“…The road from Gombe to Enugu was full of horror due to the fear of Fulani Herdsmen, Cattle rustlers, Bandits and accident, while the road from Enugu to Awka was full of horror due to the terrible state of the road.
More than 70% of the Enugu-Onitsha expressway looked more like an erosion control experiment site than an express way.
There is absolutely nothing express about that road. Kidnappers can’t even kidnap people there because their vehicles won’t be able to run. Unless they were to use helicopters in the kidnapping.
It was a two hour journey but it was more torturous than the two days journey to Gombe. My head hit the edge of the bus like 10 times.
My eyes were covered with dust. Not just mine, the eyes of everyone on the bus had turned red. The from part of my NYSC crested vest had to carton colour, creating a sharp distinction between the front that was open and the back that was covered by khaki.
As expected, everyone inside the bus was abusing the government as a way of letting out their frustration.
Then all of a sudden, one man with white beards and medicated eye glasses who was sitting just right behind the driver started trying to defend Buhari.
He said that Buhari wasn’t the problem but Igbo politicians. That Buhari has almost completed the Second Niger Bridge and that some high ranking senators were the ones that ate the money for the expressway.
All the mouths in the bus descended on him with full force. Some were even gearing up to beat him.
They continued the banter until I stopped at Aroma junction and started asking for directions to the NYSC Secretariat.
Of course I have heard several stories of how Anambra people use to steal people’s phones and also watched several of their skits.
So I made sure that I locked my phone inside the leg pocket of my khaki. The one with buttons. I didn’t want to be onye mgbu as they call victims of phone snatching in their comedy skits.
I got to the secretariat and did my documentation, then went to the Local Government I was posted, signed and submitted the necessary documents and I was sent to the secondary school that would be my PPA.
I was torn between going there that day and sleeping over, or going home from the local Government and coming back the following day.
The fear of having to redo the torturous journey 2 more times and the rationality of how much the transport will cost and how much a cheap hotel would cost, triumphed.
I stayed in a cheap hotel of 5k. Of course the generator went off by 9pm and the shower wasn’t running. I had to bath with bucket. Well, I washed my crested vest and hung by the window side and brushed my khaki.
I couldn’t wait to narrate my experiences to Mma as we were to chat that night.
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(ONE YEAR OF HARD LABOUR WITH MONTHLY ALLOWANCE, Season 5; Episode 3) was brought to you by Ugwuagbo Emmanuel Chizoba Daniel (Zoba De Great)
"…The road from Gombe to Enugu was full of horror due to the fear of Fulani Herdsmen, Cattle rustlers, Bandits and accident, while the road from Enugu to Awka was full of horror due to the terrible state of the road.
More than 70% of the Enugu-Onitsha expressway looked more… pic.twitter.com/RWlPf2MqPH
— Zoba De Great (@ZOBADEGREAT) November 7, 2023