ejigbo until 9pm. I took a N500 bike from Ejigbo
to the church where the engagement held. I prostrated to apologise to
my son’s father-in-law,” the 55-year-old man stated, adding that his son
was speechless when he saw him.
He explained that his wife and
two other members of the family came in an hour later to witness
whatever they could make out of the event.
“Lagos traffic is
terrible. Since I relocated to Abuja some years back, I feel discouraged
to come to Lagos because of the traffic. I don’t even know what really
caused the traffic that day because there was no accident.
“My
son (the groom) had gone there since morning. I was even abusing him for
going there early. Even the food we were taking to the venue got there
late,” Adedoyin lamented.
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