By Victor Makolo & Joseph Tijani
SHATTERED CHANDELLIERS

Being able to read and write is not the sole purpose of education but just a pre-requisite. Education seeks to build the human mind and prepare it for a world of endless possibilities. The principal said looking grimacingly at the graduands who were his major audience although other students from lower classes and parents were present in the hall. He continued that you can answer examination questions doesn’t make you educated, it only means you’re erudite. To be truly educated means you’re able to apply all that you have learnt in class, from books and in life to proffer solutions to life’s big challenge. To our graduands today, this isn’t the finish line but the very beginning of a new one, be……… While the principal was still speaking, tears fumed in my eyes and I felt like exploding. I could still feel dad’s firm grip as he held my feeble hands years ago in an airport, There is no limit to what you can achieve my pearl dad would always say these words to me each time I come back home with an excellent result (and which by the way was all the time).

Amidst the principal’s speech and the occasional chatter and laughter of the audience, I couldn’t hear any more words. It felt like I was sucked up in a vacuum and the very quiet of the vacuum seemed to mock me as all I could hear was the echo of my loud thoughts. As much as I tried to hold back my tears my eyes twitched and the tears in them strolled down my checks. Usually, people think of their past in retrospect but the irony of it all was that I began to think about my future in retrospect, the placid periscope with which I occasionally peeped into my bright future gradually became very dim. Reality gently faded into a nightmare I never wanted to wake up to. I asked myself, How do I cope without dad and mum? I never even got a chance to tell my parents how much I really loved and appreciated them, I just felt they should know! These rhetorics occupied my mind for long months after the riot.

I had chosen to ignore the lucid picture that reality had just painted and believed that somehow, the body found in the charred remains of what used to be home for us wasn’t dad’s as well as I also didn’t want to think that mum was among the 38 that were massacred in her office and burnt alongside the building. Although I never ceased to curse those heartless rioters that didn’t stop at killing the workers at mum’s office but also left with a few severed heads: maybe as some form of souvenir or trophy. It was all thanks to Lt Col. Fatunbi that I was even pry to this information, a lot of people do not even know how or where their loved ones were killed. I wiped the tears from my eyes with Tobi’s handkerchief as she wrapped her arms around my shoulder while I leaned my head on hers.

I almost jumped out of my skin when I heard ……the head girl, Ochanya Peters for her speech. I asked Tobi what was going on and she didn’t even look surprised that I wasn’t paying attention, she just said softly; it’s time for your speech as head girl and best graduating student. Everyone was clapping and as I walked towards the podium, I received series of congratulatory handshakes streaming from friends, teachers and even academic rivals alike. My heart was beating so fast and my hands were trembling, this was so unlike me because I was not the shy type and I didn’t even have stage fright, but I know exactly what made today different.

Before I say anything, I would like us to observe a minute silence for the departed souls, I said while trying to hide the nervousness I felt. When the one minute silence elapsed, I said with a trembling voice: There is no limit to what we can achieve if we put God first and set our minds to it, these were the very words of my hero and Mentor- my Father, I could no longer hide the tears again and I began to cry, Dad I wish you were here to see your pearl in her gown….. Before I could say anymore words, the Bri-KwaIbom woman walked up to me and gave me a big hug, she then said to the audience, a round of applause for our very own Ochanya Peters. Everybody clapped till I was back to my seat. O.P person dey look for you outside, a classmate of mine whispered to me.

Uncle Alfred, you made it! I screamed when I went outside and saw my only uncle (Dad had just one brother and much was an only child). I ran into his arms and held him tight. Junior also came outside and joined me in his arms, it was then it occurred to me that this (the 3 of us) was all that was left of the Peters family. How is Lagos Uncle? Junior asked looking at him when we finally got out of his arms. Lagos is fine, he replied, and my wife cannot wait to see you all. At this point, I knew it was going to be stupid asking if he now has a child because if he did, he would have mentioned that in his just concluded reply. I felt sad when I remembered how long he’d been married. Where is the colonel? Uncle Alfred asked. He is on the high table, he is one of the guests of honor, Junior replied. Before he could say anything, I asked would we be going to Lagos with you? Yes, he replied. I almost thought you didn’t get my letters when I didn’t get any reply from you. I’m sorry dear, it’s just that the past few months have been really hectic for me as I have not really been in the country. I flew in a week ago and decided to surprise you. Uncle Alfred met with the colonel later that evening, thanked him for everything and told him he’d always keep in touch. Here is my telephone number, the colonel said when we got to the airport. Thank you sir, I’d call you, as soon as I have my own landline set up. He bade us farewell and drove off with Tobi whose eyes were already drenched and ready to burst into tears.

While the 1987 Zaria crisis was at full tilt, she meandered her way through the thick smoke that covered the whole building that was set ablaze. The toilet was no longer as safe as it was 30 minutes ago. Kashe su! Kashe arna!! Which loosely translates to kill them, kill the infidels was, the chant she could hear from the rioters. When she finally made it out, she ran as fast as her legs could carry her to only God-knows-where. Everywhere seemed like a dead-end and the only place that seemed safe enough was the forest to her right. She didn’t even know how long she had been running and how far off civilization she’d wandered she was even too terrified to notice her bleeding foot. It was a little past seven ‘o’clock and eventide was gradually giving way for nightfall, her strength waned and that was not helping matters. She needed to find a place to hide and pass the night hoping she would not wake up dead in the morning. She felt hope at last when she came to what seemed like civilization and also looked calm and quiet. She made her way to an uncompleted building across the road. While she sat down on a block and tried to catch her breath, she fell asleep…………..to be continued next week.

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