Oga i forgive you!

On my recent trip to naija, there was a lot of drama right from when i arrived and sure enuf, on my way back home i faced some wahala!
Lagos-Ibadan expressway was so chaotic, i thought i was watching a movie... My brothers-in law were late picking me up from the airport because they were stuck in traffic around prayer city... luckily my sister was there to meet us, thank God she did because she was not planning to do so! After spending about 1.5hrs in the humid and conjested baggage claim area of mma, i got my bags and was about to leave.... The immigration or something ppl at the final door had to check and see if the bag i had was really mine by looking at some sticker right, well, i had two 'cases and only one sticker... seeing that i was alread pissed off at the crappy welcome, i was not in the mood to argue with him, so i told him " look, i dont have it but you can look at my name on the one i have and verify it with my passport. they are one and the same" problem solved right nooooo!! He was like no protocol this, that, i need the sticker, blah blah blah ,my friend who i was with could tell i was going to blow a fuse, she kept pulling at my hand and giving me the "u better not do it look" lol!
So i took a deep breadth and in my calmest voice i said " i don't have it, what would you like me to do?" The guy asked me to give him a bottle of coke to drink... i was like i don't have change, i am a student... He tried to keep at it but i was not bulging and after about 5 mins he let me go!
Opening the door to go outside was like walking into a suana in winter get up! I was so hot and irritated and people were pushing, why they were i don't know. I look up and i can't recognize anyone, then i hear my name "sisinaija" i turn and there was my older sister, she looked an angel who had come to save me... we walked to my friend's car and i immediately changed into a tee shirt, cus i had on a sweater, it was freezing in NY!
Finally my ride showed up after about 30 mins, we got in to the car and drove off. The roads were clear, wind was blowing through my hair, i was happy and content.
Yepa, little did i know that it was all about to end.... About 15 mins from the airport we started to slow down and my brother in law groans and turns to me and my friend ( she decided to ride with me to Ib) and said " we are in trouble."
I asked what was up and he said that we were about to beleive them, cus i really did not believe that they had spent 4hrs trying to get to mma. The traffic as we say had no head or tail and ppl were just going crazy... My brother in law decided that the best thing was to go thru the side bushes and make our way, thats what they had to do on their way!
The one thing wrong about that plan was that all the bus drivers, cab drivers and molues were also doing the same thing... wind no longer blowing my hair, hot and humid but we had not seen anything yet! We hit the rugged terrain and i was thinking to myself, your new suv will get dirty bro! Yeah if only dirt was all we had to worry about... the drivers and conductors attacked us, they hit the car and were spitting at the car all because my brother in law would not allow them to keep getting in front of him! My friend and i were shell shocked and all we could do was stare at the action and pray in our minds for God to please protect us! Abi after flying all the way without mishap, na road wahala we for suffer?hehehe!
My brother in law is an attorney,so he was like snap out of it and write down their plate numbers ( he was gonna get them in trouble)- don't know what he did eventually sha...
This traffic was so bad, we ended up on the opposite side of the road meaning the whole expressway was turned into a one way to ibadan, i could not believe it!! Finally mobile police came to the scene and started diverting traffic and within and hour we were able to cross back over and the road started clearing out!
I left the airport around 10am and got to ibadan around 230pm... the cause of the go-slow- as we call it(lol) was an accident that was blocking all lanes and then because of that the opposite direction was also affected! Wow- what a welcome!!!
On our way back we left way early to avoid any wahala and i ended up staying at the airpot for 3hrs before i could even check in for my flight! NO complaining there!
We had bought a lot of food stuffs to bring back with us to the US; a carton of indomie, maggi chicken, kari, egusi,ogbono, pepper, stock fish, and my favorite kilishi ( steak that has been spiced up and preseved-like suya but more delicious).
I mean, i had almost 3000naira worth of kilishi with me, a pregnant friend was craving it... and other ppl wanted it too!
On getting back to the land of the free, home of the brave- the question facing me was to declare or not to declare my food! Truth won, so i declared everything on the form and when it was my turn to be searched... i proudly opened my 'cases.
The immigration officer looked the egusi, and other like produts and did not remove them.... i thot phew... ohno! i heard him say "wuts that".. and i proceeded to tell him what kilishi was and how i loved it.. he was like hmmn, not allowed in to the US.. eeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhnnnnnnn!!!
No way it is preserved and healthy plus i am gonna eat it myself and since this is the land of the free, i am free to eat my poison,right? I talked and sweettalked but he was like no its gotta be trashed... to add to my pain he would not let me touch it, i asked can i eat it here, then? ... he looked at me, pulled the trash can over and shoved it all in there! yeyeyeyeye!! devasted is not the word!
Next he pulled my maggi chicken and kari and my knorr chicken and indomie and said "the US is trying to prevent the bird flu from coming in so anything with chicken in its ingredients gotta go! I was in shock... bb but these things are all sold in stores here for 50times the cost and you tell me i cannot bring them in? His response, take it up at washington!
I could not bring myself to blog about it, because i felt a personal sense of loss and hurt!! :-(
I was talking to a friend yesterday and somehow talked about grudges and our dislike for them and then i realised after talking with my friend with whom i flew, i needed to let go of the hurt and forgive the immigation officer.
So- sharply dresses immigration officer with a middle eastern background at jfk, i sisinaiaj forgive you!