Angela Jonah @fairy

My childhood days are the type to remember and give out a heavy laughter, pack filled adventure that was embarked on with fear and panicking, but remembering it now looks funny. I remember tampering with my father's DVD, breaking and repairing items to cover up, in order not to be caught and scolded. If I'm asked to rank the various incidents, I think this one I'm about to say now should come first.

My father bought a DVD and a film disk was included in the pack, the film was full of action; fighting, gunshots, violence. So my dad hid the film so that we will no longer watch it, because I was already displaying some of the fighting moves in the house. But you know kids fully well, my siblings and I searched and found where my father hid it. We only get to watch the film when my parents are not at home, this continued for a while till something happened.

On this fateful day, we brought out the film, and watched it when my parents were not at home, using NEPA light. But NEPA respects no one, they took the light, leaving the disk in the DVD. Fear gripped us, we knew we will be scolded if my father finds out, so my siblings and I launched a rescue mission. We went to switch-on the generator, but we got ourselves into another big problem; the rope used to rotate the engine cut into two.

What a problem! My brother went to buy a new rope, while I loosened the DVD using my mother's kitchen knife. For the first time of loosing a DVD, I didn't know what to do, but I figured it out, I successfully removed the disk and coupled the DVD back. By the time my brother returned from buying the rope for the generator, we figured out how to fix it back, it took us hours, but we finally got everything done.

The things that fell apart to us were put back together, though with fear and uncertainty, but the fear of getting scold wouldn't let us give up without at least giving it a try. I don't think there is anybody as a kid that didn't do anything bad or unacceptable, and then try to cover up. The aim is always not to receive beatings, and the thing is that kids will keep on getting themselves into problems after the other untill they are fully grown up, some of us discovered our talents and what we are good at in the process. Imagine me uncoupling and coupling a DVD, I no reach to be engineer?

We have come to another festive period again, some people have taken it upon themselves, to source for Christmas money anyway they can, not minding if it's legal or not. The rate of activities of thieves this days is increasing rapidly, and if we look deeper, it will be just to impress somebody; girlfriend and fellow friends most especially. My parents called me some days back to tell me what thieves did to them and my aunty, in a short space of time.

My aunty came all the way from Abuja to visit my parents, on arriving the park, she carried big bags, and so she paid this guys with wheelbarrow, that help carry goods, to where she is supposed to board a vehicle. Shockingly, the wheelbarrow transporters zoomed off with the bags and disappeared into the aunty, making away with my aunty stuffs, painful right? In a very crowded place, they moved faster than my aunty and stole away her bags.

My aunty now got to my parents house without anything but her handbag, very awful thing. And when they left for church on a Sunday, a thief broke into the house and stole the TV and some other items. It is now as if this season is the season for thieves. The luck my parents had is that there is an hotel next to the house that has a CCTV camera facing their house, they met the hotel manager and accessed the video recording, and found out who it was.

The thief had sole the TV, the mother begged my parents not to arrest the thief, so the mother had to refund the money back to the person that bought the TV and get it back. Some of the stolen items could not be retrieved, the mother of the guy paid for every single one of them. Just that my parents are not violent, the thief would have been dealt with the normal way people handle them. It's the birth of Jesus Christ we're celebrating, how does stealing fit in? Isn't this season supposed to be about love, peace and reconciliation with God? I tire oh.

Some police officers always like standing at this particular roundabout that is always very busy, extorting money from vehicles for no reason. Instead of trying to reduce the heavy traffic, they make it worse, allowing vehicles that bribe them to make illegal turns and drive one way. The junction was adjacent to our house, we see this everyday. I remembered how they embarrassed my brother when dropped from a taxi, and crossed the road back home, thinking he was running from them.

But on this fateful day, their deeds catched up with them, convoy of army were passing along that road and got stuck in the go-slow, some military officers walked on foot to the front to see what is causing the go-slow. Only to find the police doing what they always do there, the army officers got pissed off and extremely angry. The police got surrounded, disarmed, and made to do frog jump, accompanied by whips from the koboko. I saw surprised seeing army officers dealing with police officers in that manner.

Some of the police officers tried to escape, they ran and got chased by the army officers. One of the police officers ran into our compound, he removed his police uniform, leaving only the white T-shirt he wore under, in order to disguise himself as a civilian. He begged my mother not to expose him to the army officers, it was a funny moment for me, my mother was like, "so now you can beg? But the only thing you know is collect money from people". We didn't expose him, the humiliation was enough.

People watched as the police officers got drilled, people looked happy oh, because this police officers are always on people's nerves. No police officer showed up there again for a week, but you know them na, they started coming around again after a week, bit by bit, I guess they make a lot of money from that spot. We look forward to when the army will visit them again there. I remembered this incident that happened few years back, because of the numerous recent news of police officers extorting money from citizens illegally.

I was walking back home from work few days ago when a white Mercedes Benz stopped in front of me, the glass winded down and a guy in dreadlock tried to talk to me, I was really very tired and wanted to get home as quick as possible, so I tried not to sound rude to the guy. I asked him what he wanted so I can continue heading home, he didn't really have anything reasonable to say, and when I started walking away, he said, "how much for a night?"

Deep inside me I was boiling, but I was out of strength to reply the guy, I kept mute and used the little strength I had still I got home, shows how tired I was. I was very angry after I took my bath and ate something, I wondered why that guy will say such a thing to me, I dressed decently and didn't look like someone cheap or desperate for money. I don't conceive the idea that ladies must depend on guys for money, I work for my money and can take care of myself.

