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BAD NEWS RETURNS (2) They continued to pour water on Akunna and I watched as he first opened one eye and then the second. As he heard a collective roar of jubilation at his revival he seemed disappointed and then cocked his head to one side and shut his eyes again, exactly the way they died in Nollywood. “You people should just leave him alone. When he is tired he will get up. Akunna, you better get up. Who your mama go come kill as you wan die now?” Josiah said. If we thought bad news had returned when Wasiu showed up, then the coming of Akunna’s mother is Armageddon. “De woman no dey mind her business and she get very bad mouth. She dey even open other people soup pot. Wasiu, Akunna mama, Buhari in one day!” “I don’t care if Buhari returns or not.” Josiah fumed. “Before he left we did not have light. While he was away we still did not have. Now that he has returned we will still not have light. All the people that are owing me since last year have still not paid and they have not phoned to say they will bring my money now that Buhari has returned.” “Make sure you go and greet her when she arrives.” Irikefe said of Akunna’s mother. “It is what we all do. Don‘t let her run into you in the corridor or backyard before you pay homage.” I nodded at Irikefe’s counsel. Then at about 6:30 in the evening, a yellow keke pulled up and a light skinned grizzled woman wearing a sweater and head warmer over a print wrapper and rubber slippers alighted. She stood straight just shy of six feet and slowly looked around, taking in her surroundings like a local government tax official snooping for hidden sign boards. Her first words were “this place never change o! all the winch for this street no wan make better tin reach hia.” Her voice was sharp and piercing and when she turned to face the compound everyone made sure their eyes did not meet hers. Then as if on cue the children began chanting “mama oyoyo! mama oyoyo!” The keke driver handed her belongings, which were a bundle of clothes tied in one wrapper and a nylon bag containing some unripe plantains and okazi leaves to Akunna who had scaled the gutter in double time to welcome his mother. “Nwam!” She said and rubbed his head like a little boy as he clutched her belongings and advised her to be careful while jumping the gutter. “No worry I no go fall. E no pass de potopoto wey I dey jump everyday wen I dey go farm.” She stood in front of the compound and looked around again and shook her head and said “Tifiakwa! So una still be like this?” Akunna made sure his teeth remained as visible as a roasted goat’s as his mother threw one vitriol or the other as she gingerly made her way to his room through the corridor. “Akunna’s wife has fled” Irikefe whispered in my ears. She would have gone into labour tonight if she stayed. From outside we could hear her asking her son “wey all your basitad and that ashawo you keep hia?” “She stopped calling his children by their given names as soon as she suspected they were not his. She started calling them basitad one, basitad two, basitad three and basitad four according to their order of birth,” Irikefe explained. “Mama my wife go visit her mama. Em the children…dem go church. Dem go soon come back.” We queued along the corridor to take turns to go in and greet her. I stayed at the back of the queue since I was new in the compound and had never met the woman.” It was Wasiu, perhaps exuberant from his new status as a free man that went in first to greet her. “Welcome mama” he said and prostrated. “You! Dem never kill you?” “No mama. I no dey do bad thing again.” She sneered and Wasiu stood and came out and Castro went in next and also prostrated. “You. See as you don grow finish. Eh hen! As you come reach man you come carry your papa wowo face!” “No mama. Na my mama I resemble” he said and was out in a heartbeat. Castro’s mother was next. “Welcome mama. How home people?” “You! You still dey rub cream? See as your hand be. You no know say you don old? If dem see us now dem go think say na you born me.” “No talk so mama. Welcome!” She said and was out and headed for the backyard. I watched as Irikefe stepped in and said “Welcome mama.” “You! You go don begin tiff well well now abi? You still dey tear small pikin dem yansh for this compound?” “No mama. I dey learn carpenter work now ma.” “Wey your papa dey?” “Hin go village ma. Hin go tey for dia small.” Irikefe came out and I was surprised to see that he was smiling. “She was easy with me today” he said. I listened as she continued to batter person after person. She was kind only to Mr Cosmas so far. “Better pikin” she said when he entered. “How body? You don marry? No worry I go bring better gal come give you when I come back. Na d pikin wey I keep for my son before hin go hotel go carry dat tin wey oda people dey use as dem like for dis compound.” “She is very interested in the things Mr Cosmas says. She calls him a true prophet. You will see them together a lot. It is as if it is Cosmas that is her son and not Akunna.” “Even a mad person has friends, as we say in my place.” “True” irikefe said. “Bros Freke, it is your turn now. I went in and found her seated on a stool in front of the television set. Her eyes seemed to bounce in