A Nigerian woman has shared a harrowing encounter with a soldier during a traffic jam, highlighting what she describes as the real “demarketing” of the country: the daily experiences of citizens at the hands of their fellow Nigerians, not online criticism.
In a video shared widely online, she recounted how, while stuck in traffic on her way to the market for renovation supplies, a soldier repeatedly banged on the van she was traveling in—even though there was no room to move forward.
“There were cars in front of us and beside us. All of a sudden, I heard a bang,” she explained, noting that she remained quiet because uniformed men are often “power drunk.”
The tension escalated when the driver questioned the soldier’s demands to move through gridlocked traffic. According to her, the soldier insulted the driver, double-crossed their vehicle when traffic began moving, and attempted to physically assault him.
“He came down and was punching, trying to punch the driver,” she said. The soldier reportedly threatened to smash her phone when he noticed she was recording, but quickly drove off.
Reflecting on the encounter, she said:
“Somebody because you are in a military uniform, automatically you think we should be afraid of you.”
She tied this incident to a broader pattern of abuse, recalling a December experience involving her teenage children in an Uber, where police allegedly broke the vehicle’s side mirror and brandished guns.
“When I hear politicians say content creators are demarketing Nigeria, I laugh. The everyday experience that Nigerians face in the hands of Nigerians is what is demarketing Nigeria.”
The woman argued that meaningful change requires confronting systemic decay and unchecked abuse of power, rather than blaming those who document the country’s realities online.
Published by Ejoh Caleb
