I have always loved you Omo. First as a friend to make splashes in those rain puddles as we toddled home from school in kindergarten. I didn’t know any other kind of love. We would play for hours and you would forget to go home until your parents came for you. Your mom would […]
Ramiya
Summer, 2015. I woke up from sleep with a chill and a headache. I dressed up, popped an icebreaker into my mouth, pulled on my old sweater. I was going to have exams the next day so I went to the library to study (my room gets too comfortable sometimes, haha) .As I walked out […]
Dear Ivy
Dear Ivy, I am under serious pressure as I write you this. Pressure from my skull trying to cave in on itself, pressure from the need to not explode. Pressure from the heightened beatings of my heart, pressure from my fingers running faster than my hands. I have known you for about 3 […]
Redemption
“When you’re upside-down, then you see it all You’ve spent all your time pushing on a ‘pull’ door”- For King And Country Sometimes it takes a defeat to learn victory. If you grew up like I did- church boy, godly family, godly schools, godly friends, you know there’s a certain amount of confidence in your […]
Lisa
All the writing advice I’ve read always warn: Never start a story by describing the weather. But this story won’t make any sense if i didn’t begin from the weather. For months, North York has been covered in snow. But 3 weeks ago the snow melted and the spring breeze chilled the place for a […]
What Brume Said
Brume. This guy i admire in my class because the lowest grade he’s ever got in school was an A- . He happens to be Nigerian and that’s a real comfort when I’m sitting in a class full of Chinese, Scandinavian and the odd Canadian. Weird thing is, even though I’ve known him for four […]
Athletes of the Sun
When I first heard about ATHLETES OF THE SUN I was a ten-year-old boy living in Port Harcourt. The adults were talking about it excitedly. Aunty Bernice said something like “oh, you can’t look at it directly, you have to pour water in a bowl and look at the reflection so it doesn’t damage your […]
Brother Silas
“Silas, what are you doing?!” The Voice screamed in his head, louder this time. That Voice that always told him when there would be a surprise test. That Voice that always told him when not to try the ATM because it would debit him without paying and then swallow his card. That Voice that told […]
Madam Chichi
The first night Mayowa came home drunk, I was disappointed. He reeked of vomit, sweat, a strange perfume that was neither mine nor his, and of latex. I didn’t ask where he’d been or what he’d done. He wouldn’t have answered me- he was too drunk to even take off his socks himself. He would […]
Sotonye X
It took me a little while to appreciate the change in that room. There was suddenly so much space between the bed and the TV that you could probably play indoor soccer. Clothes hanging neatly in the closet, shoes stacked properly in racks, dishes in the right places, and that faint hint of pizza going […]
Sotonye X
You know when the bible said “As the deer pants for water”? so did sotonye’s soul long to just reply that message. She whimpered like a kid as her fingers landed on the keyboard, I’ve not seen her type that fast before “What are you doing?” I sounded too inquisitive and I knew it. “Is […]
Sotonye X
Sotonye grabbed her phone to reply the text like she had just been given food after a three-day fast. She kept asking me if it was good enough, if it didn’t sound too desperate, all the while, accusing me of having an ‘annoying grin’ plastered on my face. Finally, she sent the message, agreeing to […]
John Mangoseed II
When I “awoke”, it was to the smell of rotting plant life. Someone had brought in some flowers when I was out cold. Probably roses. Or violets. Hard to tell when I couldn’t move a muscle. Wait a minute- I smelt that. I didn’t even notice when my olfactory senses returned. It felt good- you […]
Sotonye IX
By the time it was 9:30pm, Soso had become a quivering mass of Jelly. She lay face down on her mattress. Now that I thought of it- Soso never bothered to have a bedframe. She’d just return from anywhere and throw herself down. Whenever she woke up from sleep, she’d make a path through the […]
Sotonye VIII
I went over to Soso’s house in the evening. She had just bought the new BIOSHOCK Blu-Ray and I couldn’t wait to try it. I didn’t need to knock- I had my spare key from all those gameathons. I was sure Nonso and Ethel had theirs as well. When I let myself in, Soso was […]
John Mangoseed
My name is John Mangoseed. You can call me John. I was a pretty normal guy until this time last year. I had a Job I hated but did with all my heart, I had co-workers that were basically my whole social life, I lived in a crappy apartment where the roof leaked in […]
Sotonye VII
When Soso left, I headed right back to my laptop. I had just made a highly debatable claim, that jogging makes the skin glow better. Of course when I said it, I had no scientific proof; I just know that the girls I see jogging tend to have healthier-looking skin than the others. I googled […]
How to Survive NYSC orientation
So you bloody otondos have finally made it to camp. All the tension while you waited for “mobilisation“; all the anxiety when you heard horror stories of people that were sent to bush camps in far-flung corners of the country. Maybe your worst fears were confirmed- you queued up, pushed, snarled at people, lied […]
