Wahala Room Founder and Engineer Samuel Ogunkoya launches Reskua, a revolutionary offline-first safety app designed to protect Nigerians during police stops, kidnappings, and emergencies.

Wahala Room Founder and Engineer Samuel Ogunkoya launches Reskua, a revolutionary offline-first safety app designed to protect Nigerians during police stops, kidnappings, and emergencies.

[Lagos, Nigeria] — In a tech ecosystem where most founders are focused on fintech or delivery services, Samuel Ogunkoya is tackling a much darker, more urgent problem: Keeping Nigerians alive.

Known to many as the media executive behind Wahala Room, one of Africa’s most influential digital media companies, Ogunkoya has quietly returned to his engineering roots to launch Reskua, a personal safety and "God Mode" surveillance app that is rapidly climbing the Nigerian App Store charts.

But for Ogunkoya, Reskua isn’t just another startup—it’s a response to a personal brush with the terrifying reality of Lagos streets. The "Ajah Incident" That Sparked a Solution

"I was in Ajah on a Sunday afternoon, broad daylight," Ogunkoya recalls. "Two guys approached me—one with visible tattoos, the other looking clean-cut. They demanded my Apple Watch and money. When I hesitated, a weapon was drawn."

For Ogunkoya, who grew up partly in Chicago, the instinct was usually clear: fight or flight. But in that moment, a chilling realization hit him. "I realized that if something happened to me right there, nobody would know. Who do you call? Does 911 work? I was entirely on my own."

That incident highlighted a gap in Nigeria’s infrastructure: the lack of a functional, rapid-response emergency system for everyday citizens. Instead of complaining on social media, Ogunkoya went to work building a digital solution. Engineering for the "Naija Reality"

Unlike foreign safety apps like Life360, which often fail due to Nigeria’s spotty internet and battery-saving Android phones, Reskua was built with an "Offline-First" architecture.

"We didn't just port an American app to Lagos," says Ogunkoya. "We engineered it for the reality of the Nigerian street."

The app features a "God Mode" that allows trusted family members to see a user's location in real-time. Crucially, if data networks fail, Reskua utilizes an encrypted SMS fallback and is developing Bluetooth Mesh capabilities to ensure the SOS signal gets out even in "dead zones."

The app’s signature feature—a discreet SOS Trigger—allows users to activate background recording and location sharing without unlocking their phone, a critical tool for navigating police checkpoints or "One Chance" situations.

From Media Mogul to Defense Architect

The transition from running a media empire to building defense technology might seem abrupt, but Ogunkoya sees it as a natural evolution.

"With Wahala Room, I spent years holding up a mirror to society, reporting on the insecurities and struggles people face," he explains. "But awareness isn't the same as safety. Reskua is my pivot from reporting on the problems to actively engineering the solution."

This engineering mindset is already pushing Reskua beyond simple app features. Ogunkoya serves as the Lead Systems Architect, and sources close to the company indicate they are already testing "The Raven Protocol"—an autonomous drone dispatch system designed to provide aerial surveillance for estates and corporate clients. Building the "Digital Iron Dome"

With over 600 organic downloads in its first 24 hours and a rapidly growing user base, Reskua is proving that the market is hungry for safety tech that actually works.

"We want to replace the anxiety of the 'hustle' with the confidence of a safety net," Ogunkoya says. "When you know your community has your back, silently watching over your commute, you move differently. We are building the operating system for Nigerian safety."

Reskua[Link text](www.reskua.com) is available now for download on iOS and Android.

editors note Samuel Ogunkoya is the Founder of Wahala Room and Reskua.