Cms 500! Cms 500!!
The words thundered out with a vengeance
from the dirty and twisted mouth of the conductor
his teeth looked like an uneven broom
dipped in faded engine oil
I dove in through the window
and clawed my way to a seat.
A thick woman with boulder sized backsides
crashed on a man's thighs
he shrieked out in pain
the rest of the passengers laughed heartily.
"sori sah, I tin sey nah shia" the woman apologized.
The bus coughed, spat out unearthly fumes
and resumed its ragged-jagged journey.
The man beside me cursed loudly,
his wallet has vanished; I turn away.
another victim of the Danfo Patrol Men.
their most hallowed business
tripled, fuelled by the dearth.

Iya Tolani's bread was three times the price this morning
Baba Nkechi was rushed to the hospital when he heard it
His poor heart couldnt take the news
It was grave news to me; the bread.
Our landlord, Mr Ladipo
led a group of brave trekkers on an exodus yesterday
A trek of defiance; unwilling to part with three Azikiwes
It was a baptism of fire: Oshodi to Apapa.
The sun cooked him like 'chadnezzar's fire
he sweated out everything on arrival;
water, salt, sugar and oil.
Three mighty jugs of water saved him from sheol.
The exodus is monumental this morning.
while the vehicle roads are free flowing like oil
an unnatural sight on a monday morning,
one of the miracles of Premium Mass Scarcity.

"Oga, na whia u go drop?"
"After Oniru, that junction between Continental and Four Points
another 200 squeezed out from a dry pipeline.
This conductor made poor jokes all the way from CMS
he would make a terrible comedian
Mrs Alexis greets me warmly at work
I am shocked
She is my section chief, one of the ogas at the topper most top
I have been here three years
She doesnt know my first name
the stapler on her desk gets more acknowledgement than I do
"how is it naa?" Her accent is somewhere between British, American, Ghanaian, Irish, French and Scottish.
In my country, a fortunate state in life, gives you clean and instant mastery of speech
"It was tough ma"; I am bemused.
"my broda it is o, my kids are at home,
I couldnt get them to school, and you know they cant walk
BIS kids can't do that; its just a bother,
the government keeps making promises."
So my oga has no fuel too
Her husband is one of the bulldogs of the National Non Petroleum Commission
and did she just say: "brother?"
So petrol is thicker than blood
Well, another miracle of scarcity.©

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