Sotonye VI
Early the next day, I felt a banging on my door. I say felt instead of heard because someone was literally pounding on my door so loudly it rattled the little glass candle-stands that lined the window sill. I flipped over in bed- maybe they would go away. “Nigga I’m gonna kick down this door […]
Sotonye V
Sotonye turned around and started walking away. I shoved Tinu out of the way and started following her. Tinu dragged me back by my elbow and I shot her an acidic look. “Oh, so that’s how it is? You’re leaving all of this for your boyfriend. Bros over hoes isn’t it?” She said, anger smoking […]
How to Survive Law School: Court Attachment
The goals of the externship programme are stated in your externship handbook. The people over at law school must be listening because last year it was in hard copy and in some campuses people had to pay 500 naira to get one. You already know that time is running out. Some people already have a […]
Sotonye IV
When I finished breakfast, I took to Facebook for my rescue mission. I asked simply, “Ladies, What’s the first thing about makeup every girl should know?” While I waited for their responses, I started googling every fashion show and personality I knew (or had pretended to know) apart from Kim Kardashian. I wished I had […]
Sotonye III
“Sotonye…let me explain a few things”. She looked at me, straight in the eye. “guys are attracted to what they can see” “well they see me but no one stops long enough to even say hi or anything” “that’s what I’m saying. They are attracted to what they can see. Technically, they see can’t see […]
Sotonye II
“Sotonye…” I began. “What are you saying?” she turned over on the bed and faced the wall. Since when did she become too shy to look at me? “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. It’s cool to be all buddy-buddy with everyone. But there’s just something that’s missing. I can’t really explain it…but I […]
Sotonye
When she she showed up at my door, I knew something was up. She hardly ever came to my house- that was one of her many “Because-I-Don’t-want-To”s “do you think I’m stubborn?“ she asked. No good morning, no how-was-your-night…nothing. “of course you are” I said. “you didn’t even think about what I asked you“ she […]
How to reBuild a Nation (part 3)
How to reBuild a Nation (part 3) Defining our National Standard is the starting point of the planning stage. What is the barest minimum a Nigerian should have access to in Health, Education, Housing, Food, Power Supply, Transportation and Communication? What is the barest level of religious tolerance acceptable? When we know what our standards […]
How to reBuild a Nation (Part 2)
Defining a National Vision can be quite a feat, you know? We all come from different places. While a man raised in Lagos may dream of having a country having facilities that rival and/or surpass Disneyland, the O2 Arena, Old Trafford, the Sydney Opera House and the Burj Al-Arab; the man from deep in […]
How to reBuild a Nation
So our nation has been destroyed by the faulty foundation our well-intentioned heroes past laid for us. We could spend thousands of pages analysing who said what or who did what and who should have done what and did not…and miss the point. Our Fathers built a magnificient high-rising structure on a foundation that was […]
Olanrewaju Gbenga-Martins
Olanrewaju. Gbenga. Martins. That was the first thing everyone noticed about her- all her names were male names. Rather convenient for when she needed to get things done by proxy. Or when she needed to slip in and out of offices unnoticed. That lady was is of the best things to happen to me. I […]
DEATH DOES NOT SHOW LOVE
I will never forget how mother was brought home from the office that day. She looked like a vegetable though uncle Tom said it was only a slight fever but I knew mother’s situation was more than that. Mother stopped going to work which was very un-workaholic of her. When I asked why, she told me […]
Gerrymandering (or my 24th Birthday Speech)
Thank you everyone. Not everyone could call to wish me happy birthday, and really I don’t mind. Don’t beat yourself up over it. I had some fun, thanks to the Faith Life Assembly Choir. And to Vivian who did some amazing housekeeping and cooking this weekend. And to the people who refused to let me […]
Diary of a confused schoolgirl
We had to talk. We badly needed to. I’m talking about that let’s-get-real-with-eachother, no-holds-barred, put-all-the-cards-on-the-big-round-table kinda talk. God and me, we had serious issues to iron out. Let me start from the beginning. You see, I came into university with pride as high as an acme. I was one you could call a boss, especially […]
Tricol High Eight: Tuckshop
Tuckshop. Ah! Tuckshop. The best thing that happened to Tricol Students. In the midst of the chaos of the daily routine, There was one reprieve we found in tuckshop. You may not understand. Why would we value a snack by 12:15 when we had breakfast, lunch, dinner and night snacks? Simple. We were kids, […]
Dear Mr American Soldier
WARNING: there’s a gory image in this post. Please Keep reading only if you’re sure you can handle it. Thanks! My reality is shifting. Years ago as 10-year-olds playing in the sand, when we thought about the United States of America, we pictured it as a land flowing with milk and honey. It was […]
