My jolly ride in Lagos train –Mercy Johnson

Actress and mother of two, Mercy Johnson, has opened up on why she embarked on a train ride in Lagos recently. Accord­ing to the actress whose picture and that of her daughter, Purity, were spotted in an air-conditioned train has since gone viral, it was in her bid to beat traffic on the ever busy Lagos roads that culmi­nated in the decision.
“My picture and that of my daughter, Purity, in a Lagos train have surfaced online and quite a number of people have asked me what I was doing in a train and in Lagos for that matter, not Paris or London.
“I was around Iddo at Ebute Metta when my Range Rover developed a mechanical fault and I had to make a very important appointment in Ikeja, re­gardless of the usual traffic congestion in Lagos. Luckily, a member of my manage­ment team was around and he suggested a train ride and we were in Ikeja in less than 30 minutes but that is not the crux of this matter.
“Like I mentioned earlier, I have had to answer questions in private and public as to why I would board a train because trains in Nigeria are considered a means of transportation for the masses and not for the so rich. A friend called and said I just devalued my brand by being on that train with ordinary people. I couldn’t help but laugh. Are we extra-ordinary people because we are celebrities?
“In as much as I understand the concept of branding, packaging and exclusiveness, I will never trade the expe­rience to sit, interact and feel the pulse of so-called ordinary people,” Johnson concluded.