their sockets as she looked me over and said “Wetin be your name?” “My name na Ndifreke mama. Welcome. I hear plenty things about you” I said. “Who you dey follow stay?” “Na Mkpoikanna-Abasi broda I be.” “You be Calabar?” “No, na Akwa Ibom we be ma. But dem dey call us Calabar. No problem.” A gleam entered her eyes and she smuttily said “no give person belle o!” Irikefe was waiting for me when I came back out. “I think she likes you” he said. “Why do you think so?” “She was kind to you.” “You call that kind?” “The first time she saw Achike who had just moved in with his brother before he inherited the room she made him cry.” “Haa!” “She questioned his ambition in life for coming to squat with his brother in a place like this. Later she was heard telling Mr Cosmas that Achike was too short and ugly to succeed in life.” “Wow.” “She’s a witch.” “I believe.” “I pity all those that did not come to greet her.” “No wonder Akunna wanted to die.” TO BE CONTINUED |
emhusshogun drewsman Kimkardashian EvaJael bizza45 greeeneyes tsharp amiablejudy rapsodi6 meneski empress101.... Where y'all been? Frankestein jagugu88li do4luv14 AyamConfidence Preetiex....It's Sunday! ![]() |
AyamConfidence:Na wicked day job o...i nearly no update yesterday sef. In future more than once if I fit sort myself out ![]() |
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BAD NEWS RETURNS There was pandemonium in the corridor so I rushed out to see. The first room on the ground floor which has been locked since I arrived at number 225 was now brimming with life. People were going in and out of the room, some holding small bottles of alomo bitters and similar volatile spirits. Boys in all sorts of degenerate wears - sagging jeans, baggy shorts, just singlet and boxers, fez caps worn backwards and the like. I could identify all the trouble makers in the neighborhood. I saw Lukman, the one eyed barber entering the room too. “He is back” I heard someone say. “Who is back?” “King Wasiu!” I remember the story. Wasiu who sold drugs and regularly did time at Kirikiri. No one was expecting him to be back so soon. He had blown his last chance at freedom as I heard. “Lukman started smoking because of him” Irikefe told me. “He even gave igbo to Castro.” Castro is Mr Zubi’s eldest son. “I can imagine how that turned out.” “Castro came home and asked his mother to marry him.” “Jesu!” “He slept under the staircase that night. No one could move him. He said it was Sheraton. Mr Zubi got Wasiu arrested the following day. He said that Wasiu would never see day light again. Bros, we are in trouble.” “How so?” “Wasiu is bad news. Now all our slippers and shoes will start going missing again. Not to talk of the heads of all the young boys and girls.” The characters swarming the compound this morning attested to that. I went closer and peeped. He is a small man. Late twenties, light complexioned, slim with soft eyes and a kind smile. Irikefe later said to me “don’t be fooled. He is a snake. It is that innocent looks that law enforcement see and have pity on him. If not that they know him now, the first time they came to arrest him they doubted it was he after a few words with him. They left only to discover they had made a mistake and he fled by the time they returned. He charms them with that smile and sweet mouth, that day he told them the drug dealer they came to arrest was tall and hairy and wicked looking. They then found The Undertaker where he was washing at the backyard and took him away.” I did not know there were not many people left in the room when I peeped so my eyes locked with his and he asked me inside with a sweet smile. He stood and hugged me like he always knew me and asked me to be seated next to him on the bed that had no mattress. He was telling Lukman and an avuncular gentleman in buba a story. “I shared a cell with Rev. King. I used to wash for Bode George. We are expecting Diezani. My brother, that is not a place to be o! Only the rich and powerful can survive there. I thank God I am back.” “We hope you have turned a new leaf.” The other man said to him. “Yes, yes uncle. For sure. I no dey do am again. I met Christ in prison. The Reverend helped me.” “Lies.” Irikefe later told me. “Give him two weeks.” “Is it true that they beat up and gassed Area Fada where he went to Abuja to protest that Buhari should return or resign?” “So I heard. He said our mumu don do. But Asari Dokubo says he is even a bigger mumu.” “Is Buhari hearing all these things that are going on?” “How can he hear when his ear is rotten? Is it not the ear he first went to remove when he traveled in January?” “Haba Lukman!” “It is what I heard.” “I want to go and join Area Fada. He is my hero,” Wasiu said. “It seems you are already missing Kirikiri. Charley boy is a bored rich man. He wants his name back in the news. I won’t be surprised that he is planning a concert later in the year and is now trying to gain attention so that people will remember he is still alive and attend his shows. These celebrities always know what they are doing. Is it not how that one that sang olowogbogboro got everybody praying in the middle of the night and talking about him for one month then immediately after, he released his song? I don’t trust them o”. I prefer to be hungry but free.” “It