The Catechist
Jerry Ifeanyi Chiemeke I ran into him often but we never “officially” started talking until the last month of law school. Before that, It was the usual comment or two on my blog, and on His when he started blogging. I remember being vaguely impressed with his blogging skills as he said he started the […]
Surviving law school: The wait
Gentlemen in waiting. Hope it’s okay to call you that? I’m glad you made it through registration. Some of you are still straggling behind because you DIDN’T listen to my advice about registration. Some of you just didn’t get to read the first installment because your friends didn’t share with you. Don’t hate them, […]
Of Friends and Gentlemen
My name is Chloe. Believe it or not I acquired that name in my 200level from my room mate, Tosin Akinyemi (Mega). Mega gave me the name cos just like Chloe Sullivan in Smallville, I always happened to have a piece of information about just anybody in our university at the time. If I didn’t […]
Tricol high 7
and now, onto something on the hilarious side >>> and yes, this part’s true! *********************************************************************************************** Now, they made us prep supervisors. (I can hear the gears in your minds grinding!) There were lots and lots of cute girls in our classes. Classic among them were Ema Oko. Omodele Makinde. Kimberly Obi. Moyo Osinkolu. Joy Majebi. […]
Tricol High Six
Ah…Hecareth. Nobody would understand what could bring a weakling like me together with a muscleman like he. Tall and short. Meaty and skinny. Popular and unpopular. Loved and Hated. We were the unlikely team, silently building ourselves up. HE was the one person who had nothing bad to say about Electromon. He taught me stuff. […]
To my faithful readers
Because you give me such valuable feedback (not all of you are nice though), I’m constantly working to improve your reader experience. I’m currently experimenting with eye-friendly fonts and colours. I’m also working on giving proper references for the images I feature in my post (some of you think I create them ALL). Because of […]
At The Altar
So I cast my mind back over the years…The storms we weathered, the fears we conquered. I look at the opportunities we ignored, the deadlines we narrowly missed. I look at those Oh – My – God did – you – see – that moments- those rare suns that set as we watched; those times […]
Abby
In the fall of 2017, I started to drive. I finally decided I’d had enough of hopping buses, waiting forever for TTC buses to arrive, jumping across puddles, being eternally hungry because a 5 minute drive home would take 30 minutes by bus. So I went to the Yorkdale Toyota and spoke with a […]
Technically
When I met Syandene, I felt that insane attraction. The kind that makes me question every choice I’ve ever made – and every option I ever rejected. Am I sure I’m in the right place? Doing the right thing? Dating the Right person? She had these legs that looked like they were baked […]
The Jurist
The light of day seem too bright for my face I’ll retire to darkness, a home in the chamber of hate A new dawn is another page, but these verses don’t change A heart that once loved is now a home for nightmares Since memories became torture, the next breathe scares My heart fray […]
Pale Horizons
This silence echo cold whispers of dread Only moonlight prevail the blackness Finding my feet in this pond of fear Sea breeze grace my face with harshness I make way through the ocean’s coat of darkness With only lamplight aboard my ship I travel the depths and sail the dark west To find what I’ve […]
The Day Your Silence Becomes Death
The time has come for you The moment life divorces you The day you can’t escape The last measure on age’s tape Day that robs your breathe Day you can’t repent Day when decay becomes a friend Day you sleep beneath earth’s bed Your haven for all seasons of toil Your new home […]
Rumcake
The day I met Rumcake, I was ready to die. March, 2016. I was depressed. I remember distinctly thinking “If I hadn’t been born, it may have been better”. I know, I know everybody knows me as a happy, noisy person. So The Peter can be depressed? Yes he can. And I was. […]
We are Not Goats
A poem is not a poem Just because you break sentences into run-off lines It is not because you use words As sharp and swords To show that you can rhyme All the time It is not a poem because you employ Gargantuan phrases of flabbergasting opacity It is not a poem because your […]
Full Circle
You’re back at the place you swore you’d never be. You love her even though she’s smashed your heart to pieces. She smashed your x-box to a thousand more pieces. She destroyed all the ties you had to all your friends. At first you told them they didn’t understand the responsibilities of being […]
oga joseph
When I was in Lagos this February, I went to see a movie with my Friend of Many Years. We’d met in camp during NYSC orientation in Nkwerre, Imo state. I believe it was the luxurious sound of my voice and my amazing speech on parade ground that made her fall madly in love with […]
Spitting Pap (or my 26th Birthday Speech)
It was my birthday yesterday and I hated it. Shocker? No. Not like something spectacularly bad happened. Just a series of tiny incidents that made me lose interest in the day. I’d been sick with food poisoning the day before. I woke up and somehow twisted my foot as I was getting out of […]