Kogiflame
By Emmanuel Adeyemi
Certainly life is in cycles. At its prime , it could be full of funs and thrills, exciting and laced with splendour such that, a youngster could be thrown into a frenzy of rhapsody and could lose his head in the sky mistaking the journey of life as a bed of roses .
Conversely, as he begins to advance in age the reality of life now dawns on him. Those things that used to ignite and thrill him may now be a kind of anathema–disgustingly irritating. Life indeed is a mix of good and bad.
I met Sam Austin Egwu a little above thirty years ago at Idah when I was barely three years old as a cop reporter and two things defined and cemented our relationship such that they will remain evergreen in my mind– for purpose of time and space I will only mention one.
On a certain Monday morning piqued in a dizzy weather,the rising sun gradually snowballing into a cloudy atmosphere and a boisterous wind suddenly shuddered, throwing paper and pen around and the curtains of the office were dancing and gyrating to the tunes of the wind, there
emerged an ebony built man with a pointed nose.
At the door post of the slightly furnished room we styled our newsroom, the ebony figure with a mark of eleven in his face walked in and after exchanging pleasantries, demanded to see the Editor.
And in a flip of coincidence, Charles Akowe, the Editor of the first private newspaper in Kogi State known as ‘The Message’ who just arrived from a weekend journey, came out of from his office and with his Intimidating voice he announced ” gentlemen, this is Austin Egwu our new reporter, please let’s cooperate with him” .pruning his eyes on me, he added “Ade, take him through our routines” ‘ And that was how our relationship started.
The Newspaper Company had a two -room apartment for us. Sam Ilani, Egwu and I were squatting together in a room. It was about a stone throw to the office. We were all young and unmarried and so it was easy for us to crawl round the town drinking and socializing
But in the street we lived were pretty blondes and Cinderella some of who were students of the Federal Polytechnic, Idah and the School of Health. We had a rendezvous close to our residence where we often met in the evening chatting and frolicking.
It was indeed an avenue of convergence for fine babes and start- ups like us and every evening, the meeting normally ended with everyone carrying his cheeks home, most time for TBD ( till day break) but on each of these days, I was only left alone with chubby triangularly- built babe who had no boyfriend from among us neither did I also have any girl to mix with .
In most cases when everyone left and it remained both of us, I often excused out myself and sneaked back to our room to sleep. Mine was booze and booze with less feminine attraction.
Little did I know this attitude was creating sleepless nights for this chubby girl called Ann. She summoned up courage to relay this to one of the girls who happened to be a sleeping partner to my room mate. The friend in turn told me to give this a trial.
But I expressed my reservation as this girl was already dating a certain hugely built man working with the general hospital, Idah who was then using a peaugeot 504 saloon car. And it was the rave of those days.
The man though had just wedded few years back would not give Ann a breathing, space. He would come early in the morning before going to resume at work, come at break time and at the closing hours and he was buying all sorts of things to entice the girl more and more.
But here I am, dry and shrink and could not by any stretch of imagination match up with him, yet this scintillating Benue girl with her vivacious elegance and gregarious candour would not let me be .
And so on a certain Saturday night, lovers gathered again at our usual rendezvous and as usual everyone disappeared into the eerie darkness to elope.
Immediately they all left, Ann gently left her seat and came to my direction and asked ” Omo yoruba what have I done to you?” Nothing, I responded , slightly tipsy ‘ but you are unfair to me” she said looking into my eyes, ‘ how?, but you are engaged’ I snapped back. Me, engaged? I beg stopped that joke” she submitted and then spread herself round me, I immediately responded and off we made it to her room.
One thing led to the other and i glibly lost myself in her, it was a swirling, crazy night to remember . I devoured her devastatingly like a hungry and angry lion would do to it’s prey. Surprisingly, she responded with intensed alacrity, gyrating me round the bed and setting me on fresh fire with her succulent magnetizing body until I needed the thing no more.
And at about 2.30 am, she woke me up and said she would reveal a guided secret to me which I must not tell anyone, but it will certainly not be that night.
Secret ? I asked, it is better you tell me now if not, I will be apprehensive and will not be able to rest, but she said’ no’ it is too early ‘ After much pestering, she opened up: ” This my man friend you are afraid of,, he is just big for nothing , he has no manhood he uses his fingers to do what he is supposed to be doing with his thing and I am just suffering in silence,you don’t know how joyful I am when you agreed to sleep with me…….
” Yes, he is the one who rented this apartment for me, he is also paying my school fees,buy food stuffs and anything I need, he gives, but you know I am a young girl and beyond all these I desperately need what he can not give, so please let him be bringing all those things he is bringing, you will be doing that thing he can not do”
But you said he has just wedded three years ago, how does he meet his wife? I retorted
” He doesn’t sleep with his wife. She is just using me as a camouflage to the family members to deride the wife painting her as barren”
How? I asked with a baited breath.”
He is being clever about his tricks, you know he is a Nurse at the hospital, so what he did was that he planned with one of his doctors for the woman to do reproductive test, and it was the doctor who told the wife, she could not conceive again because of an abortion she did which has destroyed her womb.
” So this man now capitalized on this because the wife had confessed to him, that she did one or two abortions before she got married. And so the man normally tells the wife he needed not climb on a tree which has no fruits to produce and that’s why he is carrying me about as his new wife, that as soon as I complete my studies I would get pregnant and bear him fruits.
