Chapter Nine
Salim, is Salma’s fiancé and recently bought an expensive Samsung smartphone. It was a screen touch phone that could be used with joy stick and responded to the owner’s fingers. It was a Note series phone. Salma encouraged him to enjoy his money before becoming a responsible man after marriage.
Salim took to the advice and used the phone maximally. He discovered several dating sites and downloaded the applications to connect him with the person of his interest.
Salim was into relationship with people from far and near. He was on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp, Badoo, 2go, WeChat and some other social media platforms.
Salim narrated his ugly experience to Salma thus:
Salim went to his friend Lawal one day and showed his excitement about a girl he just got. Lawal muted the sound of the wrestling he was watching in the living room to listen to Salim very well. Lawal said he had Salma as fiancé and still talking about a girlfriend.
He asked him the type of life he was living. Salim explained that Salma was her wife technically but just waiting to fix the day. But a man needs to play around before becoming a woman’s property or slave.
Lawal said it means Salim has met another girl that she was attracted to. He then asked if he had ever met the new beauty. Salim responded that Lawal has never met her and called him to come and see her on his phone. Lawal commented that his friend now like Indian women. Salim replied that she was not an Indian but Fulani according to the lady.
In response to Lawal’s questions, Salim said that he did not meet her physically but had been chatting for over a week on phone. He added that he was not doubting her identity; they have exchanged phone numbers and the lady had a beautiful voice like that of a queen.
He invited Lawal to accompany him to the Lady. Lawal declined to follow him to a person he had never met and what would he tell Salma. He told him to go, he could then follow him in the subsequent visits. Lawal was initially annoyed with his friend’s response, but later saw some senses in what he said. What if the person turned out to be different from their thoughts?
Or he did not like the person physically when set eyes on her. He then concluded that he better goes alone to avoid the purported embarrassment in the presence of his friend.
Salim went alone to see his social media princess. He came back few hours later disappointed. He met Lawal seated where he left him and asked him whether he had the supernatural power to see what others could not see (clairvoyant).
He confessed that his princess was an unpresentable creature but used someone else’s picture as her display picture (DP). Lawal burst into ceaseless laughter and told Salim that they were supposed to be talking about the new girlfriend and not her looks.
Lawal then educated Salim about meeting girls on the social media. He told Salim that he was even lucky that the girl agreed to meet him and showed up. He cites instances that the girl would continue chatting him up, inviting him and making false promises until Salim fell for her tricks.
She would then be making demands like requesting for recharge cards to sending money to her account. She might claim to be in another city like Kano or Sokoto that she wanted to come and visit when she might even be a neighbour. She might say her relation was dead and should send money to her.
And if Salim made mistake of visiting her in the distant town, by the time he would get there, the lady would just tell him that she wasn’t around or ill. She might even refuse to pick his calls or switch off her phone.
Lawal cited another instance which he said was funny. That was befriending a lady based on the displayed picture on the social media and later turned out to be a man. The motive of this is to extort, said Lawal.
He warned Salim not to fall victim of kidnapping that was rampant. That they might ask for the ransom that could not be paid. Salim was in deep thought here until Lawal woke him back to reality. He was thinking about the kidnapping experience he had and never disclosed to Lawal before.
Salim told his friend that that was not her first experience and that’s why he was insisting that he should accompany him to see the lady for the first time and to see her in the afternoon. Salim said he was ashamed to narrate the frightening ordeal that happened about a month ago.
The incident was about Natasha who lived in the university town near Lafayette. It was not clear to Salim if Natasha was a bona-fide student of the school as claimed. Salim confirmed that falsehood was more rampant on the social media than truth.
He said Natasha sent a friend request to him and he accepted. They started chatting and he was convinced by the pictures uploaded on her account. The pictures were many and looked alike.
He is more attracted to her because more than half of the pictures were nude; he wanted to know her closely. According to Salim, Natasha had seductive languages that no man could resist. These made Salim fell into her trap when she invited him to visit her.
Natasha’s house was at the back of the school and said that he should come between eight and nine in the evening as she would not be allowed to come out in the afternoon.
Salim called her while approaching the school and responded immediately and giving him directions to her house. Salim was hearing male voices underground but didn’t count on it.
He was driving as being directed. He took his father’s suv popularly called Jeep. Whenever he thought of going back, he would just look at her half naked pictures and he would discard the thought.
