I hate Lagos. No, not exactly. I hate Lagos only when I’m broke. Flat broke. As broke as an underpaid government official in charge of a remote village outstation. Forget all the hullabaloo of the infamous Lagos traffic, the sheer human and vehicular movement on the road at any time of the day. Forget the … Continue reading Mr Illegality
The speed with which she shot up the podium suggested she had been waiting for that part of the service. It was testimony time and eager testifiers were finding their way onto the podium as the coordinating pastor’s countdown got closer to ten. She was short, round and her greying hair was braided into four … Continue reading A Greater Testimony
“The wages of sin is death…” The words catapulted him from sleep into the realms of consciousness. He shot up in bed, streams of sweat oozing from every pore of his 6ft-frame. Like a canine whose attention was pricked by the faintest of sounds, he looked frantically right and left, got up and surveyed his … Continue reading The Wages of Sin
Some say love is a thing of the heart, a divine, selfless decision one takes in relation to another. I am bound to agree, but truth be told, I never understood love. I am not sure I do, even now. From as little as eight, I asked questions and got unsatisfactory answers. The more I … Continue reading Sunshine
The whole class heaved a sigh of relief when Dr Abajingin decided to call it a day. We’d been in class for four straight hours supposedly listening to EEG 401 lectures. The course, Electromechanical Wave Theory, was, to half of us, another deliberate creation of a group of disturbed individuals headed by a certain long-dead … Continue reading Non-Prayer?
We strolled leisurely towards Aunty Kemi’s shed at the Mammy Market. Aunty Kemi’s was our preferred drinking joint for one sole reason: she allowed us drink on credit! When drinking was all you did in camp, the incentive of drink-and-pay-later would be too good to scorn. Add that to Aunty Kemi’s heavy bosom which always … Continue reading The Cruelty of Fate (2)
The Facebook Invite flashed to the right of my screen as I made to check my notifications. Usually, I disregard most Invites even before reading them but there was something about this one that made me do a double-take. Archibong Noel invites you to ‘The Wedding’ The Wedding? With needless trepidation, I clicked on the … Continue reading The Cruelty of Fate
When news spread round the University campus that the final results had been pasted, you didn’t feel elated like everyone else. Instead, you rolled over on your three-and-a-half inches bed and whispered a silent prayer to the one God you trusted. Deep in your mind, you looked forward to nothing. “Heavenly father, let Your will … Continue reading A Miracle Scorned
As a Jehovah’s Witness, going out on evangelism is a certainty. It’s what makes you worthy of the appellate in the first place. From the place of worship, you were put in a group of two, sometimes three, and sent out to propagate the gospel of Christ. I detested this simple Christian activity for two … Continue reading Reborn
December 25, 2000; Abeokuta. Whoever believes Christmas is the birthday of Christ must be living in fantasy land; a land peopled by fat, heavily-bearded, sack-carrying men in oversized red habiliments. To me and people of my ilk, Christmas is the official excuse for the slaughter and consumption of millions of hapless and helpless chickens worldwide. … Continue reading Aunty’s Chicken
I fell in love with her the very first day we met. It was not love at first sight; no, it was more of love sown at the first meeting. I had gone to the bank where she was attached as a Youth Corp member to open a new account. As fate deemed it fit, … Continue reading Independence Wedding
It took me exactly thirty three days to know I was pregnant. Up until then, we still maintained contact by phone. But the day I discovered I was pregnant and told him was the last time his number went through. My life came crashing like a badly-arranged storey of electronics at Alaba market. It was … Continue reading Memories of a Ghost (2)
I have always believed miracles were restricted to the corridors of religion; but what I was witnessing -not in a church nor mosque- cannot be called by any other name. Seated across from me was my frail-looking but stern father, his trademark pipe hanging from the side of his mouth; the conveyor, indeed the performer … Continue reading Memories of a Ghost (1)
It started one cool Saturday morning. Dad had gone to one of his club’s Saturday outings and is not expected back till late in the evening. I was in my room trying to solve some Further Mathematics questions when I heard mum’s anguished cry from the sitting room. I rushed towards the direction of her … Continue reading Sister Folake (4)
The images from that day stuck with me like some love scene from a Ghollywood movie. Suddenly, I found myself withdrawn from Sister Folake, who was, until then, my favourite sibling. And going to church became an exercise I dreaded. Before long everyone noticed. “What’s wrong TJ?” Sister Folake asked me one Sunday morning as … Continue reading Sister Folake (3)