Today, we add a new page to our pledge to serve humanity. In our mission statement, we promise to give voice to the voiceless. And we start by introducing spicy, awed, and inspiring story under we aptly tag Street Interview, a maiden edition to enrich our reading menu daily for our teeming readers and followers. Please, send yours and your picture to us at no cost for publication in this page. Happy reading!
“During my stint in the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State at the wake of militancy in the Niger Delta, I visited a friend at Abuloma Amadi Ama, Port Harcourt. I did not meet my friend and I had to stay with his brother. We planned to go to Calabar, the capital of Cross River State.
“Later in the night, I told the boy, Ubon, that I was feeling heat; he opened the windows but I was still uncomfortable. Without his knowledge or consent, I left the bed and lied on the floor. He was fast asleep.
“Less than two minutes after I moved to the floor, the bed was riddled with bullets. The house was not the target. It was an exchange of gunfire between the militants and the security operatives. The bullets pierced through the windows we opened earlier and spread all over mostly the head region. The boy suddenly woke up and started shouting my name. He did not know that I had stood up. He thought the bullets might have finished me and started wailing.
“I then crawled out from where I was hiding on hearing the gunshots. He was shocked and still keeps the pellets of bullet in the brother’s house he is occupying now. He showed people who visited that I am a testimony.”
Imoh EtimUdo narrated this story. Working with NTA 12, Uyo as Reporter 1, he admits thathe is a walking miracle.
The Ini-born man in his late 30s who marked his birthday few days ago further reminisced “At 12, God saved me from drowning in a river through professional divers when I sneaked and went on self-sent fishing at the village.
“I sat on a life snake to read for exams for more than two hours at School of Remedial Studies, Nung Ukim, Ikono, but was unhurt.
“In 2002, highway robbers along Ogoni Road shot at me but God directed the bullets to the shoulder of one of them, and I escaped in that confusion.
“In 2005, a quack ‘doctor’ injected me expired drugs that nearly took my life but God saved me.
“In 2015, the car I drove mysteriously somersaulted three times along Uyo-Ikot Ekpene Road but I came out without a scratch on my body.”
Etimudo is a graduate of Department of Communication Arts, University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. As a reporter, there are two instances he says are unforgettable in his life. “In 2015, I covered the general elections in Akwa Ibom. I went to interview the then governor, Victor Attah, but when I reached his house in Okop Ndua Erong in Ibesikpo Asutan, he was not around. I decided to go back to Uyo. At Nung Udo junction, I ran into a gang of thugs who were shooting sporadically. Luckily, I took cover in the car and the bullet did not pierce in to hurt me.
“On December 2, 2017 local government elections, I was assigned to cover the entire state too. Later, I decided to touch Ika local government area and monitor events. Behold, I escaped death by whiskers as unknown gunmen were shooting and chasing people around.”
Married to Nsisong, he declares “No, I do not want to marry a second wife. I am okay with one. He has given me three lovely kids and is a kind-hearted and lovable woman. I love her.”
The journalist notes “The list of my testimonies is endless… What has God not done for me! I am not afraid of anything in this life. I have passed through many live-threatening situations, yet God spared my life. So, I sing not because I get everything but I’m grateful for everything I get. I sing because I’m not treated based on how bad I am to people and God but on how good they are to me.
“Though I don’t know what tomorrow holds but I know who holds tomorrow. I trust God that I will live as long as I want and will not want as long as I live. I’m positive that things will be positive going forward. God has made of my life, a sweet music. He will guide me to strike the right notes and raise it to a loveable crescendo. Yet, I take life as simple as myself,” he concludes.
