Helen stood up slowly, gently easing out the stiffness in her body as she stretched. She had finally finished the report she had been working on for the past few days. As she lowered her arms, her eyes went to the watch on her left wrist and she gasped. It was already past 11:00pm. And … Continue reading The Taxi Driver
Even before he was born, I knew there was something evil about him. Watching his movements inside her, there was no doubt in my mind that there was something very evil in him. But how was I to tell them? I could only stay close and wait for them to find out themselves. They never … Continue reading Marked
I wrote this two years ago after we laid my uncle to rest. He was sixty two years old and looking forward to the arrival of his first grandchild. We had no warning. No sign. He went to bed hale and hearty and never woke up again. It hit the whole family hard. I am … Continue reading The Last Enemy
He stared at the screen, trying to make sense of the figures on it, same thing he had been trying to do for the past three hours. For some reason his mind was not cooperating, something strange was going on in his heart. It felt hollow, empty and ached ferociously. He stood up for the … Continue reading The Star
I remember the first time I knew you were inside me. It was early in the morning and I had just puked my guts out. I mentally counted backwards and sitting there on the bathroom floor, raised wide eyes to your dad who was peering worriedly down at me, “I’m pregnant!” I blurted out. “Are … Continue reading Not Yet Goodbye
I wrote this a couple of years ago for a friend’s political journal. Just decided to post it. Hope y’all like. Nigeria is really a theater of the absurd. With all the comedy we live through, it’s no wonder we are constantly rated amongst the happiest people in the world. Laughter has been our saving … Continue reading Land Of A Thousand Laughs
Another horror that shook the village even more than all the other horrors awaited the people in the morning. The king was discovered hanging in his room! He had taken his own life! It was unheard of! A man take his own life?! A king?! Suicide was an unheard of concept. It was a taboo. … Continue reading Omoboja (the End)
A year after the banishment, a wail the people of Ajilenko never thought they would again hear rent the early morning peace. Different homes echoed that same wail. Remember every son from the age of six downwards had died two years earlier and every daughter from five below had joined them the last year; the … Continue reading Omoboja (7)
In all these, the change of mood that had come over their king did not lift. The only one capable of bringing happiness to his face was his Omoboja and now he hardly left her side except to attend to village matters and even then she could usually be seen by his side. The other … Continue reading Omoboja (6)
The whole village was shaken and they turned as one to an equally shaken king who had to gather his scattered wits to once more don the heavy mantle of leadership. It is true what they say ‘Uneasy lays the head that wears the crown’. Erinmade had to put aside his own feelings as a … Continue reading Omoboja (5)
I should say here that not the king nor his loyal escorts nor Omoboja made any mention of this event. Nobody in Ajilenko village at that time knew where she had been or what had happened to Ihielele or even that she had any children except for the king and his escorts. It wasn’t till … Continue reading Omoboja (4)
The uproar that would have followed that discovery was firmly suppressed by the family’s determination to avoid the entire village finding out what was happening. But covering up the disappearance of a child especially one in the public eye like Omoboja was just not possible especially when she had still not been found three days … Continue reading Omoboja (3)
Things might have continued indefinitely like this if not for an event that changed everything. The king of Ajilenko peacefully passed on to join his ancestors in the hereafter. The whole village had their normal life suspended as the burial rites were observed and countless rituals performed. That took a lengthy twenty-one days. After the … Continue reading Omoboja (2)
Let me tell you a true story. It is the story of a village called Ajilenko. You might say there is no village by that name and you will be right. The village doesn’t exist anymore. But once upon a time, it did exist. It was a great village; prosperous and full of wise old … Continue reading Omoboja
There is a smile on my face as I pick up the Barbie doll. But it is a wistful smile. Seeing the doll after almost twenty years brings back a lot of good childhood memories but it is also a reminder of the saddest memory of all – the death of my father. The last … Continue reading Mother of Darkness