A stroke of luck (or fate?) saved my life in a car robbery attack

“Shortly after my promotion, I got my brand new status car and it was pretty exciting. It was not my first nice car but it was my first status car, tied to my work performance so it gave me a nice feeling anytime I got behind the wheels.

One evening, I was on my way home back to Surulere through the Lawanson area. At the junction to Ogunlana drive, the traffic light stopped just as the car before me got to it. My fingers drummed to music as I waited for the lights to change. I never realized those lights would change things for me.

When the lights turned green, the car in front of mine didn’t move. Instead, two guys jumped out from its back seat; they had AK47 guns and before I could process what was happening, they fired into the air. People screamed and the scramble started as everyone around dove off in different directions. Before I could react, the guys were beside me, screaming as they banged on my window. I jumped out with my hands raised in the air as I begged them to take my car and spare my life. Their response was a big butt of the gun to my temple and blood began to gush out all over my face. I felt faint and in those moments, I thought – ‘this is it’. It’s finally over.

They pushed me into the back seat of the car while they sat in front with their guns. The one in the driver’s seat put the car to ‘D’ to drive off but my car would not budge. He turned to me and asked if I had any security and I shook my head. He tried again but the car would not move. He turned back to me and warned in a menacing tone that I’d better not lie about my car’s security but I swore that it didn’t have any. And it was the truth; I’d not installed any security in the car yet and don’t ask me why because I don’t know why I delayed doing so. They tried several times but the car would not budge and after some time, they got down. They took my wallet and without any fuss, I gave them the PIN for all my cards. As they made to leave, one turned to me and said it was my lucky day, before they jumped into their waiting car and took off.

It felt like hours but this happened in minutes and while it was going on, the area which was previously crowded with both foot and vehicular traffic had turned to a ghost town. Immediately, they drove off, people started coming out from all corners; they came to me to commiserate but I was in so much shock, I didn’t respond at once. Once I recovered, I jumped in my car only to remember the damned brand new car would not move. Deciding to try it again, I put it in gear and … it moved. Quickly, I left the area. 

Till today, I’m not sure why my car wouldn't start when the robber tried – was it luck or fate? Whatever it was, it saved me that day because who knows what might have happened if they'd taken me off with them which was what they wanted to do. By the way, I’ve hardly driven the car since that time; it’s been a few months since I got it and it’s got less than 1500 miles on it.”