19/06/2025
Let me share this here.
If this incident that happened a few hours ago.
I wasn’t supposed to stop.
But I did.
There was chaos just ahead of the supermarket gate somewhere in Surulere.
A black Toyota Corolla was surrounded by three LASTMA officials.
The driver, mid-40s, shirt soaked in sweat, kept pacing between them.
And something in his voice stopped me.
"Please. Please just look inside the car. He is not even moving anymore. That’s my son. He is sick, he is very sick. We were going to the hospital. I only stepped in to grab his medication. I was gone for just five minutes."
One of the officials shook his head like he’d heard it a thousand times.
"You people always have stories. Why park where you're not supposed to? You want us to lose our job?"
Another officer barked.
"Oga, if you don’t bring ₦70,000 now, this car is going to the yard. And from there? You’ll need close to ₦400,000 to bail it."
The man reached out. Not to touch them. Just to plead.
They stepped back like he carried something contagious.
"I swear I’m not lying. Please. He has severe asthma. I forgot the nebulizer at home. I was rushing to the hospital, Faithview, just ten minutes from here. Look at him! You have a child, right? Please, have sympathy."
That was when I looked.
The boy,maybe ten, was in the backseat, his small frame slumped against the door, eyes half-closed. His chest heaved in rapid spasms, every breath sounding like gravel grinding in a pipe.
His fingers trembled. His lips were turning dark.
So I stepped forward.
"What’s wrong with him?"
The father looked at me, disoriented.
"Asthma. It started an hour ago. He had a mild attack in the morning, but it’s worsening fast. I was going to get him treated and just stopped for a refill. Please, sir… help me talk to them."
I tried to talk to the LASTMA officers but they ignored me so I turned back to the man.
"Try and sort this with them, let me take him to the hospital."
His eyes widened.
"You…?”
"We don't have an
