About five or six years ago in Sokoto, I was nearly lynched for mistaken identity - I was mistaken for a car thief!
I was on my way out of Sokoto town, going home on weekend when my eyes caught some beautiful apples by the roadside. I decided to buy some and eat them along the way.
I parked my car close to the place the apples were sold on a trolley, got out and bought some. I returned to my car, got in, started the car and moved the gear stick to drive. Before the car moved, a guy suddenly came out of nowhere and started pulling the door violently to open it. Luckily, all the doors to the car lock automatically the moment you engage gear. When he couldn't open the door, he started shouting, 'thief!' and trying to throw a punch at me through the half open glass window, but the glass was three quarters up and he was scared he might cut his hand.
All this while I was trying to understand what was happening. My mind was telling me the man had gone crazy and another thought was whether he wanted to snatch the car. I was thinking of moving out through the side door when he abruptly stopped, stared in the front and started to apologize profusely. My eyes followed his gaze and I saw, just a few metres away, another car looking exactly like mine, neatly parked. That was when it dawned on me that he thought I was in his car.
People had started gathering around my car at that time. And he turned to them and began to explain that he had made a mistake. They then converged on me and joined in apologizing to me.
I was too shaken to do anything. I just sat down looking at them, unable to utter a word, until he went away and the people gradually dispersed.
My thoughts were I was just a few minutes away from being lynched! Slowly, I drove out and continued on my way...