EPISODE 21 – THE CRIME CALLED ‘GIRLFRIEND SNATCHING’

Hello Blogville! It’s been another loooooong while. Somehow, it’s been so difficult lately to keep up with life as a blogger and for this reason, I cannot help but salute the courage of blogville’s finest and most dedicated bloggers who have been able to keep up the tradition of dropping posts consistently over the years (or months as the case may be). When I think of bloggers like Solomonsydelle, Writefreak, Original Mgbeke, Rita, Bumight (she’s been a runaway sometimes though), Nice Anon and recently, Myne Whitman, Dufalicious, Enkay and so many other wonderful bloggers I cannot being to mention now for the sake of time and space, I can’t help but wonder how they have been able to keep up that blogging culture. Or is it that they have three heads or something? Well, I choose to attribute my disappearance from the scene to a loss of my ‘mojo’ or as Spesh called it ‘writer’s block’. Whatever reasons they were, it feels good to be back and I am seriously hoping I could do at least three or four more consistent posts before I disappear again. Anyways, I have begun making my New Year resolutions for 2010 and one of the major ones is ‘to become a faithful and devoted blogger’ like I used to be less than a year ago. So help me God! Did I hear someone say ‘Amen’ to that? Same to you.

GEEBEE’S TRIP continues with Episode 21 and the title of this episode might sound a little striking and probably mind-boggling. If I may ask this question; how would you feel as a guy if you saw your girl with some other guy? Now, that’s not just the case, else there’d have been no reason to give a shit (well, some would anyway). The scenario here gets a little tougher. Imagine you have a friend who convinced you to break up your girlfriend and you actually go ahead and ‘dump’ the babe and before you spell the words B R E A K U P, you see this guy and your now ‘ex’ girl cruising all over town. I bet most guys would try to kill that guy or at least call him a ‘backstabber’ to his face or behind his back. That was the exact situation I found myself in May 2005. Now, for those who have not been following GEEBEE’S TRIP, let’s do a little quiz:

Who among the following people represents me?
A. The Boyfriend
B. The ‘Backstabber’
C. The Girlfriend.

Send your answers (A, B or C) to 1807 before 12 midnight on December 15 and stand a chance of winning a trip into the New Year 2010. SMS charged at normal rates. All mobile networks are eligible; national and global.

Now, that was a foolish joke but come to think of it, some ‘wise’ folks would actually choose option C. Without wasting any more time (a welcome back post really shouldn’t be that long after all. Let’s hope this one’s not an exception), I’ll tell you all that the answer to the question is B. I guess I should let that sink in for a while . . . . . . . . Yes, B for Backstabber. I was indeed the backstabbing guy in question but before y’all begin to crucify me, I suggest you go through the previous episodes so you’ll understand better. This is not an attempt to exonerate myself from any crime (that’s if I indeed committed any crime) especially since on no grounds should any right thinking guy convince his friend to dump a girl because he intends to go out with her.

Well, after sometime, I was able to convince Sam to break up with BG. At that time, it seemed the most reasonable thing to do. It was more than obvious he was not at all interested in her and unfortunately she could not or chose not to smell the brewing coffee. On that fateful day, Sam and I had just finished lectures and were about leaving the school premises when we sighted BG coming towards us.
“Geebee, could you excuse me for a sec?” Sam said in a half whisper.
“No qualms” I said and walked on, wondering what he was up to. At that point, I had already begun to feel he would never come around to actually breaking up with her and in fact, I also decided I might have been sounding too keen on seeing him break up with her, which was never really my intention. I only felt he needed to break up with her so he could stop treating her as badly as he had been doing all the while.

