DEFEAT OF DOUGLAS - GOALS OF ANGELS CHURCH

I made a journey from Makurdi to Abuja on 10th June, 2024 . At the start of the journey, drivers were demanding for a fare of six thousand naira (N6000) . I gave four thousand naira (N4000) to one and he accepted. I was his first passenger. I boarded his taxi around 6.30a.m. I sat with my bag on my thighs. He accepted this also. When he attempted to move from Wurukum towards North Bank, he luckily got passengers. God granted the luck. I watched him as he acted. He picked one passenger and left two. He did so to reduce the speed of the journey. He reversed his taxi and moved towards Benue Links Park. I had been to that park before I met him. I wondered the inspiration he wanted to give. I kept quiet. It took much time for him to get passengers. He got a total of eight passengers. Eight was a total because I was inclusive. He moved towards North Bank again as a continuation of the journey. He stopped at a filling station in North Bank and bought petrol. After that, he parked aside. He demanded for my bag to be placed in the boot. I refused. I reminded him of our agreement. I mentioned that my bag contained a laptop. He said the three passengers who sat near me complained. He said they threatened to leave his taxi. They, too, joined the conversation. I waved them away. I told them to use psychology. I asked the one who sat next to me, "Have I squeezed your space to mine?" . I showed how I sat. My thighs and legs were closed. My bag was on my thighs. My bag did not touch any passenger. The driver gave me an option of leaving alone for him to gain the three. I reasoned that it would be difficult for me to board another taxi with the same fare. Therefore, I opened my bag and removed the delicate things. I removed the laptop, modem and android phone. I closed it. I allowed it to be placed in the boot. One of the three demonic passengers spoke again. He said it was better for me to put the laptop and others back into the bag. He meant I should keep them in the boot. I commanded him, "Don't possess me" . He kept quiet. I mocked them that they were men of no psychology who wanted to speak in public. The boot was closed. I went to my seat with the laptop and others.

The driver continued with the journey. He was stopped at many checkpoints. His documents were checked. At one checkpoint, a woman made a comment that gave me suspicion. She said to her fellow, "After collecting the bag, we will turn to your ID card" . I thought psychologically and concluded that she did not talk to me. She stood with her fellow at a distance and talked. I thought dogmatically and concluded that she talked to me. I soliloquized, "Whether the spoken words are hostile or jovial, the real meaning is the content of the mind ... Should I adopt your words? I soliloquized because there was no friendly person I could talk to. As soliloquy meant talking to myself, I used it to preach my church doctrine on spiritual communication. I quickly remembered a song. I sang it when the taxi stopped at checkpoints. I sang it when the taxi stopped for repairs. It was from a different christian denomination. I quoted Acts 17:22 - 34 where Paul used what the Jews knew to tell them what they did not know. Paul stood in a temple dedicated to an unknown god and preached about Jesus Christ. My emphasis in this quotation was and is that Paul used what the Jews knew to tell them what they did not know. I used the song to tell the driver, passengers and security operatives what they did not know. The song was: "Alu chan i atseroo kpa kundu shima. Na jighjigh. Shi eren msen. Mayange Ter una kende u ga" . The song was in Tiv language. It could be translated to English as: "If suffering surrounds you, be patient. Be faithful. Be prayerful as well. The Lord will never desert you".

The driver stopped near Akwanga and transferred passengers. He, himself, boarded to Akwanga. When we arrived there, one of the three demonic passengers insisted and placed his bag on mine in the boot. Such actions were provocations for me to discontinue with the trip. They wanted me to pay extra fares to other taxis and be conveyed. As I continued with the previous fare, they laughed that they wasted my time. The demonic passenger spoke to the previous driver. He introduced himself as Douglas. He boasted, "I am always on the road". Their behaviours gave me the impression that they knew me somewhere. They knew I desired early arrival in Abuja to earn money by roadside begging. So they laughed as they delayed me. It was around 2.00p.m. as we were at Akwanga. I turned and said to them, "I have a topic for dissertation". I wrote the name of Douglas on a piece of paper. The recent driver came in and moved the taxi. We arrived Abuja around 4.00p.m. I rushed to Ochefaco Hotel, Mararaba. I knew the Manager for months. I appealed for a free accommodation. I paid for the Monday, 10th June, 2024 which I arrived. I said I would pay for Tuesday and Wednesday. I appealed for Thursday to be made a free day for me to recover Monday. I told him how I was delayed from 6.30a.m. to 4.00p.m. He granted me Thursday. I promised that I would not ask for another free day until I complete one month in his hotel.

Did I not defeat Douglas? I defeated Douglas and his companions. Firstly, they did not want me to arrive Abuja by paying a fare of four thousand naira (N4000) . I added nothing but I arrived. Secondly, they wanted me to lose my hours of roadside begging and cry of accommodation as well as hunger. I did not cry. I got a free day at Ochefaco Hotel, Mararaba. That solved my accommodation problem. I went in and bathed. I went out around 7.00p.m. and did my roadside begging. I stopped around 9.20p.m. During the period, I drank two bottles of coke and paid five hundred naira (N500) . A man bought a loaf of bread and a plastic pepsi for me. He spent one thousand, four hundred naira (N1,400) . Another man bought a plate of akpu for me. Still, a man bought a plastic fanta and biscuits for me. I got four hundred naira (N400) from other people. I considered the N400 as 80% recovery of what I spent on two bottles of coke. I took the plastic pepsi and fanta with the loaf of bread to my hotel room. They became my indoor meal for that night. A funny thing that happened earlier was that the driver lost a passenger. In Nigerian transport system, his taxi was supposed to take nine passengers but he took eight. He could not get one.