Change begins with honest taxi driver who returned lost N170,000 on Sallah’s eve
Despite the harsh economic reality in Nigeria today, there are people who won’t let “recession” change their good character.
On Sunday, September 18, Balogun Segun forgot his bag in a taxi in Ibadan.
“I didn’t even realise the dilemma until an hour later – enough time for the taxi driver to disappear into thin air,” Segun wrote on Facebook.
“By the time I realized my folly, I knew what it meant when people say their world crashed! Inside the bag was my laptop. I didn’t have up to eight months backup and this thought alone sounded the alarm for end of the world. It contained also all my IDs, ATM, bank token, and other valuables.
“I thought that even if the taxi driver wanted to return the bag, the amount inside it (N170,000) was enough to discourage him knowing it’s the eve of Sallah and the economic hardship is biting hard. I didn’t need a soothsayer to know the money would mean a lot for the cab man.
“It was a hopeless case but I hoped against hope, that just maybe…
“As I stepped out contemplating the next logical step, I got a call from my younger brother who told me he got a call from Mokola Police Station about my bag.
“Suddenly. I knew what it meant to resurrect. Light flushed away what seemed to be looming darkness.
“I got to the station to meet Mr. Adesina waiting for me. Immediately he noticed my bag, he stopped his work and started looking for me. After an hour of fruitless search, he decided to turn the bag in to the police.
“The police officers however placed more emphasis on my ‘goodluck’ than Mr Adesina’s good heart. They called me the original Goodluck. But I knew the attention should not be on me but on Mr. Adesina whose good heart redeemed me.
We then sought out Mr Dare Adesina to ask about his life and why he did what he did. Mr Adesina is married man with children. Here are excerpts from his account of that day in an interview with him
“On leaving my house that day, there was nothing for my family to eat,” Adesina told NewsroomNG.
“I was so broke I had to fuel my car on credit. But I knew if I spent the money it would finish eventually and I wouldn’t want to feast on another man’s hard work. So I returned the money.
“I also believe in the effort the government’s campaign urging Nigerians to bring out the good in us. I believe change begins with me. That is why I returned the money.”