Sam joined me about five minutes later. I had watched curiously from where I stood a little distance away as he conversed with BG. Their talk had been very brief, with my friend seeming to do most of the talking. As I watched him leave her, I immediately knew the conversation had not been a friendly one especially judging by the way she stood on the same spot as he walked away from her. A deep pang of guilt ran through me in that instant.
“Geebee, let’s go.” Sam said as he approached me.
I looked inquisitively at him as we walked on. We walked in silence towards the school bus stop for a while but my curiosity got the better of me.
“So what’s up?” I asked. “Wetin una dey talk?”
“I broke up with her” Sam said matter-of-factly.
That had been my suspicion already but at that moment, his confession hit me hard. I could not say a word for a few seconds. I knew I had convinced him to break up with her but I could not understand why I felt so guilty. I believed he had done the right thing but for a minute, I wished he had carried out his action without my influence.
“Do you feel bad about it?” I asked concernedly, in an attempt to ease my guilt.
“No. Why?” he said confidently. “I’m glad I finally got her off my back in fact. At least, I won’t have to worry about her pestering anymore”
“What did she say when you told her?” I asked.
He gave a sarcastic laugh as he spoke. “Can you imagine? She said she wanted to tell me the same thing too.”
I wondered if she actually told him that just to make him feel bad or if she really meant it but I had the feeling that she would never have wanted to end her relationship with him. I observed his countenance to see if he had any bad feelings about his actions. He looked okay and that sort of made me feel better. However, I still had the sad feeling beclouding me especially when I imagined how BG would be feeling at that moment. Minutes later we parted ways as he headed for his home. I found an excuse to wait at the bus stop. I was sure BG would come pretty soon. I felt I had to see her and make sure she was okay at least for that period. Sam’s bus had hardly left when I saw her approaching. My heart went out to her; however I was impressed by her calm mien. She did not at all look like someone who had just been dumped by a boyfriend.
“Hey Geebee, what’s up?” she said delightedly as she sighted me.
“I’m good,” I said. “How are you doing?”
“I’m okay. Where’s your friend?” she asked further.
I wondered if she wouldn’t suddenly burst into tears and the pang of guilt hit me again. I began to regret ever interfering in her relationship with my friend or encouraging him to break up with her. After all, she had never complained all the while about how he treated her. However, the deed had been done and I wished I could turn back the hands of time and simply mind my business.
“He took the first bus,” I said. “I’m waiting for the next one.”

A couple of minutes later, we sat in a bus on the way to our respective homes. For a while, we were both silent. I stared out through the window wondering what could be going on in her mind. I guess she felt she needed to talk to somebody about what had happened but she totally caught me off guard with the manner she came out.
“Geebee, do you know Sam and I have broken up?” she asked suddenly.
I stuttered for a second. “Really? Wao! He didn’t tell me that” I lied.
She shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. We weren’t really going out anyway” she said. Beneath those words, I could feel her pain. She was young and naïve and she truly cared about my friend. I realized I had pushed Sam into making a mistake.
“I’m sorry about that” I said.
She waved me off. “It doesn’t matter” she said again.
We sat in silence again but at a point I felt I was going to explode if I did not say what I had to say. I decided to take the plunge.
“BG” I began. “Hope you won’t be mad at me?”
She obviously did not understand me. “Why?”
I sighed. “I asked Sam to break up with you.”
The look in her eyes scared me for a second. I patiently awaited her reaction.

SEE YOU IN THE NEXT EPISODE OF GEEBEE’S TRIP.

A THOUGHT FOR NIGERIA

Before I say anything, I need to stress the fact that I am broke! As in, I need money like a plant needs water. On Saturday, I understood what it means to be really broke. I was on my way to Lekki Phase 1 and somehow I made a big mistake of entering a public bus. Well, it wasn’t really a mistake in the true sense of it because I had a choice but somehow in being careful of my financial capability at that time, I decided to do what I had to do. I had an appointment for 12 noon and I ended up arriving at my appointment location at around 1.45pm. Reason: Traffic! It was at this point that I really understood what the recent roadwork around the Lekki roundabout had really caused. Bloggers who live in Lekki and its environs would definitely understand what I am talking about. There’s been a move lately to eliminate the popular Lekki roundabout and this action has indeed caused untold hardship for commuters all over the Lekki axis. It’s been an ordeal and the only option in order not to arrive late for appointments remains taking a motorbike (otherwise known as ‘okada’). The solution sounds pretty easy except for the fact that the exorbitant fares would nearly drive you nuts, especially if you happen to be a ‘little broke’ like I was on that day. I just couldn’t afford to pay N400 from Ajah to Lekki Phase 1 and so for N70, I had to endure the hardship of sitting in a stuffy bus for almost two hours for a journey that ordinarily shouldn’t have taken less than twenty minutes. Tragic!



