A young commercial motorcyclist (okada) in Lagos, South-West Nigeria, this afternoon made the mistake of his life when he naively allowed a total stranger to borrow his bike just because the man spoke the same language with him.

The incident happened around Akinfenwa Street in Alagbole, after the okada man, Hausa by tribe, brought a passenger from nearby Akute in Ogun State.

Residents were left stunned when the man showed up in front of a house, clutching a polythene bag and banging on a gate, saying he wanted to see a man living there who borrowed his bike and gave him money to go and buy Indomie for him.  

“I carried the man from Akute,” the okada man said. “He was conversing with me in Hausa on the way and when I dropped him here, he asked me to lend him my okada for him to hurry somewhere , promising to return quickly. He gave me money to go and buy Indomie and to wait for him here. He told me that he lives in this place,” the young man added.

Residents had a hectic time convincing the man that the said passenger was not living in the area.

“People gathered and were trying to convince the man but he still found it difficult to believe that he had been tricked of his motorcycle,” said a News Express correspondent who witnessed the drama. “The general conclusion was that the man is either a mumu (foolish man) or that the passenger used juju on him. If not, how could someone lend his motorcycle to a stranger just because the person spoke his language?”  

As at the time our correspondent left the scene, the dark-complexioned young man was still loitering around, clutching the polythene bag containing the Indomie. Some residents confirmed that they saw when he dropped a man and then gave him his bike but said they could not intervene since they didn’t have an idea of what was going on.

•Photo: A group of okada riders.