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A travelogue by Chief Echika Ezuka
The Monday, October 4, sit-at-home in Owerri was revealing. I used the word revealing because I actually travelled from the West to East and back by road and there were a couple of experiences that just blew open a number of windows.
To start with, I was amazed by the scores of clean smart buses owned by a private company at the bus terminal at Okota. The smart buses, with capacity for 10 to 18 passengers each, announced the continuing evolution of the road transport system in Nigeria.
In the past 60 years, the transport system in Nigeria has evolved very fast from the 911 Lorry popularly known as the Gwongworo and later “Bolikaja” or Molue that had most of its passengers sitting in rows in the area meant for cargo today.
Passengers travelled facing backwards. A fast lorry would take two days to travel from Owerri to Lagos. The Peugeot station wagon, of the late ‘70s, was very fast, could get to Lagos within the day, but could only lift only six or seven passengers at a time. The J5 bus, in the mid-80s, was as fast and suffered similar limitations. The luxury bus arrived on the scene with a lot of promise and could carry up to 50 passengers, reach Lagos within the day and had in-built conveniences.
However, the need to travel faster and fresher led to the introduction of the smart Hiace buses. These smart buses are also air-conditioned like the luxury buses but halved the number of hours a commuter would spend on the road.
You can imagine my fascination when I saw scores of smart buses at the terminal. Moreover, boarding standards have improved a lot in order to instil confidence in the services of the transport companies. There was no rushing or shunting. Passengers waited for their buses to be announced through the public address system. There was so much orderliness that you could doubt if you were still in Nigeria. My seat number was #One and I sat in the front seat beside a driver neatly decked in a black suit. He was courteous, well-spoken and reminded me of the pilot of an aircraft. We hit the road and getting out of Lagos, as usual, was a crawl. Soon we joined the highway popularly called the expressway in Nigeria. A wave of East, Abuja and Northern Nigeria – bound smart buses were hurrying towards Ijebu Ode like a colony of bees screeching for pollen. The sight of tankers, trailers, 911 haulage vehicles and smart buses struggling for road space with speed and safety confirmed the death of the era of King of the Road, the 911 in whatever name. Goodbye to those amusing graffiti on the side of trucks: “No Condition is Permanent,” “Gods Case No Appeal,” “Love is the Answer,” etc.
The express was like a carpet in some places and full of pot holes in other places, a major cause of accidents on our roads. A sleepy driver might ram into a hole and skid out of the road. Slow men were always at work on Nigerian highways.
I was shocked that there were still narrow bridges in Ogun, Osun and part of Ondo states. These narrow bridges have no hedges and many vehicles had slipped or tumbled into the rivers at the slightest errors. These bridges are certified death traps and it is encouraging that the Federal Ministry of Works, beginning with the tenure of Chief Anthony Anenih had embarked on a programme to modernize them, make them wider with concrete hedges. All the bridges from Lagos to Owerri, except in Ogun, Osun and Ondo (marginalized APC states) have been modernized with greatly reduced chances of vehicles falling into the river easily.
SECURITY:
Secure travelling used to consist of a well serviced vehicle, a good driver and fairly smooth roads. However, times have changed in Nigeria and there are things that were imagined impossible in Nigeria that are now the norm. The myth that considered some radical stuff too bizarre to happen in Nigeria has been broken. Terrorism, insurrection and banditry have unleashed new waves of insecurity on travelling in Nigeria. The traveller today could run into a stray bullet, be abducted on the highway, be shot by unknown gunmen or run into a daring armed robbery attack. Travelling in Nigeria is more dangerous than all of that because you could suddenly find yourself in a territory that purportedly owes no allegiance to the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The Nigerian state has fully deployed the security forces on the roads to ensure the safety of citizens. There are numerous motorized units patrolling the roads and often one would see an army or police van in an ambush at unexpected sharp-corners. I can reveal that many of my co-travellers were so relaxed that they slept with both eyes closed. Unfortunately, they could not sleep for too long because of an emerging source of worry – the checkpoints. The checkpoints were manned usually by the Army or the Police or a joint task force. Once or twice we ran into a Customs checkpoint. The problem with many of these checkpoints is the length of time that one could queue before being checked. We spent well over an hour at the checkpoint leading to the last river before Benin. That was childs play because we waited for over 2 hours to be checked at Ihiala junction. The tragedy that played out was that the securitymen on duty, wearing an Army camouflage, did not even look at our bus. The driver knew when it was his turn and he walked over to the soldiers and gave them N1, 000 only. There were two other checkpoints with soldiers collecting N1, 000 each at Awomama and Mgbidi Junction. Those soldiers reminded me of the claim by Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State that soldiers manning the entrance into Maidugri allowed long queues to build because they were bent on extorting N1, 000 from each vehicle.
The revelation of this trip was that the Police refrained from openly collecting money from vehicles. There seemed to be a reversal of roles and soldiers not policemen were the ones collecting tips or would you call that bribes from the drivers. Naturally, there would be a few miscreants within the security forces. My worry is that those few miscreants seemed to be achieving postings to very lucrative checkpoints from Maiduguri to Owerri. The Army may have some inward looking to do. However, the N1, 000 tips could just be a show of gratitude to the military guys who were sacrificing their lives day and night to make us safe. The problem was that it was not given freely. A driver could get caught in an accidental discharge if he refused to give.