This post should have been done over two weeks ago in celebration of Nigeria’s independence but I just couldn’t find the time but then the fact that we are still in October makes it just okay to write a post in commemoration of our beloved country’s 49th birthday. I attended a church service on 4th of October that was more or less an ‘independence celebration service’ judging by my pastor’s sermon and other activities that took place in church on that day. In the course of listening to my pastor’s message, I got a further confirmation that indeed Nigeria still has a bright future and the fact that most of us have lost faith in this country hardly helps matters. In his sermon, my pastor explained that Nigeria has indeed got a wonderful future and a simple equation is all the country needs to get on the right track. The much publicized re-branding slogan should be analyzed first. Nigeria as a country in the effort to re-brand its bastardized image touts the new logo: Nigeria; Good People, Great Nation! Indeed! Our beloved country, instead of being congratulated and cheered by the international community has over the past months been ridiculed and attacked by the same international community with strong condemnation of our ‘re-branding exercise’ being an exercise in futility, and unfortunately, I agree with this judgment. Nigeria as a nation needs a total overhaul of its economy and not a foolish re-branding exercise. The so-called re-branding is like ‘wearing new clothes for a child who’s not had a bath in years’. Why not bath the kid first and then put some new clothes on him. My conclusion is Nigeria needs total deliverance.

In his sermon, my pastor explained that the ‘Nigeria; Good People, Great Nation’ catchphrase is an obvious farce at best because no nation can become truly great without the correct leadership. The future of the nation rests largely on the leadership since those in control of the country in a strong way determine what happens in the country. It is pretty easy to conclude that our lives and future as a nation are in the hands of these leaders and their actions go a long way in determining how far our nation would go and our rating in the sphere of things globally. Rather than pose with the unrealistic logo, it is best revised as: ‘Nigeria; Good People, Great Leadership, Great Nation’ for it is only when good people have the right leadership that a great nation could truly emerge. We need to have leaders who truly care about the affairs of the nation and not just themselves and their families. It is common practice in Nigeria today to rejoice whenever a close relative or someone you happen to know gets to a position of power politically. You find Nigerians with relatives who are local government chairmen, commissioners, governors or even local government councilors among other political positions thanking God continually and making statements like “Thank God o! It’s our time to enjoy!” Even devout Christians and Muslims who claim they are not corrupt make these same statements unconsciously. I now find myself wondering what these people mean when they decide it’s time to enjoy. Literarily, this means that your relative who gets to a position of power is there basically to serve JUST YOU and meet ONLY YOUR needs. If he does anything contrary, you begin to heap curses on him and claim ‘he has bitten the fingers that fed him’ especially if you happen to have done one little favour or more for him in the past. How pathetic? How would he meet your extraordinary needs without dipping his fingers into public money? How would your relative or friend perform his sworn responsibilities to the country when he has to think of what you and the rest of his siblings, family members and friends are asking him for?

The average Nigerian has come to totally subscribe to the ‘life is all about me’ policy. We are so individualistically-minded that we do not give a hoot about to others so long as we are okay. No country can move forward with this mentality. This mindset would only bring evil and all that come with evil as well. Leading a nation entails working towards achieving a collective goal or agenda. Every member of a group has individual goals and agendas too but for that group to succeed there is a strong need to place the general and collective agenda above any individual agenda. The moment a leader begins to place his personal agenda (his family’s and friends’ inclusive) above the collective agenda, he has defeated the purpose of the group’s collective agenda and that group cannot succeed. That is the basic problem Nigeria has today. Every one goes up there to represent himself (or herself) and not the country. If only our leaders would have a heart for the people, we would realize all our long awaited dreams and Nigeria will truly become the ‘great nation’ it claims to be. I believe there is a great future for our nation and we can begin to effect the much needed change from this moment. In a spiritual dimension, I was made to understand that the ‘49’ mark is pretty significant especially because it marks the dawn of the year of jubilee which is the 50th year. According to the Holy Bible, in the 50th year, all slaves in Israel are set free and a great feast is declared unto the Lord as a celebration of the dawn of a new generation. The fact that Nigeria is celebrating her 49th year of independence should indeed mark a new beginning for each and every one of us as citizens of this country. We are at the dawn of the year of jubilee and we need to tap into the spiritual significance of this and work towards the realization of all the promises associated with this occurrence.