is true bros. Nothing like freedom. Abeg which match dey today? I heard they hammered Chelsea yesterday.” “Relax guy. I will bounce back. I am buying four players before the transfer window shuts. I have a budget of two hundred and fifty million pounds.” “Ehen, Ok lend me only five thousand naira there.” Wasiu’s uncle teased. “Ha egbon! But you know what I mean na” Lukman said and grinned.” “You fools, Wasiu’s uncle said and rose. Turning to Wasiu he said “For your own good, be a good boy. This is the last time I will lift a finger to get you out of jail.” “Thank you sir” Wasiu said and prostrated. The man strode out without looking back. Outside there was commotion. Akunna was supine on the floor in only boxers and they were pouring water on him. “He just received a phone call that his mother is on her way to visit him and he fainted.” “But why?” “It is his mother that first noticed that all his children look like Talabi the tailor.” TO BE CONTINUED. |
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THE SEX TAPE The following morning Irikefe walked up to me where I stood by the gutter brushing my teeth and said “Bros, I have the tape.” “What tape again?” “Sister Esther and The Undertaker last night.” “You are joking right? I said and spat a dollop of toothpaste foam with phlegm into the gutter and it landed with a splatter. I rinsed my mouth with the water I held in a plastic cup and spat again and then faced Irikefe. “Bros since you came to this compound, have I ever said I will do something and not do it? Or have I ever given you information that is not authentic? I am the Prince here. Conceived, born, bred, buttered, riced and beansed in number 225. Nothing escapes my attention.” “No be only riced and beansed. What of amala and ewedued in number 225?” Irikefe laughed out loud and threw his head back without a care in the world while displaying a set of perfect dentition. He then pulled out his phone from his pocket and caressed it in his palm. He looked around like a thief about to remove a chicken from its roost and said “tell me you are not eager to watch.” He smiled as I tried to conceal my excitement and said “Let’s go to your room. This place is not safe.” I led him back through the corridor and we entered the room I shared with my cousin. We both sat on the bed – a six by four feet mattress on cold linoleum dressed with the wrapper my mother gave me as I packed for Lagos. Irikefe dipped his hand in his pocket but hesitated. “Show me nau?” I said. He then held up the phone and fiddled with it and then said “oya, see.” I looked at the still black screen with indecipherable humming sound as irikefe watched me. “What is this?” “That is the show na. Can’t you hear Sister Esther speaking in tongues? The Undertaker is even quoting Songs of Solomon.” “I can’t see or hear a thing.” “That is because there was no light.” “But that is the point Irikefe. How can you make a video in the dark? And even if you had made an actual video, what would you do with it? What is the point?” “I will use it to make money from them.” “Blackmail?” “Yes ke.” “How can you even think of that?” “I am now a yahoo boy. I don’t care.” “So you want to start your criminal life with blackmailing your neighbors?” “Charity begins at home bros.” “Well, sorry you have started woefully. There is nothing on this so called tape of yours.” “They will not know that. My night vigil will not go in vain. I was by the window till they took light by twelve thirty. I then came round and entered the corridor and waited to make sure I saw The Undertaker sneak into her room. As long as they slept together, they will believe I have a tape.” “It was dark irikefe.” “I will tell them I recorded it using anti-darkness infrared technology.” “What the hell is that?” “I don’t know bros. It just entered my head. Sister Esther only knows what the Bible says. I will tell her that I can put it on a special device and the world will see her holy behind being polished by a heathen.” “Mr Kingsley will not buy this.” “I am not going to him. He will even be glad there is wahala. That will be a good excuse to dump her. He is tired of the whole thing.” “And how do you know that?” “I know everything bros.” “So you want Sister Esther to give you money?” Something like that. I know she is poor like the rest of us. But I can be getting something to be buying data for my business. Either that or I go to her pastor with the tape.” “Do you know her pastor?” “She once took me to him for deliverance.” “Obviously it did not work.” Irikefe chucked and I could see he was enjoying my discomfort. “Bros, one needs to be wise in this Lagos. With time, I will keep a big bowl with her. When she finishes cooking, after serving The Undertaker she will serve me too.” “You will eat rat poison.” “Hehehe it’s a chance I’m willing to take.” TO BE CONTINUED. |
