₦airaland Forum

A 30 meters (98ft)ship set to leave the seashore where men, women and children traded as slaves were grouped by Captain Louis and his associates as they moved them out to where their labour was needed . A tick noxious smoke traveled from the funnel to the sky as slaves pulled harder with joint effort in other to set the ship moving on the high sea. Slaves knew not where their master and his cohorts were moving them to , but their hope was a land with food and water. Transaction was on as the men discuss issues of the number of slaves they had in the ship and if the number was enough for Captain Lex in Tripoli. Because they knew that slaves’ death on the sea was common so they figured an alternative. Captain Louis contacted his fellow trader whose name was Tar to inform him his ship was coming to Morocco to buy slaves. This was a serious slave trading for them and trusted partner was what they wanted.
Tar who was in charge of Morocco’s sea coast had more slaves grouped awaiting Captain Louis’ arrival.
“ Captain Louis is coming to pick more slaves”, Tar spoke with his other associates while they sat down waiting for him.
“I hope it is a fair transaction?” A fellow asked.
“Yes, of course”, Tar replied in kindly voice.
Several hours of waiting for Captain Louis’ ship, he arrived. A tall chubby looking man with a range of medals of different countries on his uniform followed along by his fellow officers. They were welcomed by men of Tar.
Exchange of pleasantries
“ You are so welcome, Captain Louis. How was the journey?” Asked Tar.
“It wasn’t too good, Tar”, replied Capt Louis.
Both men moved in to talk about the transaction. A long size dining table arranged with all sort of delicacies and red wines of various brands were set for them as they came in. Domestic slaves stood behind them waiting to be called. After an hour of eating, they moved into talking on the turbulence of the sea before they came down to the main business which was the number of slaves Tar grouped to be sold. Since both men had talked on the phone there was nothing to delay the business. Order was sent out to move the sold slaves to Capt Louis’ship.
“What a nice transaction! I look forward seeing you again”, Capt Louis said to Tar.
“Wow! Thanks for the business. I enjoyed your company. Have a safe trip back”, Tar replied and desired him a safe move on the sea.
Engine of the ship kicked as they moved out of Morocco’s coast for Tripoli.
It was two weeks Capt Louis left Morocco for Tripoli to load out the slaves bought and needed by Capt Lex. The time came around Capt Louis to assure selling more slaves to Capt Lex and not being fearful of low number. Capt Louis contacted Capt Lex informing him of his coming. Capt Lex controlled his slaves in a kind-hearted manner but needed them for his industry in other to grow his empire. When slaves bought from Morocco heard where they were moving to excitement revolved round their heart as they embraced one another. The other slaves from Burma got happy as their mates mustered hope into them. A loud horn blew as the ship set to berth in Tripoli’ seashore. Movement on the ship as slaves came out and got assessment from the officers before they were placed to be a domestic worker or industrial worker. Both men went inside to sit while waiting for the food to be served by the domestic servants. All men got satisfied and left for their sleeping bed for they were to leave the next day for Mauritius.
Capt Louis and his officers left Tripoli with an empty ship the following morning to Mauritius where he would buy slaves. Capt Louis made contact when he was in Burma and was assured there was more slaves to buy in Mauritius so he never bothered to call again. Month on the sea, network and cable got damaged after a deadly storm struck badly at their ship. News got out that slaves in Mauritius had got loosened and they had killed their strict masters. Capt Louis and his officers never knew about the news so they continued sailing for another one week before they arrived. Horns blew from Capt Louis’ ship as they set to berth in Mauritius’ coast. They moved in to know what was happening while seeing died corpse of officers laid down on the ground. Shouted the slaves as they ran in number more than the number of Capt Louis’ officers, they dashed into violence as officers shut at the slaves but they were many. They went out of bullets and began to run for safety but they were trapped and eating by the hungry slaves. When everything subsided, slaves occupied and established a powerful government to kick against the slave traders. This spurred other slaves held in Tripoli and Burma to struggle for emancipation.

Allah wa kuba! The Imam cried out and worshippers ran to the mosque for the morning prayer. It was 5:30 AM. A young boy named Okeychukwu got up from his bed and hurried to the bathroom to take his bath as he was to leave Ibadan for Enugu State.
“Have you taken your bath?”, Mother asked.
“I will be done in a minute”, Okeychukwu replied.
The alarm rang it was 6:00 AM, Okeychukwu and his mother set out to Enugu bus terminal where her son could take a bus going to Enugu State. After hours of putting passengers’ luggage, the terminal called for departure time for Enugu bus. All passengers went in and the driver began to move out of the terminal. Okeychukwu’s mother waved hands to say good-bye to her son.
Many hours of driving, the bus arrived in one of it terminals in Enugu State. The passengers alighted and moved out to their various destinations. Okeychukwu who got admission in one of the prestigious Universities in Nigeria—University of Nigeria, Nsukka to study Economics. He went straight to the school’s hostel where he had paid for accommodation as a fresher.
Three weeks in Nsukka, Okeychukwu joined a church that was a stone’s throw to his hostel. He was handed a flyer during the church’s crusade, so he made it possible to attend a service in the church. He came to the church the following Sunday with his Yoruba attire. This was not new to the people because there were diverse ethnic groups in Enugu State. At the end of the service, the preacher opened up to the members that the church needed more souls for Christ and more persons in the church’s choir. So Okeychukwu heard of it and decided to join the choir group even when he knew he did not know much. Okeychukwu attended his first choir rehearsal, he was mumbling while others were singing. The choir master watched Okeychukwu as he acted as though he was singing, because of that he ignored teaching him. Okeychukwu’s reason for such act was the fear of singing out of musical key. But never shared the reason for acting in that manner.
Okeychukwu began to have second thought which was to look for another church since he was not making an impact. Days after days, Okeychukwu got weary coming to rehearsal where he felt things were not fine. So he gave himself a break to prepare and work on himself. Okeychukwu sat down one sunny noon to ask himself series of questions concerning his performance in the choir. Immediately, he made answers to those questions and he blamed himself for not working.
Okeychukwu asked,” Why am I afraid of the microphone?” And he answered, “I was foolish to have become afraid of the microphone. Now, I will unveil that talent in me”.
After days of reasoning to himself, Okeychukwu started to work on his voice, listened to great singers and attended music classes. He did it for month concurrently with his University education. Okeychukwu became so good in singing that he now decided to write his own songs. Through his connection with the music coach and well-meaning friends, Okeychukwu’s songs went viral and became top-notch. OKeychukwu entered lime-light within a short while.
Happiness revolved around Okeychukwu’s heart that his talent was not hidden by his foolishness.