THE SIT-AT-HOME ORDER:
In Owerri, I ran into the sit-at-home every Monday saga. The first Monday that I spent in Owerri was partially observed by indigenes of Imo State. There was talk that the sit-at-home had been cancelled and would only be observed on the days that Nnamdi Kanu goes to court. Monday, October 4, 2021 was different because there was a stampede, people running helter-skelter without knowing what was pursuing them or where would be safe. A cousin from Aboha Ohii came very late for our 9:00a.m appointment. He recounted his story, “Aboha has been on the run since early morning. Two Hilux vans in Nigerian Army camouflage drove into the village loaded with troops. The villagers took a look at the unsmiling faces in the Hilux vans and took to their heels”. The citizens are afraid of the Nigerian military because of their kill-and-go tactics. They approve of the objectives of IPOB, but hate the strategies adopted because they have long term goals. They want an instant solution.
Confusion broke loose in Owerri on October 4. There were reports of gunfire at Wetheral Road, again they say, by unknown gunmen. Another rumour had it that ESN operatives showed up at Douglas road and warned Owerri people to become serious with the observance of the sit-at-home. One man claimed to have seen a Range Rover Sports vehicle with four men, all dressed in black, driving through the streets of Owerri, apparently in a bid to enforce the sit-at-home. Yet another claimed that the Nigerian Army conducted a legitimate Show of Force in Owerri and the frightened citizens scampered into their shit-holes. The rumour mill is the main source of communication in Imo State. There is no electricity, therefore, no radio, no television, no data, no print media and no mass media. The implication is that it looks like there are no governments in Imo State, federal, state or local government.
The people sit at home every Monday because they are afraid of the uncertainties in the streets. They are afraid of IPOB reprisals, scared stiff by the facelessness of the ESN, and terrified by the military who treat them with scorn and disdain. The people would not sit at home if they were sure that the security forces would protect them and not shoot them like infidels. Anything could happen during a sit-at-home, including disappearing into thin air in a culture that accepts the unknown gunman as reality.
THE UNKNOWN GUNMAN:
The unknown gunman became a major Nigerian nuance in the late ‘70s when the Kalu Anya tribunal declared an unknown soldier to be responsible for the death of the mother of Fela Anikulapo Kuti. The unknown gunman turned out to be a very potent concept in terms of anonymity and fatal outcomes. The unknown gunman is a statement that the rule of law has failed. I recall as a Producer in Radio Nigeria that several times, during our leisure hours, we tried to unmask the unknown gunman without success. We seemed to concur with the supposition that he could only be a character drawn from some kind of seclusion. We thought it brilliant that the unknown gunman could only come from prison. With our naivety we believed that the professionalism required to be an effective gunman can only be found among the Awaiting Trial or Condemned Criminals in prisons. “Come and shoot from the prison and return to the prison.”
What about the fear that everyone is afraid to talk about? There is palpable fear in Owerri and its environs that the Islamists, camped in the forests, are all set to invade and conquer the Igbo, even the old women are talking about it. What if this invisible unknown gunmen are part of the Islamists? Currently, the unknown gunman reigns and looms larger than life with a crushing effect on the socio-political life of our country burning correctional centres, police stations, security vehicles, and murdering innocent citizens including rallying politicians and peace-making traditional rulers. No arrests are made. What a heck, with the population of the Police, Navy, Air Force, Army, LASTMA, Yellow Fever and Civil Defense in Nigeria?
UNEMPLOYED YOUTH:
The Igbo apprenticeship system has earned a lot of praise from other ethnic groups, but COVID-19 has undermined the system. Business it’s not booming and not many boys are coming to Alaba, Ariaria and other markets. I noted with sadness that there were too many able-bodied young men at ‘Fear Woman,’ the village joint, drinking and starring into emptiness as early as 10:00a.m. A similar sight frustrated me further when I walked past the village square. I counted more than a dozen young persons just hanging around. These young people, sometimes graduates, have no access to the list of poor people that Hajia is still compiling for the Federal Government. They have no access to the 774,000 LGA jobs that nearly triggered a civil war at the Federal Ministry of Labour nor do they have access to palliatives. Maybe, at the peak of COVID they got rice and essential provisions from their local hero; Leo Stan Ekeh, Chairman of Zinox. There are also uncountable unemployed young persons in Lagos. Could this be the group from which the unknown gunmen, IPOB or Boko Haram are enlisted? Would it be right for the government to expect citizenship from its ignored youth, who make up over 60 per cent of the population?
I left at the weekend afraid of the next sit-at-home, followed by a public holiday on Tuesday, #EndSARS Anniversary on Wednesday, Nnamdi Kanu’s court appearance on Thursday, and only God knows what on Friday. Moreover, there was a hanging threat for 30 days sit-at-home should the Federal Government fail to bring Nnamdi Kanu to court on October 21.
I am happy to be back in Lagos and heaved a sigh of freedom. The same security challenges that keep you indoors in Owerri are present in Lagos, but there is no IPOB or ESN. Moreover, the OPC playing a support role to the Neighborhood Watch make the unknown gunman a more difficult project to execute. Somehow you live life with a swagger in Lagos, free from the uncertainties of a sit-at-home.
