When I found out that I was posted to Taraba State, I became quite unhappy. I desired to serve in the Eastern or Southwestern part of the country. Even till the day I eventually undertook the journey, I was still feeling like having another option. Well, I had to go.
On the morning I took the trip, I had a sour experience. I moved before 6 am to the Bus stop closest to where I stayed over the night. I needed to take two trips before I would get to the main bus park. After some time when I arrived at the Bus stop, I decided to enter a bus. The moment I entered, I noticed that an advert on the windscreen at the back of the vehicle was making it non-transparent. This made me begin to have a strange feeling.
A few minutes into the journey, some men on the bus (the robbers) informed us that we had been captured. They began to ransack people’s pockets and bags. I found myself in the middle of the two of them. They held me firmly. One of them robbed me of all the cash on me. At some point, my phone was removed from my pocket but it was returned before the end of the journey.
While they were robbing us, I was praying out loud and making an effort to be free from their grip. They were very uncomfortable with that and I was assaulted. They didn't want their mission to be busted.
Surprisingly, one of the men told me that I should not bother struggling with them. He said quietly in my ears that all they needed was my money. After some time, they stopped us at a point and asked us to alight and they drove on.
I found a way to get to my bus park at Iddo and thanks to a friend, I was still able to make my journey to the camp the same day. This is nothing else but divine intervention. This experience jolted me to reality and made me understand that the enemy was interested in my going to Taraba. It made me know that God had a plan for allowing me to be deployed to Taraba.
Right through the journey, I started praying in my heart that the Lord would make the year a fruitful one. I believed strongly that God had something waiting for me. I remember sending a text message about the incident to two of my mentors and their responses warmed my heart. One of the replies was a reaffirmation that God had a purpose for my life in the kingdom.
Before undertaking a journey to a strange land, it is necessary to understand the reason God is sending you to the land. This will help you to develop interest and vision. From the onset, I lacked interest and vision for my journey.
However, this experience became instrumental in helping me see that if the enemy is interested in something, it means that God has a purpose for that thing. It made me begin to seriously think and seek God for what to engage my life with in Taraba as a NYSC Corps member.
On entering the town, we saw many deserted and burnt buildings. Serious ethnic and religious clashes have happened which has led to loss of lives, livelihood and properties.
The drivers had to move very fast while driving when we got to a particular location on the journey to avoid being waylaid by corrupt minds which could be bandits, herdsmen or terrorists.
I am grateful to God for the journey mercies I and fellow prospective corps members had. We got to camp in Jalingo and we were checked into our respective hostels after the officials examined our luggage and documents.
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