One minute we were all browsing quietly in the cafe. The next minute all hell had broken loose as a hefty chap put off the generator, then came in and slapped the smallish young man who owns the cafe!

My mouth fell open as both men staggered out of the cafe as they wrestled, close to where I was seated outside, using the WiFi connection.

The big guy was cursing aloud all the while making threats of all kinds.Other customers in the cafe hurriedly rushed out, fearful for their own safety.

Knowing he could not match the brute strength of his bigger opponent, the young cafe operator wisely took advantage of his assailant’s clumsiness to extricate himself and run to the road.

But his attacker followed him, making even more threats, while daring him to wait. At a point we lost sight of them, one chasing the other with a heavy piece of wood picked from the ground…a truly bizarre spectacle!

Someone put the generator back on as some people began leaving for home. It was 8.45p.m. The cafe normally closed at 9p.m. A few of us stayed back to guard the cafe against potential looting in the owner’s absence.

At about 9p.m, he returned looking harassed but unharmed. With him were a few friends whose home he’d run to, and who had rallied round to confront the thug.

Only then had the crazy guy retreated, but not without promising to return with his own “boys”.

As he packed up to close, I asked the cafe owner what had caused the fight.

He replied that it was because he’d refused to give the hefty 10 minutes of free browsing time to use!

We were all stunned beyond words. All that drama had been because of a delclined request for a favour?

Unbelievable!

On my way home, I reflected on the incident and an idea I’d been toying with for a few months came to my mind again.

It was the need to become proficient enough in self defence as a means of protecting onesself in situations like this which occur often in Nigeria’s violence prone environs.

You see, I have experienced getting attacked and I know being able to fight back can buy you time for help to come. And it could even save your life!

Rarely do assault cases get investigated to the point of being resolved in Nigeria. That’s why most people don’t bother reporting.

My argument however is that one can at least learn to protect onesself against bodily harm. And the way to do that is usimg some form of martial arts in self defense.

Many times people who recklessly attack others like that crazy guy did today, do so because they know most people do not know how tight back. If they were in a country like China, where martial arts learning is compulsory from an early ageq, they would think twice before challenging someone not familiar to them to a fight!

Today’s incident has made me resolve to act on my idea of taking self defence lessons. My kids will also be enrolled as well. That ability could just save their lives some day.

I suggest you give some serious thought to doing the same thing too.

PS: Tonight’s incident kept me from uploading the demonstration video for my now completed MS ExcelVB driven Election Results Compiler and Results/Charts Generator app. I am so excited about it: When it goes LIVE tomorrow, yov will find out why!