Having A Police Escort For A Day In Lagos, Nigeria🇳🇬...
Intro
During my time in Nigeria, my friend set me up with one of the most incredible things I have ever experienced in life: a police escort. Once landing from Washington onboard United Polaris, I made my way out of the airport to discover a police convoy waiting to take care of me during my one-night stay in Lagos.
Meeting The Police Escort
Once out of the airport, I met with my police escort, who would take care of me. Not knowing if I would get another opportunity, I asked if we could grab a couple of pictures since welcome to Africa!
All of them were very friendly and more than happy to take pictures with me. I've always been comfortable around guns, not in the US, but in other countries, and this was no different.
Drive To Lagos
When I landed, I thought I would be in a taxi heading off to my Airbnb; little did I know that I would be in a police convoy heading to the city.
When I say you duck and dodge traffic with a police escort, you really do. Realistically, cars get out of their way whenever they can to create space. It was one of the most surreal experiences I have ever witnessed in my life.
Eventually, we found a friend😅.
After 45 minutes, we arrived at the compound in downtown Lagos.
Transferring Vehicles
Once I arrived at the compound and dropped off my VOA payment, it was time to switch cars to something unreal...
Nah, I'm just joking. We didn't have a Lamborghini, but we did switch to a Mercedes-Maybach customized van...
So here is how the configuration went. In my van, we had the chief driver, who was not carrying a weapon, and a lovely police officer sitting in the passenger front seat with an AK47 extended mag clip.
However, in the police vehicle in front, there was the commander of the unit carrying a pistol, an officer in the front passenger carrying an AK47, and a man in the back as an observer.
Yes, the police car drives ahead and blocks the road if the Mayback-Mercedes Van needs to make a turn 😅. As someone who has never had this before, I was laughing to bits.
Can I just say that the Maybach Van might be one of the most comfortable chauffeur cars in the world? If I ever make enough money to buy one and pay a chauffeur, this is the van that I would choose.
Final Thoughts
Having a police escort in Lagos, Nigeria, is an experience I will never forget. Ducking and dodging traffic everywhere we went, sitting in the back of a Mercedes Maybach Van, and having armed guards everywhere I went was certainly quite something. It's sort of weird to have police follow you around everywhere you go. As you'll find out in future posts about Lagos, the officers are there but without you realizing it. Although, please don't ask me how much this service is worth as I have no idea😅; I would guess it is a lot of money. Heck, just wait until Mogadishu, Somalia👀.
This is a post dedicated to my mate for setting this up, so thank you! I really appreciate you arranging this service for me as it is something I will never forget.
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