‎We were on a bus travelling from Lagos to Benin when soldiers stopped us at a checkpoint. They pointed at a young man at the back and ordered him to come down. He had dreadlocks, a backpack and a new iPhone, so they immediately suspected he was a “Yahoo boy.” He explained that he was a 23-year-old software developer travelling to Benin to resume a new job and even showed them his work ID, but the officers said it could be fake.

‎They asked him to open his laptop and started questioning him about his codes, asking which ones were used for fraud. The entire bus went quiet until an elderly woman spoke up. She told the officers that the young man had helped her carry her luggage during the journey and had been minding his business the entire time. A man who said he was a lawyer also stepped forward and demanded to speak with the senior officer.

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‎Then a pregnant woman joined in, saying she wouldn't sit quietly while they took the young man away. Within minutes, almost everyone on the bus was standing in the aisle. The driver even switched off the engine and told the officer he wasn't moving the bus without all his passengers. The officer looked around, checked his watch, and finally said, “Let him go.”

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‎The young man climbed back onto the bus with shaking hands. The old woman patted the seat beside her and offered him some agbalumo. He barely spoke for the rest of the journey. When they finally arrived in Benin, he thanked everyone one by one. None of those passengers knew him before that journey, but for a few minutes, strangers stood together and made sure one young man's night ended in his own bed instead of a cell.

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If you were on that bus, would you have stood up to defend a stranger you believed was innocent, or would you stay quiet to avoid getting involved?