The following day as I woke up and was preparing to go to work, I heard news of girls that got killed, butchered, stacked in a bag and disposed at a junction that leads to my street. I thought to myself that no other set of people, would have done this, other than the type that tried to buy me with money the previous night when I walking home. Girls these days, because of hardship fall easily to traps like this and have their life taken away in a brutal way.

If all the girls will stop depending on guys for money, live decently and responsible, I doubt that this ritual guys will see anyone to use for their evil act. It breaks my heart as I write this; one of those girls that got killed happens to be someone I know, we're not close, but at least I use to see her around and I know where she lives. How do you comfortable follow somebody with so much money and luxury, yet no one knows the source of the money.

Girls have to be wise in this end of the year if they want to live and see next year and beyond, stop being desperate for money, only people that are alive enjoy money, there is no enjoyment of money in the grave. Until girls come to this realization and call themselves to discipline, rituals will continue to wax strong, this is the fourth time that deaths like this is happening in my area within a month.

I remember something that happened when I was still a teenager, it stays with me till today. That time, if a teenager is reported to our church to have insulted an adult, stolen, or carried out other similar acts, the teenager will be laid down in front of the church on a Sunday and flogged. I remember watching others get flogged, I prayed it didn't get to me.

Like it or not, it was discipline, and we behaved well. One day I washed my elder brother's trousers and found a 500 naira note, I took the money happily and started budgeting what to buy with it. Before I finished washing, my brother walked up to me and asked if I had seen some money in his clothes while washing them. I wanted to lie, but couldn't, I told him "yes".

He told me that he saw when I found the money in his pocket and wanted to know if I will say the truth. So this is how I would have been flogged in church. As at then, I did everything respectfully and honestly, I can't remember insulting my parents even for once, because of the fear of being disciplined in front of many people, could be humiliating, so I avoided at all cost.

But just this evening, I saw a teenager beating up the mother and insulting the handicapped father, and saying that nothing will happen. The teenagers that were disciplined back then didn't commit offense of this nature, because there was high level of discipline. But now, kids will be comfortably disrespecting elders, and there will be nobody to discipline them, not even the parents.

The church used to be concerned in the way the kids were being brought up, in my opinion I will say I like those days where you will be called out in church and disciplined if you misbehaved. But now even the adults are also misbehaving. The Bible made it clear; "spare the rod and spoil the child". Now that the rod is being spared, kids have spoilt beyond repair in this age.

I travelled for about a week now to visit my elder sister, it has been a while since I visited her, I decided to use my short leave from work to spend it with her. Barely few days after I left, I heard shocking gossips about me. Why didn't the person say it when I was around, human beings are just ridiculous at times. This was someone that I was very close to, we smile and eat together.

People quarreled in the compound after I travelled, and my name was brought into the quarrel, a particular girl said that her dead mother's body is fresher than mine, that I'm pretending, that I have bunch of men I flirt with, that I follow small boys, that my character is extremely bad. I began to wonder how all this talks had to do with the people that were quarrelling, it sickens me.

One of the gossipers chatted me and told me all what was said about me, I chatted the person that said it and she told me about what every other person said too. Everybody in that yard smiles and plays with me, but literally they don't like me even by a fraction, just few days away from home and a lot of talks are out already. I have been thinking about it since morning, restlessly.

It's so sad to find out that the people that you think love you so much, don't even like you at all. But then I thought to myself, this things must exist, people must talk and try to bring you down, it is not a new thing, but I didn't expect it from this kind of people that were so close to me. But I also realize that the things they said about me doesn't define me, that is not who I am, so I'll have to ignore.

As I will be traveling back to that compound in the next few days, I will be more careful how I chose my words, the people I regard as my friends, the way I relate with people. Believe it or not, not everybody that smiles with you, likes you. I have experienced that now. I am already reevaluating myself as I'm preparing to go back there soon, consciousness and wisdom is vital in this.

A long time ago, by then I had just concluded my secondary school education, my mum who is a policewoman bought me a phone, and the phone almost landed me in serious trouble. By then, is wasn't working yet, I was always at home sleeping, eating, watching TV, and pressing my phone. The power supply wasn't stable in that region so I had to look for where to charge whenever my phone was almost running out of battery.

On this fateful day, I went to charge my phone in a barbing salon, I went there to meet other people charging, I plugged my phone too. Few minutes after, a lady that went outside, came back inside and complained that her phone has been stolen right where I was sitting with three other girls. We helped her search for the phone but couldn't find it, she accused the three of us of stealing the phone.

She went outside, and after a couple of minutes, she returned with policemen to arrest the three of us who sat there, we were taken as suspect to the station for interrogation. I called my mum, but she said that she won't be able to come immediately, when it was 4pm in the evening, the DPO asked the policemen to lock the three of us in the cell. Fear gripped me, I never imagined that such a day would ever come.

Few minutes after we were thrown into the cell, my mum who is a policewoman finally came, and exercised her power as a force person and I was released immediately, leaving the other two girls in cell. The other two girls were released the next day, after it was discovered that the girl who claimed her phone was missing, misplaced the phone outside the place we were charging, none of the three of us were responsible for it.

Although the phone was tracked and recovered, she was also made to spend a night in the cell for wrongfully accusing us. Since then, I always feel reluctant to go to somebody's shop and charge my phone, even till today, it could have been worse for me back then if my mum wasn't a policewoman. I'll rather pay money to charge than look for free spot where I'll hang around, that cell wasn't a nice place to behold.