“Excuse me.” The man wearing a threadbare T-shirt stopped to stare at the besuited stranger who had accosted him in the street. “Yes?” “Please, can you tell me how to get to Adekoya Street? I’m [...]
Apr 252012
Tola Odejayi
Apr 162012
“Five more minutes, Mr. President.” The president, who had been shuffling around some papers on his desk, glanced up at the prompt from the studio producer. As he leaned forward from the leather chair he [...]
Apr 092012
A few days later on a Saturday morning, Wale was seated at a table in Fingers, anxiously watching the entrance and awaiting Julie’s arrival. The place was quiet, as was normal for this time; most [...]
Mar 242012
“Seriously? You did that?” “I did, Chi-boy.” “Why? Things were going fantastically between the two of you. What happened?” It seems everybody wants to know what happened, Wale thought. “Just like I told her, my [...]
Mar 232012
Wale lay on his bed trying to relax by reading a thriller novel; he was the only one in the room that evening, as the rest of his room mates had gone out to study. [...]
Mar 122012
Musa lay face up in bed in the place that he called home – for now, at least. Home was a stuffy, cramped room on the first floor in a block of face-me-I-face-you rooms. Home [...]
Dec 012011
Jerry and Solo are sitting at a table in silence in Pangolo Junction, a down-at-heel, somewhat disreputable drinking joint. As usual, the atmosphere is raucous and noisy, with loud background music, and arguments going off [...]
Nov 232011
Nkechi stared at the blank screen on her laptop, with her eyes widening as fast as her heart was sinking. The blank screen stared back with a dreadful finality. “Oh God no no please not [...]
Sep 282011
Chijioke sat squashed up in the minibus as it grunted and creaked its way along the potholed road. Seated next to him was his father, who stared out the window in a sullen mood. Chijioke [...]
Aug 292011
Ekanem drew the heavy curtains of the ornately furnished living room aside and took one last look through the window. As he had expected, the compound outside was silent. James, the driver was out of [...]
Aug 012011
We did meet in class later on, where I learnt that his name was Dele. Our friendship grew, but it never became anything more than a friendship, mostly because of my insistence that it remain [...]
Jul 312011
I am a rebel. That is just the way I have always been, and that is the way I will always be. And let me be clear here; when I talk about being a rebel, [...]
May 112011
Julius trudged up pockmarked staircase, already feeling weary about the encounter that was about to occur. The walls of the stairwell, dingy with years of use and poor maintenance seemed echo his mood. It was [...]
Feb 172011
As Sokiratisi approached the palace, he wondered what the Emperor had summoned him for this time. “I am sure it must be something serious… after all, he has his own advisers who should be able [...]
Jan 302011
The elegantly dressed alhaji was striding down the corridor of the National Assembly Complex when he heard someone shout out his name. “Alhaji Bukar! Long time no see. How now?” He turned round and saw [...]
Jan 042011
Amaziah eyed his bowl of fufu and vegetable soup with relish. After all, hadn’t he worked hard enough that day to deserve it? And the bonus was that Mama Iyabo was in a good mood [...]
Dec 312010
Chief Iwuchukwu paced around his luxurious master bedroom in agitation. This was not good, he muttered to himself. This was not good at all. Had he not contributed thousands… no, millions of naira to the [...]
Dec 142010
If Amaziah had been asked to pick a compound for him to rescue his cock from, the very last compound he would have chosen would have been Chief Olowoparija’s. Simply put, he was the most [...]
Dec 122010
It was the weekend, and Amaziah was relaxing in the living room of his flat. He leaned back in a well-worn armchair, cradled his hands behind his head and smiled a smile of deep contentment. [...]
Nov 072010
The years passed, and I finished my university course in civil engineering. I soon got a job in a large construction company which sent me all over the country to supervise various building projects. One [...]
Nov 022010
I still remember the first time I met Kacha in secondary school. I was minding my own business, packing away my books at the end of one of my first days in school when this [...]
Oct 192010
It was a grey, cold Tuesday morning with more than a foreboding of rain. Fitting weather for the business of the day, Diran thought, as he stood in a long queue outside the gated compound. [...]
Aug 262010
It is early evening at Pangolo Junction, a run-down bar in a less-than-affluent part of an unnamed town, and three men are sitting round a table. Two of them are nursing their glasses of kunu [...]
Aug 072010
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Aug 032010
“I think it’s time we had a full and frank discussion.”
“What? You mean it?”
“Yes. For too long, we have been tiptoeing around or even completely ignoring the major issues that really need to be discussed. We have been calling a spade a manual geomorphological modification implement. We have not been direct and honest. The time has come to change that!”
“Amen, brother!”
Jul 142010
Over the next few months, Taribo and Julie continued to see each other. They had both agreed that it would be a good idea for them to start off as friends, and to see how [...]
Jul 112010
Taribo repeatedly scanned the restaurant for Julie, hoping that she would be on time. There was nothing he hated more than people who had no concept of punctuality – that was why he had arrived [...]
Jun 242010
My best friend is an amazing person named Hannah Musa. She is twenty-five years of age – that’s the same age as me – and she works as a teacher in a secondary school in [...]
Jun 182010
It was a few minutes short of midnight at the bus stop on the outskirts of town. The late night vendors sat hunched over their wares, their flickering candles and dim bulbs doing little to [...]
Jun 152010
Joy stood looking at Ade in irritation, as he sat slumped in front of the television flicking through channels. “How can you just sit down there staring into space? For heaven’s sake, it’s the weekend [...]
Jun 112010
“You guys are going to get properly caned again this year!” This taunt was flung across the road at myself and my friend, Jide, as we walked home from school. The taunter was none other [...]
Jun 012010
I watch Nkala deceive Nkolo I watch Nkolo as he walks open-eyed into Nkala’s deceit… …Even as Nkala knows that Nkolo knows of Nkala’s game And I lookulafu And I lafulooku – I see Nkili [...]