Dear Fellow,
The message read like one of those Ponzi baits.
I have this nearly automatic way of analysing messages (precisely public notices and broadcasts) I read on social media, especially WhatsApp groups. I check who signed the message, the grammar, the paragraphing, punctuation, and general organisation. I check all these before assessing the message that is communicated. Quite an effective defence against deception in this information-bloated age, I don’t think I am giving up this habit. But how bad can it get?
I forwarded that Ponzi-bait-like message to another WhatsApp group, where there was someone to confirm the news. He was present at the location the message talked about. I highlighted the message, mentioned his name, and wrote, “Is this true?”
“I have been calling him,” someone else replied about thirty minutes later, “and he is not picking for now.”
By the next hour, the same message I had sought confirmation for was in several other groups I was in. Pictures followed. Then video clips. Pieces of evidence in support of the message grew and continued to spread. Likewise, my heart’s throbbing and silent prayers. Overwhelmed by the weight of the evidence, I slowly gave in to the message.
Sirens blared on the street. The regular vehicles moved to a single lane; the other was for the fast and furious. Ambulances and heavy-duty vehicles joined the uncommon vehicles. People gathered in clusters on the different parts of the street. The temperature was high, and the day was bright, but it felt dark.
By six, the news said seventy-seven people were at hospitals receiving treatment and twenty people dead.
The message I sent to the group didn’t get a reply. The person I mentioned in the group didn’t reply either. Messages were sent to the group to say he was still not reachable. Though his phone rang, he didn’t pick up the calls. Some of them went to the site of the incident but there was no news—he was nowhere to be found. Prayers were sent to the group, screenshots of messages he had sent to some folks in the group about three hours earlier. One of the messages was to say he’d join the fellow in less than an hour for a meeting. We waited.
Someone sent a message to the group. He met with someone five hours after the incident. This person had met with the fellow I was expecting a confirmation from. I was a bit sceptical about the report until I met with him.
I met him after church on Sunday. He had a swollen foot and bruises on his legs. This fellow was in the building that collapsed in my city on Friday, 12th July 2024. He said some students he was teaching that day didn’t come out alive. He has still not replied to the message I sent to the group—he can never reply to that message.
Your LetterMan,
Tongjal, W. N.
PS: The number of victims in that incident exceeds the figures above. The school Saints Academy Jos is now closed. The rest of the school’s buildings were brought to the ground based on the state government’s order.
I pray for the comfort of those bereaved and the healing of those injured.
PSS: I didn’t show up here last week partly due to this incident. I couldn’t brace up to write.