It is also worthy of note that the salvation of our country doesn’t just rest with a great leadership. It actually begins with us as citizens of this great country. What is our attitude when it has to do with things that pertain to Nigeria? It is so easy to hear statements like “Nigeria is a useless country.” “I hate this country.” “Fuck this country.” “Nigeria can never be better,” etc. Realistic as these statements may sound, it does little to help the nation move forward. In a spiritual dimension, our confessions greatly matter and as such, it greatly helps when we make positive confessions about our lives and our country. We need to begin to believe in our country, Nigeria once again. It is so funny that citizens of Nigeria hardly pay any significant attention to the words of the national anthem and the national pledge. These are perhaps the words with the strongest spiritual significance yet most of us hardly take this fact into cognizance. One secret of the world’s greatest countries is the love of the citizens for their country. If citizens of Nigeria truly love their country, there are so many things that are done today that would not be done. We hear of endless cases of armed robbery, corruption, violence, unaccountability, slothfulness and nonchalance on the part of citizens and the government at all levels towards the affairs of the country and we wonder if there’s any hope for this country. I took time to study the words of the national anthem and the national pledge and realized the power that lies within those words we recite carelessly every day and take for granted. It is such a pity that most of us have even forgotten the words of our national anthem and national pledge. It has gotten so bad that even the young ones who have little or nothing on their minds find it hard to remember these words of commitment. It is hi-time children begin to be taught the need for total devotion to their country from childhood. It is so common to hear Americans say “God bless America!” Nigerians should be able to confidently say “God bless Nigeria!” and mean it in their heart’s deepest recesses. If only we could truly recite the words of the national anthem and pledge with our hearts, the country would indeed progress at a greater speed. Please, take time to digest the words of the national anthem below and see how indeed powerful these words are and how much impact they could make in our lives if only they are genuinely recited. The national anthem reads:

Arise, O compatriots
Nigeria’s call obey
To serve our fatherland
With love and strength and faith
The labour of our heroes past
Shall never be in vain
To serve with heart and might
One nation bound in freedom
Peace and unity

O God of creation
Direct our noble cause
Guide our leaders right
Help our youth the truth to know
In love and honesty to grow
And living just and true
Great lofty heights attain
To build a nation
Where peace and justice shall reign

I would however dwell more on the national pledge. It is necessary to note that whenever we utter the words of the national anthem or the national pledge, we are making a confession that is binding on us and any action that counters our confessions make us despicable in the eyes of our Creator. The national pledge in itself is actually a promise, an oath and any action taken by us contrary to the words we recite in this national pledge makes us unfit to stand before the Lord’s sight because the Almighty God greatly despises lips that speak lies. The words of our national pledge read:

I pledge to Nigeria, my country
To be faithful, loyal and honest
To serve Nigeria with all my strength
To defend her unity
And uphold her honour and glory
So help me God

These are indeed strong words to speak and not honouring these words make us liars and infidels who are not fit to live. As Nigerians, we need to search our hearts and discover in what ways we have not been faithful to our country and address these areas accordingly. Have we been loyal to Nigeria in our words, thoughts and actions? Have we been honest? Do we serve this country with all our strength or partially? Do we pray Nigeria stays united or we prefer the country is divided? Do we actually do things that uphold Nigeria’s honour and prestige internally and among the committee of nations? In reciting the pledge, we have made a vow and we need to keep that vow. The fact remains that if only Nigerians could truly love Nigeria and work towards the progress of the country, Nigeria would not only move forward but would be among the world’s greatest nations in a short while. The ball is in our court. We are the only ones who could decide our future.

GEEBEE’S TRIP WILL CONTINUE IN THE NEXT POST.

You could read the latest episode of GEEBEE’S TRIP here.

