A commercial motorcyclist popularly known as “Okada” on Saturday escaped death by the whiskers in Lagos after he was beaten to state of coma by irate youths for attacking his lady-passenger over a dirty 100 naira note.
A correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) who witnessed the incident reports that the cyclist, identified as Okon Akpan, had conveyed his passenger, Miss Titilope Fatai, from Okokomaiko to Iyanoba market for a fee of N200.
Trouble started when Fatai gave the cyclist N500 but when Akpan gave his passenger her N300 balance, made up of N200 and N100 Notes, the lady rejected the N100 Note and requested for a replacement on the grounds that it was “too dirty”.
A heated argument ensued as the cyclist insisted he did not have a neater Note to replace the ‘smelling’ one as demanded by his passenger.
As Akpan tried to leave without reaching an accord, the lady slapped him and he in return, started beating her.
Unkown to the cyclist, the lady was popular among the street unchains around, who in turn, reacted by also giving Akpan a thorough beating to a state of unconsciousness, and thereafter dispersed.
His fellow commercial motorcyclists had to come to his rescue, after which they took him to an undisclosed hospital.
A Traffic Policeman at the scene, Mr Uzochukwu Amadi, described as ‘dreadful’ the behavior of the youths.
Reacting to the incident, a lecturer with the Lagos State University, Dr Kaka Afolabi, appealed to the Central Bank of Nigeria to inject new Naira Notes into the system, adding that the current ones in circulation were ‘eye sores’.
“We expect the authorities concerned to act quickly before more Nigerians fall victims of dirty Naira Notes.
“Our present N100 is the worse; it is no longer durable and its acceptability has become subject of debates during transactions, thereby leading to quarrels in most cases,’’ he noted.
Emeh Achanga,the CEO of the Miss Petite Nigeria Brand is a lawyer turned blogger. She is very passionate about writing, with several publications and awards to her credit .She is currently working on publishing a collection of short stories which are basically a memoir about her exciting true experiences.
