ARE WE CURSED OR WHAT?

ARE WE CURSED OR WHAT?

My weekend has been very eventful with me missing two weddings and barely showing my face for another. One of my cousins had hers in my hometown in Ekiti while another had his in Ondo. The one I was able to attend was in Akure although my initial plan was to somehow make the two weddings in Ondo state.

Work commitments meant that I could only leave for Akure with my wife on Saturday morning. I had spent Friday evening with great tasting pizza and "zobo" which however led to undesirable consequences on Saturday morning meaning that we could not leave as early as I thought. It was not yet 7am when I turned into Ikorudu road only to realise that the outbound traffic was congested. Tweets from Twitter did not suggest favorable conditions on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway so I turned towards Agege thinking that I could access Ibadan through Abeokuta to bypass any traffic towards Ibadan. I soon abandoned that thought and turned towards Ikeja to gain access to Berger via Isheri. I realised there was no direct turn to get on the road leading out of Lagos and a moment of confusion later; I was heading to Lagos island on the third mainland bridge.

We thought about heading back towards Ojota but I insisted on pressing on to Lekki, then to Ijebu to link Ore even though I had never driven past that route before. My brother-in-law was our navigator monitoring our location on Google maps and we found the experience of Epe and Ijebu rather interesting. The bridges, waterways, palm trees and wooden houses located under a particular bridge were interesting. We eventually linked up with the Ijebu-Ife end of the Sagamu-Ore-Benin expressway and I had a horrid and unpleasant about 2hours drive towards traffic evading potholes and craters. At a point, I quit racing the car to make way for others more willing to give their vehicles a hiding. 

It was difficult indeed until just before Ore when an apparently recently tarred stretch of road began but not without intermittent spots of damage. I stopped briefly at Ore to replenish my circulating glucose and thereafter turned left towards Ondo. The state of the road to Ondo town was better off than that from Ijebu to Ore and the rest of our trip was uneventful. We made it to the reception venue at about 2:15pm after an almost 7 hours trip excluding the initial early morning merry-go-round. There was no chance that I would have embarked on an immediate return trip so I decided to pay my aunt a surprise visit with my family before retiring for the day.

The road network in Akure I must say was impressive. There were obviously new roads and the older ones I was more familiar with like the central Oba Adesida road retained a few of its landmarks including the primitive footbridge close to the Deji's palace which was built in 92/93 by a former civilian governor just before the June 12 presidential election annulment. I thought that the roads were generally in very good  condition until I had to drive through the landmine ravaged road on the way to my aunt's house. I must applaud the current governor's efforts with Akure roads but he will get serious stick from me for allowing the road I once walked on as a young boy back in 1992 to degenerate to a state of disrepair and pity. 

We took our time today before setting out of Akure at about 11am. I expected a smooth drive on a Sunday but I was soon confronted by an officer of the federal road safety corp at the beginning of the Akure-Ilesha road. They profiled me in the slow moving traffic they had apparently initiated and perhaps thought their Christmas bonanza had come early. One officer came to my window and I asked him what the problem was and why I was stopped. I was already steaming at being asked to move aside considering the distance I had to cover. The man, Olabode asked for my driver's licence and I took the temporary card I recently collected out of my wallet. Obviously irritated by my audacity to speak up to him, he asked for the papers of my vehicle. I opened the glove compartment of the car and handed him some of the papers but not before I took back my licence. He looked through and asked for the proof of ownership of the car which I thought was among the papers already in his possession. I asked him why he wanted that because every other document was before him. I turned to locate the one paper he thought he could hold me on but he began to walk away with my papers like he was going to signal for another vehicle to be stopped. I turned to him and asked why he was walking away with my papers when we were not yet done and he replied that he could walk anywhere he wanted and suggested that I did not have the right to ask such a question. I eventually found the certificate and almost shoved it into his hand only for him to decide to have a show of strength. 

He demanded to see my fire extinguisher, then my triangle and then the spare tire. I opened the boot and showed him everything he wanted. I was up for the show he thought he was staring in and I asked for my papers back so I could get back to my journey. He refused and thought he could further waste my time. At this point, some of his fellow officers had moved towards the action and one in particular appealed to me to calm down. I turned towards Mr. Olabode and asked him for the location of the superior officer of that team so I could take the situation up with him. He told me I had asked a foolish question of which I asked how demanding to see the man or woman who authorised a stop and search and unlawful delay of someone with complete papers, extinguisher, triangle and spare tire was foolish. This was the moment I spotted his name and addressed him as such. He was visibly uncomfortable that I decided to confront him on his turf and he kept ranting about how he was a federal officer doing his work bla bla bla. I told him sorry that was just in words because that was what he wanted to hear and he handed me back my papers with the licence belonging to another driver he had collected earlier. That is how confused he became and I was grateful for that encounter because it was the much needed adrenaline shot I needed to continue driving. I am certain his business plan for today was dented and his mind properly refocused to do the exact thing he was paid for.

The journey onwards was uneventful and smooth until we arrived at about 3pm at a bottle neck just before the Sagamu axis of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway. There have been reports of many protracted "logjams" over the past few weeks and this one soon proved to be one of such. I stayed on the main road only leaving once and returning to overtake a broken-down bus. Many vehicles in a bid to gain advantage got onto the rough and bare portions on the sides of the road and a royal rumble ensued. Many vehicles labored to reach liberation, some overheated and some kissed and made up. I also played my part and managed to get away with only some red paint stain behind my side mirror after which I chased down the rickety bus and dished out 3 or 4 blows with my left hand to the side of the bus as my "revenge". Three hours and 15minutes is what it took to eventually break free just before the MFM ground and we still could not identify the source of the traffic jam.

The last time I was on the Lagos-Ibadan road was in August. Since then, I must say that I am completely unimpressed with the progress of the repair work which is ongoing. It is a fact that many spend extended periods traveling along the major highways of the federation daily, weekly or more frequently. A mobile broadcasting vehicle belonging to Channels television rumbled on the uneven road to my left and I wondered why they did not stop to capture the events. I also witnessed two Caucasians in a 4WD struggling through the heat and dust to join in our struggle.

A lot of these individuals still fail to identify the true reason for their travails. They think a morbid fear and rejection of a Muslim man would suddenly cause a perfect stretch of asphalt laid road to appear from the sky. We may need to ask ourselves if we are not under a spell or a curse in order to explain why we go through these daily hardships and yet be unmoved for real change. 

Change is here and as proof that we are perhaps set free from bondage; we need to root out the weed which continues to choke and mortgage our futures. I pray that you nor your family will ever have to spend 8 hours for a 4 hour journey. May your mothers and grandmothers not have to duck behind bushes or in plain site to take a leak because of endless traffic.

The time to be dissatisfied in now; the battle to save the soul of Nigeria and to break the yoke of oppressors and opportunists has begun. 

Joa

21/12/14