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DIEZANI I strode back out to meet the newspaper gang where I left them. The compound was now fully alive as you would expect on a Saturday morning. Children were running around with tooth brushes and tiny towels around their waists, parents were stretching their lungs to get them back in line, and there were others carrying pots and pans and dirty laundry and dishes to and from the backyard. I saw Willy-willy brandishing a transparent nylon with six eggs and bouncing to their self-contained like the prince of Persia showing off his gold. Saturday morning fried eggs was a constant in their home, and the six boys always made sure the rest of the compound never forgot how well they lived. There were a few new faces about, but that was not unexpected. This is number 225 Katakata Street. “Diezani stole ninety billion dollars”. Mr Zubi said and shook his head. “That is even more money than Bill Gates has” Akunna said. “And she get cancer abi?” Josiah said. “Last I heard, yes” Mr Zubi said. “Lucky woman” Josiah said. “And how is that lucky?” “She is among the privileged few who know when they will die. So she will enjoy what she can of her stolen money, settle her family to the 20th generation while checking with her doctor how much time she has, then in the final moments, she go just give her life to Christ then go heaven straight.” “Ehn? Lai lai!” “What is lai lai? I dey lie? Is that not what the bible says? That if we repent we will be forgiven everything? The woman lucky abeg.” “I don’t like the sound of that at all. It is unfair. The likes of her should rot in hell. Did you see Aremu Afolayan’s rant on instagram? I stand by him. God will punish her, her mother and all those that are eating the money with her.” “That is your opinion. If she repents, it will all be washed away and she will be as white as snow.” “So why won’t I go and steal and get away from this hole and then repent and go to heaven?” “You will never get close to that kind of money, and you are too stupid to be an armed robber. At best you can go to the councilor’s house and steal his shoes,” Mr Zubi said. “Something is not right about that doctrine. I can feel it in my soul,” Akunna mused. “She was feeding fat from oil swap deals as the papers say. Because of that, our refineries were never going to work. My cousin that worked at the Port Harcourt refinery is now a pauper because people like Diezani ensured they were sent back home for redundancy. That kind of money would not only keep our refineries alive, it would build a new one in every local government in this country. Not to talk of roads, hospitals, and so many jobs!” “Can I say something?” It was Mr Cosmas that spoke. We all fell silent. We did not know what was coming, but we were sure he was going to throw our faith in our faces once again. “Josiah,” he began, “Think about Akunna’s cousin in Port-Harcourt who has been made hungry by this woman. Imagine that one day out of desperation he goes to the market and steals some garri to feed his family, then the following day he dies without remembering to repent, will it be fair for him to be sent to hell and Diezani to heaven because she repented?” “One is stealing, the other is corruption. Goodluck Jonathan said they are not the same thing.” Josiah said. Mr Cosmas ignored the remark and said “Akunna, you say your soul tells you the doctrine is wrong. Guess what, your soul is right. How can we say God is just if people steal billions and impoverish millions and in the end utter a few words of repentance and go to heaven? And the people they impoverish are sent to hell for becoming desperate to survive?” “What nonsense soul is telling him what? Do you question God? Do you question His word? His ways are not our ways. You cannot understand spiritual things thinking in the flesh.” “Hmmm, so what are you saying Mr Cosmas?” Akunna said. “God cannot be mocked. Whatsoever a man soweth, so shall he reap. She will pay for it. If not in this life, in another one.” “I said it! I knew this was where this was leading. You don come again Cosmas. It is appointed unto man to die once!” “If it were so, then the Almighty will not be just. Akunna, if your intuition tells you what you believed is not right, you are on track. Seek and ye shall find.” “I am not sitting down here and listening to this rubbish. I did not say that what Diezani did was right, but we cannot judge her. I believe that if she repents she will be saved. All this one you are saying now I know you read from those demonic books wey you dey carry. Be careful Cosmas. Repent before it is too late. I dey go. Make una stay there make dem pollute una mind.” “The problem with closed-minded people is that their mouth is always open.” We all turned and saw that Mr Kingsley had joined us. He never took part in our gathering unless he was invited. Even then it was only for the compound meetings. “Who said that, Mr. Kingsley?” I said before I could stop myself. “Zig Ziglar.” “Don’t be surprised bros Freke. There is nothing a woman’s food cannot do.” It was Irikefe. He must have been following Mr Kingsley. “Tonight, bros” he said with a wink and jumped the gutter and went down the street. TO BE CONTINUED. |
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Will try man! Thanks. |