EPISODE 20 – ABOUT A GIRL

I’ve heard a lot of tales on matchmaking and all those ‘I-met-this-girl-or-guy-through-a-friend’ kind of stuff where it borders on relationships and dating. In fact, most people we have dated or are currently dating are people we met through one acquaintance or the other, a sure proof to the ‘no man is an island’ theory. It’s only in rare cases you bump into a total stranger and begin dating after a short while. Come to think of it, even in such cases, one thing or the other usually leads you to meeting that stranger. You probably happened to meet that person in the course of visiting a friend or just strolling casually in a random neighbourhood. As such, I can confidently say that you can never meet anyone just like that. The meeting has to happen through someone or through just anything. In fact, we have a perfect example on blogville. Take a look at Aloted and Writefreak. Now, y’all see what I mean, right? Now, what was the point of all that explanation? I wonder too, lol.

When I saw BG again in April/May 2005, I was somewhat surprised. I did not recognize her immediately. She actually remembered my name and after a little memory awakening, I remembered she was Sam’s girl, the one I had met once some months back.
“Hey, I remember you now,” I said. “Sam’s girl, right? BG or something,” I said half closing my eyes as I tried to recollect her name, more like as a way of compensating for the fact that she could remember mine.
“Yeah, that’s correct,” she said, smiling. “How come you could remember?” she asked teasingly.
I shrugged. “Reflex, I guess,” I said, feeling cool with myself that I passed the ‘name-remembering’ test. “Besides, you could remember mine.”
“Yes. I hardly forget names and faces,” she said further.
“Hmm, really?” I said, impressed. “That’s one problem I seem to have and it always makes me look like one who doesn’t care about people.”
She smiled again. “Nah, it’s not that bad now. People are different. Some have good memory in other stuff besides remembering names.”
I smiled especially because I knew she was right. I was such a person for one.
“So what are you studying here?” I asked.
“They gave me Business Administration,” she said, as though she hated the course. “I think I would have preferred English and Literature.”
I wondered what she had been thinking when she chose Business Administration when she really wanted some other course that was in fact pretty much more comfortable to study.
“It’s a long story,” she said as though reading my thoughts. I suspected she had probably been influenced by her folks or some other people into choosing her course of study, a more professional course as compared to English and Literature.
“So what are you studying?” she asked.
“Economics,” I said proudly. Indeed, I was glad I was studying a respectable course that could only be compared with the likes of Medicine and Law in the sciences and arts respectively. She seemed impressed.
“Ha, you people are the ‘efiwes’ o.”
We chatted a little further until she decided she had to go for a lecture. I had to attend mine too so I did not mind. In fact, during the brief chat, I had wanted to end the discussion a little earlier but she seemed like the talkative type and I did not want to make her look bad by my action so I simply played according to her tune. I was glad the chat was over at last. She had hardly taken a few steps when she turned again.
“Geebee, have you seen Sam today?” she asked.
“No, I’ve not” I said but I’m sure he’ll be around soon. It was about a few minutes to five pm and I was pretty early in school for that time. Usually, most of us came in around 5.30 pm but it was okay for the ‘freshers’ to come in before time. After all, they were the ones that ‘school was still shacking’ unlike those of us who had been around for a little while.

I saw BG again later that day with Sam and we all hung around together. I could easily see that Sam was not really interested in the fact that she was chilling with him and his friends and he did not hesitate to show that with his sulky attitude towards her. On the other hand, BG did not seem to get the message. She laughed and talked freely as though she was hanging out with the best crew on the floor. I understood almost immediately why Sam was a little reluctant in being seen with her. There were a good number of hot new girls around and he would not want any old girlfriend to spoil his new prospects. It was very much understandable. In fact, I would have done the same. However, I did not really like the manner in which Sam was making his discontent so obvious. I felt he could have at least given the girl a little respect at least for his friends’ sake. I was pretty sure my other friend; Simon felt the same way even if he did not make any comment. I was a little glad that BG appeared not to notice anything, or probably she chose to act as though she was not unhappy with Sam’s attitude.

