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[True Life Story] T'ardi Vibes And The "Blow Man" Saga

By Kojo Osei-Ghansah
Opinion True Life Story T'ardi Vibes And The Blow Man Saga
JUN 5, 2018 LISTEN

Let me tell you a story about a young boy I knew a long time ago. This was some 15 or so years ago.

True Story
It was a regular Saturday morning and he started his day like any ordinary 18 year old would. Some exercise, some food, and some music.

later in the day, he was going to help his uncle and cousins with a program they were having for kids at a place called “Zenith” in Takoradi.

He being the latest macho man in town, was designated to stand at the gate to collect the cash, and of course, keep the silly’s out of the building.

The program took off nicely, and everything was fine. A few little boys came to the gate to try and smooth talk him into cutting them some slack and allowing them to peek into the “jams” they were having. But he wasn’t having any of that. One particular little boy was a bit more vocal than the rest, but he paid him no mind. He was just a kid. At least that is what he thought.

The show started around 12 pm, and all was well until about 5 ish there about. And what happened then is straight out of a kumawood movie scene.

He was at the gate, minding his own business when he decided to raise his head and see what was going on around him. Just as he did, he saw a mob of angry looking ghetto boys coming to the gate. Well this cant be good, he thought to himself, so he stood up and was quick enough to read that they were coming in his general direction, so he threw the pouch with the cash to his cousin who was inside and turned to face them

Now mind you, this young man was no stranger to “wee boys”, he grew up a window away from the famous “amanful ghetto”, so he thought he was just going to talk to these boys, get them to calm down, they probably wanted to get some last minute action before the show died

—hmmmmm- for where…
The first thing he saw when he turned was a rusty cutlass coming straight to his jaw. Yes. the movie had just started for him, and he was the “blow man”.

Lucky for him, he had taken his little martial art training serious enough to duck and give the guy a good punch that sent the cutlass flying somewhere, but the rest of the mob had caught up with him and were all over him.

They grabbed a hold of him, some pretending to hold him but were actually looking through his pockets, and some were throwing in slaps and punches. And one actually managed to land a solid head butt before people were able to finally ask, “what is the problem?”

You remember that vocal little kid I mentioned earlier? well apparently, he was their little brother, and he had come to tell them that when he came to the gate trying to get in, the bouncer made someone take off his gold watch and they had come to collect it

— hand on bible, this is no bull – they actually said that and they meant it too. All of a sudden, this young man who was there to help his family, had become a “petty thief”

Now there was a problem. An angry mob of about 15 young men, high of some terribly poor grade weed calling you a thief and intent on lynching you, against the young man and his cousin and uncle. They had already surveyed the scene and had a few guys heckling his cousin and uncle so there was no way they could come to his aid. As for the bystanders, well, there was no facebook and not that many smart phones then, so they did as their name suggested, they stood by.

Unfortunately for the mob, this young man was no push over like that, he gave them a good struggle and they soon realized that they were not going to win by just standing there and heckling him. Too many witnesses and too much light. So it was decided that the matter should be sent to the police station. What they actually had in mind was to take him somewhere and do whatever do to people that they heckle like that.

So they set out, 15 or so strong, dragging the one guy, under the guise of taking him to the police station. The bystanders became “by walkers”, following the mob and saying whatever they say.

By some miracle, this young man was able to take the heckles and slaps and drag himself to the market circle police station. If you know Takoradi, you will know that from Zenith to Market Circle Police Station can be very far when you have people calling you a thief, beating you and trying to drag you into some dark alley.

Anyway, they got to the police station and guess what happened. The police immediately knew what this whole mob thing was going end up in, and there were not particularly keen on messing a perfectly normal Saturday shift with this nonsense, so after listening to the story from both sides, they decided that this was a matter for the Central Police Station and not the “small” guardroom at market circle.

Time check, it was around 7 pm, and they turned the young man over to the mob, and asked them to find their way to the Central police station. Just like that. No escort, nothing.

By that time, his uncle and cousin had managed to trace them to the market circle and just as they got there, they were told we had been redirected.

Thankfully, most of the mob had decided this was bad business because they never really intended for this to reach the police, so they had started falling off, but a few stayed and they piled into a taxi with their “watch thief” to the central police station.

By the time they got there, a police friend of his uncle was there and he made light work of the few that were still intent on carrying out the “con” to its desired end. He had them thrown behind bars and the young man wrote his statement.

Almost 2 hours after he was first attacked by the mob, he was finally free again.

I’m sure most of you have discovered who this young man is. His name is Kojo Osei-Ghansah and every single thing I just wrote and then some, actually did happen to him.

I actually was minutes away from being lynched for a gold watch that never existed.

These last few days, my wife has been asking me why I am so quite.

Well its because this lynching of the soldier took me back to the first time I had a real glimpse into the soul of the animal called man. –

Don’t let the smiles fool you
The day you stare into the eyes of a person who is intent on killing you for no reason. The day you feel 15 pairs of hands all over your person, each with an evil agenda

The day you are accused of doing something you didn’t do, and you stare possible death in the face

That day, you will learn to look at people with different lenses

I pray he finds peace wherever he is – No one deserves to die like this.

Writer Kojo Osei-Ghansah
Writer's Email- [email protected]

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