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SATURDAY MORNING (2) I never saw the relationship between Sister Esther and Mr Kingsley in the light Irikefe constantly alluded to. Sister Esther who was interested in the destiny of our souls and payed so little attention to her appearance, it was sinful to even begin to imagine her in that way. The first time I saw both of them interact, it was a fierce quarrel they were having. Well, fierce from Sister Esther’s point of view. Mr Kingsley was cool as a cucumber, only punctuating Sister Esther’s rants with one quote or another. Irikefe said the quarrel was just lovers’ spat. “A girl slept in The Undertaker’s room the other night. Sister Esther knows because she is always watching his door.” On that occasion she had accused him of stepping on her clean clothes that fell from her hands as she was returning from the backyard airer. I heard her screaming “you wicked man! Idiot! Nebuchadnezzar!” Mr Kingsley, seated on his room embankment said “If I am not out of my mind, it is alright with me. Saul Barrow 1915.” “Mad man. Open your mouth and talk. Defend yourself let everybody hear you.” “Silence alone is grand. All else is feebleness. Alfred de Vigny 1797.” “Hypocrite. You stopped talking because you used your mother for money rituals but you have remained poor.” Irikefe turned to me and said “If he does not start talking normally now, he will quote an African next.” Mr Kingsley’s eyes suddenly reddened and became drawn. There was spittle bubbling from the corner of his mouth and his chest puffed out. “Whenever things begin to go well in this world, the devil comes and puts a woman in your way, Robert Mugabe.” And so it went on. Irikefe insisted Sister Esther was only in a fit of jealousy. “But she is born again” I said. “Leave that thing bros Freke. They are the worst. Give them a few days and she will be back cooking his meals.” That is why when Sister Esther disappeared from the gathering this morning and Irikefe worked out her whereabouts, I could not help but tag along. Each of the two floors of the compound has a common kitchen situated beside the toilets and bathrooms at the end of the corridor close to the backyard. It is one bare room tenants are given space to place cookers on top of individual cupboards to do their cooking. Walking down the corridor you are assaulted by the smell of stew and urine and soap in a giddying blend. Those who cannot digest food from this arrangement place their stoves on the corridor close to their doors to do their cooking. Mr. Kingsley and Sister Esther found a better way yet to make their food in a level of decency the rest of the compound envied. Since his room was the closest to the staircase, Mr. Kingsley one day cleared the rubbish from the space under and put his cupboard and stove there for his cooking. He protected this space for himself alone for a long time until one day we saw that sister Esther had squeezed her cupboard in there too and there were no borrowed words of resistance from Mr. Kingsley. “So what now?” I said to Irikefe when he led me through the backyard to the side of the building from where we could peer under the staircase and follow the movements through the hollow bricks used there for aesthetics and to allow ventilation within the corridor. “That is Mr Kingsley’s stove she is using. There is no way that food will not be landing on Mr. Kingsley’s table. And there is no way those two will not resume normal service tonight. It will be in sister Esther’s room in case another girlfriend of Mr. Kingsley’s turned up. I will be by their window monitoring things don’t worry. I will have something for you in the morning.” “If you took your carpentry work this seriously Irikefe, you would have had your freedom by now. You would have even started your own business,” I said. “Which nonsense carpentry business is that bros?” Leaning closer he said to me “Can I tell you something?” “You know you can,” I said. “Okay” he said and hesitated. “I’m listening.” “I want to start doing Yahoo.” “Irikefe!” “Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh Calm down bros. I have a target. If I don’t hit good money within a year, I will get an ugly oyibo woman to come down here and marry me. She will bring her dollars. When it finishes her family will be sending for us. With hard work I will be able to catch one, even if it is a Philipino.” “That is the most stupid thing you have ever said Irikefe.” “Bros Freke, that is what boys are doing now. See Ayeni at number 35. He has married and divorced three oyibo women already and he has never reached Seme border in his life. All he does is press his laptop from morning till night and they will be entering planes and landing in Katakata Street. He has bought the house they are living in now and has constructed a flat out of the rooms upstairs. Big boy.” “You will get caught Irikefe.” “Why haven’t they caught all the others? I may look stupid but I’m not. I will get by.” “I think we should go back and join the rest. The papers are interesting today.” “Tomorrow I will get my laptop. Someone is getting me a second hand one from Westminster. I will pay when I make my first hit.” “When you pick your Dad’s pocket you mean?” “Haba bros. I’ve stopped that one since na.” “Good for you.” “I will try and make a video of Sister Esther and The Undertaker tonight.” “I hope they catch you and change the position of your nose with a frying pan.” “No they won’t. They will be having too much fun to notice the recorder I will place inside their room before they go to bed.” TO BE CONTINUED. |
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. Thanks for the interest man!