He was following the description until he got to q faint lighted place and was asked to stop. Salim then discovered when he turned on the full light that the street was a closed street. Salim was used to “military parking”; he parked his car facing the direction he would go when leaving.
Natasha came out looking more beautiful than in her pictures. She was so endowed and uses them to her credit. Salim just looked away from her opened chest. The light of the moon makes her more beautiful in Salim’s eyes.
Natasha declined coming in and said was okay standing by his side. Salim was contented with this since he was able to view her frontal display. Salim was savouring this when he heard the passenger door of the car opened and a hefty man pointing gun at him. In a jiffy, the second person also entered.
Salim was already in great fear as the man commanded him not to utter a word, move to the back seat and should not remove the key of the vehicle.
Salim moved to the back seat and the man commanded Natasha, whom he referred to as “ashawo” to join Salim her husband at the back seat.
Natasha, who was part of the plan pretended to be shaking and whispered, “please, don’t hurt him. And you my dear, give them whatever they want. Please do not shoot us.”
Her first sentence revealed to Salim that Natasha was part of the game when she said, “don’t hurt him.” Natasha was being used as a bait to trap unsuspecting men. Salim was helpless in front of a gun.
He was only reciting, “from God we came and unto Him is our returning. The man then told him to stop the prayer, or else, he would be wasted. He was shivering inward, but the people did not notice.
The man with the gun told the other man he called Roger to start the car. Unfortunately, the car didn’t start. The man tried all possible means, all to no avail. They tried all possible means, it was all the same.
It was then clear to Salim that it was the car they wanted, but they would not hesitate to shoot him if he gave them the opportunity. After the third attempt to start the car failed, Salim was called to start the car.
Salim was surprised that the gear was still engaged when he sat behind the steering wheel. That was why the vehicle did not start since it was an automatic transmission vehicle. But, Salim was thinking of possible way out without being killed.
The man with the gun was threatening to kill him if he didn’t start the car. He then returned the car to Park and turned on the ignition, the car then started.
Salim was ordered to come go back to the back seat and the other man to drive. The man went back and tried to engage gear, the gear lever remained stiff. He tried severally, the car did not move. Salim was then called to drive the car to the office.
The only thought that occupied Salim’s mind was “escape or death.” He was driving slowly until he got to another turn they said led to their office. He was asked to take a turn but ignored them. The man with the gun threatened again to waste him if he refused to turn.
At that juncture, Salma decided to waste everybody in the car. He pressed the accelerator pedal and the car gathered momentum and raced ahead. He stopped again at the next intersection about three hundred metres later.
Salim didn’t stop at the intersection to obey any traffic regulation. Before then, he did not know whether he was the one on the narrow road linking to the major road or on the major road linking to the narrow road.
He swerved to the right because the only vehicle coming was from left. The right front wheel of the car got stuck in the mud, he accelerated with it and it was unstucked.
Salma then discovered to his surprise that the man with the gun, Roger and Natasha had disappeared. Nobody was at the back seat. He was then driving gently, though still in fear till he reached home. He thought that they would have jumped out of the car into the darkness and there was no doubt, they would sustain injury.
Salma thought of making a report at the police station the following day, but he jettisoned it, since he was hale and healthy. He should not put police problems on his neck again. The people should go, and one day, they would be caught in their dastardly acts.
Lawal then looked at Salim and commented that he was a wonderful person for still having the effrontery to engage another Facebook friend again, despite the earlier experience. Salim then promised that it would not happen again.
…….
As promised by Salim, such Facebook engagement did not happen again; he got engaged to Salma shortly after the incident narrated to Lawal.
Teemah then turned her chair and faced Omar and said, “so, Mr. Smartphone, you have heard what you are getting yourself into. Even older people who had more sense than you escaped the evil of social media by the skin of their teeth. What guarantee do you have that you would be good?”
Omar feels offended. Their mother tells him that she is not him having phone, that he deserves it, but advises him to be careful about the negative effects of the social media and Omar agreed. Omar then tells the mother to tell Omar not to rush to tell their father about his admission.
Their mother then gave a suggestion that they will all tell their father at the same time. She says they will all wait for him to come back and then jump at him and tell him together loudly that Omar has gotten admission. That will make him to be happy and whatever he asks would be given to him.
The girls commend their mother for that gesture and say that their mother really understands her husband. They all agree to wait for their father under the tree.