THE GHOST As I left my house and headed towards the junction to board a tricycle,I couldn't tell why,but all I kept saying was "God please allow me to see the ghost of Mrs Udenna." I didn't care whether people would believe me if I told them I saw her ghost but I wanted to anyway. With tears streaming down my face,I began to recall memories of her. Mrs Udenna had been the principal at Frabjous High School (F.H.S),Bende at the time of my admission into Junior Secondary 1 there. Although I knew little or nothing about her at that time,I would never forget the woman who always advised us to be good ambassadors of our school,our country and most importantly,our home. A woman who was rarely seen,but when present,was an embodiment of significance. I had not encountered her on a personal basis,until the day I was summoned to her office by the school clerk. A classmate of mine had lost five thousand naira(#5000) which was given to her by her parents to purchase textbooks w...
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*A NEW DAY* When the class representative announced at 2:10pm to the 2nd year students of Economics that their next lecture (Acc 214) would hold at 4pm,there were murmuring from all sides of the class. “Not again!”, someone shouted from behind. “That woman has no chill at all”,a girl said to her seatmate. “Does she not have a family?”,another asked. “I heard she is having issues with her husband,and that is why she tries to do anything that will keep her away from home till night“,her neighbor interjected. These and many more,were protests and angry comments flying around the class,yet no one dared to move or make any effort to leave the class. Mrs Ulondu was known for her strict adherence to the school rule of “75% attendance for a student to be allowed to sit for an exam”,and her students knew better than to cross her by missing her classes. In all these,Ginika said nothing.For her,she might as well be dead;she had long reached her point of saturation for the day tha...
*DESOLATION(2)* Four days later, Papa died in his sleep. Actually I had thought of more painful ways to make him pay,but Papa was a heavy man and at fifteen,I was no match for him. Two weeks after his burial,some elderly men I didn't recognize,arrived from the village to see Mama.I overheard them telling her that the doctor said Papa had died of poisoning and the village oracle pointed her out as the perpetrator of that act. Oh I missed the shock on her face at the news.I smirked and pressed my right ear closer to the door just in time to hear them tell her that we were to surrender everything in our possession that belonged to 'their brother' and vacate the apartment within two weeks.And that was how we found ourselves here;in this Face-Me-I-Face-You house in the remotest part of Ojede town,from the two-bedroom apartment we had been staying in. It was a single room,but with the help of a curtain,we divided it into two- a bedroom with a small mattress,a mat and a wooden cu...
DESOLATION(1) The moment I walked through the door of our 'house',I locked it,fell on our rat-infested bed and began to cry. I was devastated. When I left this slum this morning, I had thought it was all over.I had said to myself,'Finally we're going to have a better life'.When I met Mr Onah,he treated me nicely,differently even;he made believe that there was light at the end of the tunnel and I had told myself that not all men were the same after all.But it is of course a lie,one I desperately needed to believe for so many reasons. Men are the same,every one of them. Following my appointment with Mr Onah that morning,I had worn what I regarded as my 'best' shirt and skirt and out of excitement, arrived at his office about ten minutes earlier than the scheduled time.I was asked to wait at the reception while the secretary informed him of my arrival over the intercom. I was then directed to his office where he was seated behind a table,beaming with smiles. ...
Aren't you tired?Yes YOU!Aren't you tired of putting the blame of every mosquito bite & skin itch on Nigeria? Every early or late rain, sunshine, harmattan, headache, runny nose, diarrhea.etc. on this "being" who can do nothing to defend itself. Have you ever paused even for a moment to wonder who or what is even this "Nigeria"?Well let me kindly remind you-Nigeria just like air,is an abstract object. You can't see it or point a finger at it and that's because,accept it or not, it is YOU and I who make up Nigeria.Yes!We are Nigeria.Year after year,on the 1st of October,the duty of most Nigerians is to sit down and begin to enumerate the problems in Nigeria.Have you ever asked yourself if Nigeria has made any progress so far?No!!!All we keep ourselves busy doing is finding excuses why we shouldn't be grateful for how far we have come as a nation. Believe it or not,if Nigeria is not doing well today,it is because YOU & I at the grass ...
PET PEEVES (Eph 4:26) It was a lovely Saturday morning and students of Gracious High School busied themselves with their morning duties."Just what kind of nonsense is this?",Kayode,an SS2 student and inmate of Leonard hostel exploded."People won't just respect themselves in this hostel.This is getting out of hand and I can't take it anymore!" Kayode's roommates and classmates, Ekene and Malik stopped whatever they were doing and stared at Kayode who was busy rummaging through his small shelf of books in the room."K-boy,what's wrong? Why are you sounding all worked up?",Ekene asked. With a tone that came out more harsh than he intended, Kayode snapped "Nothing!", then muttered to himself "the next thing now, someone will say 'that Kayode boy is always hot-tempered.' Why won't I be when people cannot ask for permission before taking what belongs to another." Seeing Kayode at his 'boiling point',Malik...
Rape & Justification I grew up listening to some people blame dressing as being the primary reason girls/women are raped.I almost believed this lie. Over the years,I have felt outrage whenever I came across people who justified rape in any way.It is sad when people use dressing as an excuse for rape. How does anyone dare think that way?Tell me,did dressing have anything to do with a 7 year old being raped by a family friend?Oh,what about that 17 year old girl who was raped on her way back from church?Or the 15 year old who was raped by her secondary school teacher?Tell me about their dressing again. Hold on,what about our sisters up north who are mere digits in alarming rape statistics?What did that have to do with their dressing being that these ladies are usually covered from head to toe?Are you aware of rape statistics in countries like India? I remember having a conversation with a friend that has stuck with me for years. He said "one of the saddest things under t...