MOB.

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"Somebody, bring petrol quickly, let's burn this thief."

The man with the thin, long neck in a pale, tattered blue shirt that had of course seen better days said.

"But, he's not a thief, you can't burn him. He's my boyfriend."

I wailed trying to break free of my captors and run into the center of the crowd where Ayanfe, my boyfriend was seated on the ground, dusty and tied in the hands and legs with very thick ropes.

I was held back under strict warnings that if proper care was not taken, I would join him.

How did we get here? You would wonder, well, I'm still wondering too. It was February 14, Valentine's Day, and this was not how I envisioned things playing out.

It was supposed to be a day to show love to everyone around, and while I was happy to do that, I wasn't happy about the approach.

To Ayanfe, showing love to people meant going into the deepest parts of town where people find it hard to feed to provide relief, in terms of money, foodstuffs, and other items.

"Why can't we just go to an orphanage? Why do we have to go into the slums to show love?"

I asked him, pouting.

"Because they need it the most."

He replied, smiling at me.
I already knew I couldn't win the argument, it's what he loved doing and I was happy to support him.

That was the beginning of the unfortunate chain of events that followed back to back. The highlight of the valentine's day was supposed to be the look of happiness on people's faces after gifting them what we brought, but no, it wasnt. We took our love deep down into the slums of Lagos, and it was terrible.

The houses were built together and they were very small and dirty, gutters ran in the front of every house and the sight was nasty. I could see spirogyra everywhere and even worse, little children playing around in the gutters.

The first pungent smell that hit us upon entry was the smoky smell of cigarettes and marijuana, it was strong and overwhelming and you could just tell the smokers were in a group with the level of smoke in the air.

I took in the surroundings and it looked frustrating and depressing. I saw young girls who couldn't have been more than 15 proudly rocking baby bumps, seated on the veranda of an old house.

"Do you know those girls?"

I asked the guide out of curiosity and pointed tob the three girls.

"Yes, I do."

"Are they married?"

I asked again.
He laughed loudly before responding to me,

"Who will marry these ones? They are all carrying bastards, but as soon as they give birth, it's business as usual."

He explained to me looking serious.

"What business?"

"Prostitution of course, how will they survive without doing it?"

Just when I thought I had seen it all, now, I have to battle with smoke too?

I asked myself already regretting my trip down here.

I gagged and coughed and I felt the ashy taste of cigarettes I'm my mouth. I hated this place already.

"Do you need some water?"

Ayanfe asked beside me, concern written all over his face.

Water here? No thanks, I don't want to go home with a typhoid souvenir.

I managed to smile and compose myself,

"No need, I'm good now. Thank you."

The team and I, consisting of our guide from the slums, Bolu and a few friends proceeded further, ignoring the smoke. The slums was built like a community, community of angry, poor and dejected people. How it came to be, I didn't know.

We had parked the car containing the foodstuffs and other items outside to coordinate the people and begin sharing.

Somehow, we were able to get everyone in line and were doing a head count when Ayanfe excused himself to go and take a leak after getting directed to an ugly structure far off that was referred to as a toilet.

I wouldn't be caught using it, I'd rather pee on my body than do that.

Our guide left me with our friends to go and check something outside. He was barely gone for five minutes when we heard the shouts of several people chanting, "thief" armed with sticks.

I stretched my neck to see what was going on and I saw the mob running after a guy in a round-neck black top and blue jeans. He disappeared in a flash and I asked one of the people running after him when they passed by us,

"What's going on, please?"

"A man just stole a phone in a house, did you see where he went?"

He asked me panting.

"I'm sorry, I have no idea. Do things like this happen often?"
"Sure, all the time. What do you expect in a place like this?"

He ran off after to join the people in the chase.

I watched him leave, and I shook my head in pity, pity for the poor folks who steal from each other in a place where getting food to eat was difficult.

"Ayanfe should be done by now, we need to distribute the stuffs and check out or here. This atmosphere is toxic."

Mariam, one of the friends that had accompanied us said, stamping her foot impatiently.

"Let me go and check on him."

I responded, looking in the direction of the toilet.

The man I spoke to earlier almost bumped into me while running from the opposite direction.

"Sorry, I didn't see you."

He apologized. We have caught the thief and I'm going to get petrol to burn him into ashes. He ran off again before I could ask him why they intended to burn the thief.

I went off to look for Ayanfe and he wasn't in the toilet. He must have gone to join the crowd I reasoned, walking back to meet our friends. Ayanfe was a very curious fellow, and he liked getting the gist of any incident around him.

"I didn't see him, and I don't think I can stay here to witness the barbaric act of burning a human being. Let's go and check him among the crowd."

I told Mariam as soon as I got back.

"The feeling is mutual, sis."

We went off in search of Ayanfe together and we soon came across the crowd, chattering excitedly. I scanned the crowd for Ayanfe, but he was nowhere to be found. Out of curiosity, I decided to take a look at the thief seated on the ground, surrounded by the mob.

Imagine my surprise when I realized it was Ayanfe. I tried to run to meet him but was held back by two hefty men, reeking of smoke.

"That's my boyfriend, and he's not a thief."

I tried to explain.

"He's a thief, and he will burn for what he did."

One of them responded holding on tightly to my arm.

"What's the evidence that he's a thief? We came here to distribute stuff to you people, and this is how you pay us back?"

"The evidence is his round-neck black top and blue jeans. That's the outfit the thief had on, and even worse, he has disposed the stolen phone and has refused to give it up."
.
It was then that it clicked to me that Ayanfe was dressed exactly like the thief I saw. I was later to learn that Ayanfe was just stepping out of the toilet when the crowd came upon him. No one got a good look at the thief apart from his outfit and funny enough, he and Ayanfe had the same black complexion and similar build.

"Have you all gone mad?"

Our tour guide's rich, masculine voice boomed from behind me.

"What do you mean?"

Someone in the crowd asked offensively.

"This man right here, "

He pointed at Ayanfe,

"Is no thief and the real thief has been caught outside by others and the stolen phone recovered. I just saw some people tying him down."

"The next time I have stupid ideas to visit the slums for charity, remind me that I could be killed."

Ayanfe told me that night in bed, sitting painfully on the bed. He had been beaten before we came upon him and all his pleas about not being a thief fell on deaf ears."

"I'm sure you won't need a reminder. This incident is not one that I could ever forget, much less, you."

We left the slums after he was set free and apologized to. We didn't end up distributing anything, we couldn't have if we wanted, our car had been burgled and the items in it carted away by the time we got to where it was parked.

"I'm sincerely sorry about all this, I wish I could say things like this don't happen, but I would be lying if I said so."

Our tour guide told us at the car, as we all scampered to get into it and zoom off.

I shudder to think of what would have happened had the tour guide not arrived on time. Only God knows how many people have been wrongly accused cause of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. May we never be victims of unfortunate circumstances.

Funny enough, I don't blame the people for their reaction, it's hard to not get angry when one's is poor and frustrated. I just wish they would let the law take it's course.

That wouldn't stop us from doing charity though, we'll just stay away from the slums and send whatever we want to give to them.

I'm not sure it needs saying, but the rest of the week was spent indoors just being thankful for the gift of life.