Everyone Needs To Know Self-Defence (My Nigeria Ordeal)

As I always say, ”every man needs to know how to fight, every man should try his best to avoid a fight, and every man needs to know when to fight.’’

Source: Flickr( MartialArtsNomad.com)

There are 2 typical ways every human reacts to a life-threatening situation and that is to fight or flight. To understand this, imagine you’re in a situation where someone is being violent towards you and your “sorry”, or explanation isn’t helping to calm the person. You look around, and there’s no way for you to escape without getting hurt. Would you stay there without doing anything? I’m sure your answer would be no. Your best bet would be to defend yourself from danger, and this may mean fighting for your life or freedom. If you do hurt your enemy, it would be in the name of self-defence. If you do get hurt in the fight, you are still a hero.

My experience

I was the first among my siblings to come back for the 2014 summer vacation (long vacation). I followed my mum to travel to the eastern part of Nigeria (Enugu state) for a building project. From there we travelled to my late Dad’s state of origin in the Western part of Nigeria.

We visited a land that my Dad bought before he died. A shady lawyer, a local government worker, and some other people conspired against my mum, and fraudulently sold my dad’s land. Maybe they thought because she wasn’t from the Yoruba tribe or didn’t live in the state, she wouldn’t come back to fight for the land. However, they forgot she married my Dad, and bore children for him. This means she has the right to fight for something that belongs to her children at least.

They told her the land was revoked and that was how they were able to buy it. She taught this was true at first, but after some investigations she found out the local government has not even done any revocation in the area. She took the matter to the appropriate authorities (the police, local government chairperson, etc). Luckily, they supported her after seeing the truth.

The head of police in the area gave my mum permission to continue working on the land so I went with her to the location on the said day.

The people that the land was fraudulently sold to came to the land to create a scene. In their midst was a man who some people said is a political thug. He chased the workers with a machete, and spade. They all ran away from the land. My mum, her chauffeur, and I remained on the land.

I took my Nokia phone to record his violent actions as a means of evidence. A girl who came with him shouted to him that I was recording his voilent actions. He attacked me and tried to take the phone from me, but I was quick to save the video, and put the phone in my pocket. He pushed me and I landed with my ass on top of the building blocks arranged at my back. When I stood up, he proceeded to strangle me. I knew that running would increase his chances of hurting me and getting away with it. Besides, I couldn’t leave my mum in the land and run away. I knew that staying there without doing something wouldn’t make the situation any better.

I taught about what my mum, a very religious woman, would say if I decided to defend myself against the thug. Nevertheless, I decided to do something before I get hurt. So I held him in a way that prevented him from choking me, while also giving him a taste of his medicine…

His eyes were red; and you could see his energy leaving him even as I held tightly to the collars of his top with one hand. He soon released his hold on my neck before I released him from my hold. He tried to run away when my mum called the police, but her chauffeur and I held him back. He was later arrested and spent a considerable time in the Police cell. In fact, it happened, he already had a pending case with them.

Conclusion

We later got an apology from the people fighting for the land as they came to realise we’re not at fault and they were duped.

I accessed the situation carefully, before I decided to defend myself against the vicious intruder. I took the right decision and even if I had hurt him, I’d have been exonerated in the eyes of the law.

My mum happened to be cool with what I did. According to her, even as a Christian, when faced with threatening situations can apply self-defence.

I was grateful that the little martial arts techniques I had learned over the years had saved me.
Save

Save

Save

Save