Trouble With Language Barrier

I was on my way to the village from Lagos, as I'm not a Yoruba. My husband was also going with me as we were going to a burial ceremony. Before we left for home, I asked my husband to put his clothes in his bag and wear other clothes, just because of the dust. He did not listen to me and instead wore his clothes right from Lagos. Our journey took 7 hours, and it would be a must to come back that same day.

As we were on our way, there was a police checkpoint ahead, and the driver was the type of person who loved abusing someone. We had told him initially when he called someone ode, mumu (meaning fool). This has been his nature, I guess. As we approached the checkpoint, we later discovered that it was not only policemen who were there, but soldiers were also present.

Those present had a resemblance to Hausa men. This was all our belief, and the driver happened to be Yoruba.

[Kony XYZX)[https://www.pexels.com/photo/army-official-standing-beside-green-off-road-car-3706685/]
As we got to the checkpoint, the soldiers stopped our bus. He asked the driver to bring out his driver's license. The driver turned and said, “Wa wo ode” (meaning, come and see this foolish one). After making that statement, I began to observe the soldier and see if he got the interpretation of this statement. He felt nothing was said, and this driver said again “Eleyi tieoti jeun lati aro, ode le leti ke". This means (this one that has not eaten since morning, this one is foolish).

When the soldier gave us a profound look, I knew something was about to happen. He raised his gun just like someone ready to go to battle. I tapped my husband and told him, “We are doomed today; I guess the soldier man heard what the driver said”. I spoke that in my language to my husband.

The soldier asked the driver to come down. He obeyed without knowing what was going to happen to him. As he was about to turn his face up, a dirty and unexpected slap landed on his face. I felt the gravity of the slap and was shivering inside the car. Who would talk when the soldier was talking? We all kept quiet, and suddenly, one of them came to the car and asked my husband to come out. He asked, “Can you tell us what the driver said in the car to my colleague?” They already knew what he had said but wanted to punish another victim.

My husband said, “I do not understand what he said, but I knew he said something when he was in the car”. My husband failed to tell the soldier that he was not from the same tribe as the driver. The soldier told my husband to lie down on the wet road as the rain just dropped some minutes back. The rest of us were not ourselves, as this driver had caused us serious trouble.

The soldier called the woman beside me and asked her to interpret what the driver said. This woman could not waste time before pouring out her interpretation of what the driver had said. I stood up and defended my husband. I told the soldier that we were from different tribes and did not understand the driver's language. This was how I got my husband freed.

Before we begged on the driver's behalf, we heard another sound that looked so loud. We turned and saw the driver crying just like a baby. He was baptized with several slaps and was told to do a frog jump. He jumped for ten minutes without stopping.

We were freed and taken off from that point. This serves my husband a lesson. Next time, he would listen to me. The driver was quiet until the end of the journey.