Oh! My Home…😭
This is a completely fictional series. However, it is inspired by actual events occurring daily in my country, Nigeria. The goal is to tell the everyday Nigerian story, and in doing so, inspire more and more of us to thank God for, pray for and work hard to build an excellent Nation.
This is the first entry.
[Panting, out of breath] I set out today believing it will be a good day. I’m a superstitious man and all the signs were there. I grabbed my carry bag, containing my notebook and tape recorder…
I came to Kaduna on a research project: a sentiment analysis of the different regions in the country ahead of the 2019 elections. We had selected Kaduna and Sokoto for interviews in the North West region as they would give a good representation of the sentiments of the region and are supposedly also quite safe.
I had just finished interviewing Mr Haruna when I saw people frantically running…
Distant Gunshots…
I joined them. We were all running away from the sounds of the gunshots. There were so many of us. People ran in many different directions, all trying to outrun the gunshots or find a safe place to hide. I’m currently hiding out in an old, abandoned shipping container with a bunch of people. Most of us are praying, some are crying: we just want to outlive today. Hopefully we will, hopefully this will all blow away soon.
“Oga shut up, shut up! Make una keep quiet them don dey near, make them no know say we dey inside here”
Silence…
[about 30 seconds later] Gunshots, screams… Lots of Gunshots, lots of gunshots…
“Bastards!!!”
[About 10 seconds later] Distant sound of tyres screeching and a car zooming off…
Silence…
What you have just listened to is from a voice recorder found in Kachia village after the violence and killings that happened on the 21st October, 2018. Nearby, we also found a small black carry bag with a notebook inside.
The notebook seems to have served 2 purposes: From the front, the owner took notes while from the back, it served as some sort of daily diary.
The last entry was dated Sunday, 21st October, 2018. It reads:
8:30am. The skies are clear. Blue with a dusty hue, signalling the approaching harmattan season.
I love this weather: cool, but not too cold; dry, but not lip breaking.
It will be a good day.
His body was never found.