” He has knelt down severally to beg me to conceal this secret, and he promised to give me anything I need. He also warned me sternly never to reveal to anyone that he was not sleeping with her, and threatened to inform members of her family that she has no womb anytime she speaks out,so the wife is more in agony”she concluded
Hmmnn, this is serious! I added
” But darling, you must promise me that you will not tell anyone this secret, I will just be playing along with him for him to help me complete my studies, as soon as he does this ,we will both run out of Idah and get married,” she said. And I reluctantly consented.
So this secret between Ann and i was our bond that solidified the relationship and as the days rolled by, we became more intensely in love such that I became an envy to some of my colleagues. And this invariably landed me into big trouble. One of my colleagues had gone secretly to meet the man that I was in love with his babe and that I was no longer sleeping at home but with Ann. The lover- man was aghast in anger, and there and then they planned to deal with me.
And it was Sam Egwu, who secretly divulged this information to me and told me to be very careful and watchful in my dealings with Ann. I was afraid, since I was not a native, anything could happen to me. I thought And I told Ann so. That I was not ready to die now because the man could laced her with astral power. ( Magun)
She said he couldn’t do that , but we agreed to ‘ ceasefire’ for some time to watch how things would become, and it was Sam Egwu who was giving me the details of their plans. While the other envious colleague was carrying Egwu along on how they would deal with me. Egwu was in turn feeding me with their evil plans and I in turn feeding Ann.
One week, two weeks the man was coming at odd hours but couldn’t find me with his lover and he probably might have concluded that Ann was after all a very faithful lover. But we were still dating but discrete about it.
However, on a Monday night, the bubble burst. I had gone home to sleep and at about 8 PM the rain started . My other colleague was with his babe.she had come to pass the night. And I couldn’t just sleep, as they were wrapped up in their corner. I sneaked out to Ann to feel a warmth .
As Ann heard my voice, she quickly got out of bed, planted a long kiss on me , pushed me into the bed and off we sojourned out to another planet. But I didn’t know that would be the last of this amorous relationship.
At about 2.48 am or so, we heard a persistent knock on the door of our room and the voice roared” Ann, Ann, if you love yourself open the door now or I break it” it was the voice of his lover.i got to know years after, that this my envious colleague had gone to call him that night to come and deal with me.
I was numb on the bed and my mind went blank. What must I do now to escape the wrath of this ferocious man. Ann stood up gently to peep at the figure outside to confirm he didn’t come with boys to attack us.He came alone
As the banging of the door continued, Ann assured me of safety and she swiftly called on the land lady who opned the middle door for me to escape to her room. It was a room and parlour, the parlour was rented out while the land lady was using the room. She took me to the back yard to hibernate there .
Then Ann , immediately cleared and evacuated the room of anything that may give her out, and then opened the door for the enraged lover. He swaggered into the room with a long cutlass , searching every where to cut me into pieces.
But I could not be found. He bounced forth and backwards, threatening to maim and kill and refused to be persuaded to calm down, until the Land lady probably in her late 70s pleaded with him to calm down.
After staying for about 45 minutes of ranting, he staggered out of the room with a promise to kill me anytime he sets his eyes on me. I was taking over and terribly devastated by fear. The land lady was my saving grace that night.
Ann crept to me where I was hibernating and tried in vain to comfort me. I told her I needed to get out of town as quickly as possible. She objected.
As soon as it was day break, I rushed to our room packed all my bags and left. I felt devastated and betrayed. I could no longer stay in the midst of wolves I called friends. I went to fetch Sam Egwu in a friend ‘s house, he passed the night and told him I had to leave.
He said it was better I leave Idah that day than risking my life for a lady .As I bid him bye, he pulled me back and said” Emmy moo, ( as he fondly called me) as you are leaving, I am also leaving, I can assure you of that and by the grace of God we shall meet again in future” and he stood up and accompanied me to where I will catch a bus out of town
I got to the highway where I could board a car, and to my utter surprise, I saw Ann, pacing up and down the highway and soaked in a state of soliloquy. On sighting me she quickly rushed to me begging, I should not leave her, that she had less than six months to finish her course and we will be done.
I told her it was better I leave the town now and promised to come back for her at a later date.
She held my hand and wept profusely, ” Emma, why would you leave me this way? I have diligently poured out my love on you . I have concluded the first day we met, that this is the kind of man I need as husband and I already informed my parents that by next month end, I will take you home for introduction. Oh, why this…… ” And she broke down along the highway and wept her eyes out .
Though, painful, I had to leave her with Sam Egwu and flee for my dear life . There was no phone contact in those days. And that was how I parted with Ann and Sam unceremoniously.
And 18 years later, I met again with Sam who was now transfered to lokoja as a Daily Trust Correspondent.
Sam was a huge ball of joke who loved journalism and could do anything to retain his love for an acquittance- he could travel a whole length of miles to attend ceremonies organised by his colleagues. In 2007 in was in my mother’s burial in kabba.
He went all the way to Abia, in the homestead of the cerebral journalist, Emeka Obasi who he always referred to as his boss. Sam was friend to all, and with him there was no dull moment. It’s almost one year we lost this jolly friend yet it is just like yesterday.
Prof. Sam, it is too early to say goodnight.
(PS: I wrote this piece last year immediately after his death but could not publish it because I thought the anecdotes illustrating our relationship could demean the moment of grief, but I summoned courage to publish this when I went through my pictures album and I stumbled on the picture we took together when he came to my mother’s burial and the fact that it’s about one year now of his demise).
