chapter 5

Chapter One

He chose to spend his night on the cold tiled floor; he ignores the warmth of the bed. Since there was an interruption of the power supply, the room was surely going to be hot when it is midnight.

In Lagos, around 2003 After the Civil war and transition from the Military rule to the Civilian rule by General Abdulsalam Abubakar. Nigeria, especially the east has suffered the phenomenon of Marginalization. So they decided to succeed and form their own Sovereignty, named Biafra away from Nigeria, but the Nigerian government wouldn't allow that to happen. Instead Biafra and Nigeria conglomerated to become one sovereign state. Most of the Eastern Nigerians came to the West due to the occurrence of insurgency. Jefferson Okonta was one of the Eastern Nigerians who came to the West because the Eastern stubborn soldiers were looking for youths to join the armed force.

Deep in his sleep, Jefferson dreamt of a heist in one of the biggest banks in the world. He has addicted himself to some thrilling series movie especially the popular money heist and Prison break and some comics of Marvel and DC. So what runs on his mind are colors, arts and wisdom most of them of which were shared by his Father. He dreamt of some criminals trying to rob a bank with heavy weapons. As they were able to enter the bank, having stolen what they needed. They tried to escape but couldn't find a route to do that as the exit and entrance were heavily guarded with SWAT and Super cops, in his dream, he helped the Robbers escape from the bank and later he ran away but the robbers were still caught. He smiles again in his sleep and he turned his head to the wall, raising his left leg from the floor to the bed. Since his bed was not too high. His alarm had just ringed twice for one minute. But he uses his hand consciously and unconsciously to turn off the alarm. Now it is some minutes after 8am. The alarm rings aloud again for the third time for another one minute.

"Brrrrinnnngggg..." The alarm sounds again, it vibrated to the edge of the bed and falls on his head. This time around, he is raised by the thoughts of his head and his unemployed status. In Nigeria, no one will wake you up from your slumber. Your problems and dreams will surely wake you up.

In the suburban areas of Lagos, Jefferson Okonta, in his late 20s-wakes up hurriedly trying to remember his schedules for the day. He looks around, trying to get the position of the wall clock. The short hand of the wall clock is above 8 and the long hand is on 5. Apparently, it is 8:25am. He jumped off the bed! Hazy and oblivious of what time his alarm rang and how he didn't hear but turn off the vibration. Sucked into life on the street with an ever-increasing hopelessness, such is the way he employed to escape his pain.

He remembers his schedule at the Lagos Tribune Newspaper owned by one of the crème de la crème in Lagos: Chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Knowing that he was already late for his interview where he was to present his curriculum vitae (CV) he decided to listen to his thought on having more rest. Since he already must have lost the job, he would go later and beg them and put the blame on the Lagos traffic. He seats on the bed and put on his radio, even as a yellow or baby journalist, it is his duty to be aware of the happenings in the state. He tunes the radio to Channel 7.5 Wazobia FM.

The reporter said, "Today we live in a vastly different world. The person more likely to lead is not the physically stronger person, it is the more creative person, the more intelligent person, the more innovative person, and there are no hormones for those attributes. A man is as likely as a woman to be intelligent, to be creative, and to be innovative. We have evolved but it seems to me that our ideas have not evolved." 

The reporter paused and asked his guest on the air some questions.

"In Africa and even in Nigeria what do you see about the Gender issue?"

Then Jefferson increased the volume of the radio because of the Tedx lines of the book he once read which was "We all should be feminist" so he relaxed better and was happy to know that today's guest was his favorite author, Chimamda Adichie, the author of Purple Hibiscus, Americana, Half of a Yellow Sun and even her Tedx speech, "We all should be feminist"

His guest, Chimamda replied, "Some weeks ago I walked into the lobby of one of the best Nigerian hotels. And a guy at the entrance stopped me and asked me annoying questions. Because the automatic assumption is that a Nigerian female walking into a hotel alone is a sex worker. And, by the way, why do these hotels focus on the ostensible supply rather than the demand for sex workers. In Lagos, I cannot go alone into many reputable bars and clubs. They just dont let you in if you are a woman alone. You have to be accompanied by a man. Each time I walk into a Nigerian restaurant with a man, the waiter greets the man and ignores me. The waiters are products of a society that has taught them that men are more important than women. And I know the waiters dont intend any harm, but it is one thing to know intellectually, and quite another to feel it emotionally. Each time they ignore me, I feel invisible. I feel upset. I just want to tell them that I am a human just like the man."

Immediately, Jefferson puts off the radio because the feminism discussion is just so boring to him knowing that those ideas of Chimamda Ngozi Adichie were ideas gotten from her stay abroad. He knows the Chimamda used to be a Nigerian Eastern girl knowing the cultures of the East about the Man and Woman issue but when she got abroad of course civilization will develop one's faculty. Everyone should know that especially in relationships, aside career, politics or government. There cannot be a two sailor on a ship or else there would be problem. In the Eastern part of Nigeria, it is allowed for women to go to school, earn a living and do well but the reverse is the case as most women have decided to turn themselves into parasite to the host of a man. Only a few out of these women think brilliantly of which Chimamda Ngozi Adichie and some other people are one of them.

Now, the time is 8:40am. He decided to tune the radio to another music station where they played Reggae music. This time around, it was Bob Marley's old song. "I wanna love you"