My friends have been asking me to share my story but I wasn’t sure I wanted to because I struggled to forget some details of this day. #Endsars

August 2018.
I was just rounding up my first internship in Lagos. I didn’t know a lot of places apart from work and the house. Anyway, a family friend asked me to go out for drinks because he was traveling the next week and we might not see for a long time again. #EndSarsNow

We had drinks and he was going to drop me at home. Around past 11pm. SARS stopped us at the junction of my brother’s house. They asked us where we were coming from and going to. We explained. #EndSARSImmediately

Before I knew it, I was called a prostitute, my friend was called a yahoo boy, I was dragged out of the car, my phone dropped , and we were both forced into their van. #Endsars

Of course, I was already crying and my friend was begging me to calm down. They told us the only way to get out of the situation is to pay. #Endsars

We said, they should drive us back to the car so that we can initiate a transfer from our phones. They said they wanted cash. Then one of them dropped and followed my friend to the ATM. I begged to follow my friend but I was slapped. #Endsars

So, I was alone in a van, in a place I couldn’t identify with two men. One was drunk and had a gun. They kept driving around ... The drunk one kept touching my breast and rubbing my laps. I started begging him and he slapped me multiple times again. #Endsars

I felt so helpless, I thought I was going to be raped or killed. The drunk guy kept getting angry as I was begging him. Somehow the two guys stated arguing and he left me. Mind you, I couldn’t reach anybody at home to let them know what was going on. #Endsars

The other guy that left with my friend called and said that the money on my friends account is small. So they drove back to the car to get my card because they were not going to release me except they felt that they have had enough. #Endsars

I can’t really remember how much I lost that day because I had withdrawn cash for my sister earlier in the day and I couldn’t find that money after that incidence as well. I had a substantial amount of money in my account because my internship just paid me my stipend. #Endsars

Things got blurry after that. We were released and they dropped me in the middle of the road and told me to start running. The guy told me he was going to shoot me if I looked back. #Endsars

It was a horrible experience for me. I couldn’t really explain how I felt after that. I haven’t felt safe since that incident. It always feels like there is no protection for me.

Even though my brother now has my location 24/7, I try to always have my pepper spray, I still feel unsafe, like I am just a policeman away from death. #Endsars

To think that I was “lucky” and people have been killed by this same set of people. Yet they operate freely and do as they wish. #Endsars #EndSarsNow #EndSARSImmediately