We have two apologies or are they excuses for gatemen. They don't know their jobs and when you decide to spell their duties out to them, they always have a reason to do contrary to what you tell them.
One is perpetually drunk, i am not exaggerating; morning, afternoon, night but he never agrees that he's drunk. If he's not sleeping, he'l lying down in the gatehouse with a woman (yes, hubby has had to wake him up to come open the gate beside a woman before!) . The other is a regular at the village close to us. I suppose he sees like minded people there but then he is employed to watch our gate, not to fraternise with villagers. Their sins are too many, i don't want to bore you with all the details. One thing is sure though, they are sorry excuses for gatemen or security.
A few days ago, our living room lock decided to act up and they key wouldn't turn. It was a Sunday and it was Sallah so we couldn't get anyone to come fix it. It wasn't so much of an issue, we live in a very secure area. I can confess that there are times i'm home alone that i've forgotten to lock the door. There's a main bullet proof door that serves as the entrance to the four apartments in our building, we all neglect to lock it atimes. I told hubby to make sure it was locked that night and we went to bed.
As our custom is (we're both night owls), we went to bed very late and then at about 2 a.m, there was a knock on our bedroom window. Yes, the gateman was knocking the window of our bedroom to answer your question! We happen to live downstairs. HUbby went to ask him what was up, it was the perpetually drunk one, let's call him N, he said his colleague S was ill and lying on the floor sick. Hubby wanted to know exactly what was wrong with him, the guy couldn't tell so he went to the fridge and brought out mist mag and panadol. The guy should choose his poison. He was on his way back from the kitchen when N started shouting 'oga', 'oga' (pronounced the northern way...lol)..there are people with him and i can't go there'. That was a bit scary, then he started shouting round the house, calling for hubby to come out. We heard him arguing with someone so hubby decided to stay put.
In the confusion,hubby told me to get in the guest bathroom and i locked myself in. I had started shaking and trying to remind myself of scriptures i know about protection and safety...lol...I looked up and the window of the bathroom was slightly open, some wiring was passed through there, i couldn't stay on my own, no way!I went out and hubby had locked the bedroom door, i started knocking, he asked to make sure i was alone..lol..scary cat! Thankfully a friend who is out of the country left his car with us and we could set the panic button without going out....(we have to get in our own car to set the alarm) so hubby let the alarm go off continously while he called our neighbours on the phone, they were also awake.
I have some numbers for the police on my phone, a friend who had a theft episode in her house last year gave the numbers to me. She had told me she called the police and they came, i thought it wasn't possible and only took the numbers with a pinch of salt. Hubby took the numbers and called the police, they asked for directions to our place. I also had the police commissioner's number, i called him but my voice was shaking, hubby took the phone and spoke to him so coherently. Honestly, i don't know how he does it but he was so in control! I'm proud of my man.I lay on the bed while he continued setting off the alarms, checking the window and calling the police.
Not too long after the calls, we heard a siren, they called to make sure they were on the right street, and when they heard the car alarm, they stopped in front of our house. It was like watching a movie! From our bedroom window, i saw armed policemen come in and search the premises for any intruders. Oh by the way, they fired two shots outside the gate before they came in.They searched the whole place and then called hubby it was ok to come out. Hubby and the neighbour upstairs went out to meet them. They came in three cars and there were ten of them, wow!The commissioner called back to find out if we had seen his men, we told him yes. The lady upstairs and i chatted about the incident on the phone while our husbands were out talking to the policemen.
Whoever the intruders were had left probably when the car alarm started going off. The mazing thing is a female police officer had to pour water on the second gateman to wake up after they forced the gate open. They advised us to get better security, he was obviously drunk!It didn't end there, a few minutes later, another batch of policemen came to make sure everything was fine. Honestly, i was wowed, i didn't think things like that happen in this beloved country of ours. I guess you nevere know until you try.
One thing is sure, our gatemen are going to be fired and replaced and we're going to get some kinda civil defence or mobile police patrol (yeah, i live with influential people who can get them without hassles..hahaha)...So i think the Nigerian police is really my friend afterall. If there was any grudge i had against them, i forgave that night.
When everything calmed down, hubby then started feeling tired, he had been a real man through it all and i had been a 'shaky shaky' real woman, although i tried to appear calm on the surface. The idiotic gateman had apparently opened all our living room windows from outside while he was shouting 'oga, oga' and nobody came out. That was such a foolish act on his part and honestly i think he would have attempted to come in if we hadn't locked the bullet proof door.Thank God for safety, thank God because His promises to watch over us day and night (He neither sleeps nor slumbers) were kept and thank God for the Nigerian police!
Have a nice and safe weekend everyone!