From that day, I saw more and more of BG and at a point, I began to feel a little uncomfortable with how she was always around us. For a second, I began to agree with Sam’s probable thought that she was indeed ‘spoiling our runs’. Usually, most girls would not want to date a guy they had seen some other girl with. However, it was easy to see that BG simply enjoyed our company and felt it was natural to hang out with her ‘boyfriend’ and his friends rather than hang out with other people. Over the next few days, I got to understand that this girl was just a friendly girl with no inhibitions whatsoever as to how the guys she was hanging out with felt about her. She was the ‘nice’ and ‘naïve’ type and somehow even though I never really fancied her type, it was easy to like her. ‘Like’ here had nothing to do with romantic attraction. I simply liked her as a brother would like a younger sister. I kinda liked the innocence and naïveté she exuded but I preferred her as a friend rather than as a girlfriend. Physically, she was petite and cute and averagely beautiful but there were of course much more ‘physically endowed’ girls in the school and day by day, they were being snatched. Some other guys were interested in BG but she hardly gave them a second look probably because she felt she had Sam already and the fact that she was always around us hardly helped matters.

As the days progressed, Sam began to act more weirdly towards BG, sometimes deliberating avoiding her and making very little conversation whenever she was with us. At a point, she began to show signs of pain at her supposed boyfriend’s actions. Sam even went to the extent of flaunting other girls in front of her; an attitude I felt was rather childish. I felt it was not worth it trying to get rid of her by acting that way. I believed he could simply tell her he did not want to be with her and spare her the stress of believing she had a guy, when the guy hardly spoke to her. I decided to give Sam a piece of my mind.
“Guy, why don’t you just tell her you don’t want her and let her go?” I told him times without number. Usually, Sam would sigh as though he was confused on what to do.
“Geebee, I don’t know how to tell her. I would be hurting her by doing that now.”
“But you’re hurting her more by acting the way you act towards her,” I asserted further. “It’s either you change the way you act towards her or just let her go.”
“I’m acting this way so that she’d get angry and leave me alone.” Sam defended.
I sighed. “But it’s obviously not working,” I said. “Some girls are just that way. They don’t ever get the picture no matter how plain you show it. It’s best you let her know you’re not interested in her anymore. You’ll spare her more pain by that.”
I shared my thoughts with Simon too and he seemed to agree with me. I felt I was being too concerned about the situation but I just couldn’t help watching the way Sam was treating BG. I felt she didn’t deserve such treatment. She was just a nice and friendly girl. Sam however continued to hesitate until finally he decided to follow my advice.

SEE YOU IN THE NEXT EPISODE OF GEEBEE’S TRIP

EPISODE 19 - 999 KISSES FOR A SPECIAL WOMAN

Taking a look at the title of this episode, one would wonder why I did not simply imitate Will Smith and make it ‘a thousand kisses.’ I mean, what’s the big deal in adding just one to 999 and making it 1000, a seemingly more perfect number. But I beg to differ. 999 sounds more perfect to me in right now. Aside from the fact that 999 is a hell of a lot sexier than 1000 (don’t you think so too?), I have noticed that lately I’ve fallen in love with a particular set of days. I call them my ‘special triples.’ Think of days like the 6th of June 2006 (06-06-06 0r 666. lol); 7th of July 2007 (07-07-07), 8th of August 2008 (08-08-08) or the similar earlier days in 2001 through 2005 and now, what have we here? The last of the single triple series for at least another one thousand years - 9th of September 2009 (09-09-09 or better still, 999). Hmmm, sounds pretty special, don’t you think? In fact, if only I could be ‘Geebee Almighty’ for just a second, I would be tempted to declare a field day of blessings and great surprises for everyone. Now, that’d be extra cool, wouldn’t it? Before now, I used to call these days ‘jinxed triples’ even up till last year. In fact, I did a post on ‘jinxed triples’ on 08-08-08. There seemed to exist this natural assumption that such days were evil. I think it actually began with 06-06-06 where some sick folks thought doomsday was actually here because of the semblance to the number 666. Come to think of it, today could actually be doomsday. Simply invert 999 and you’ll see. Hoooooo, I’m shaking! I’m shaking! lol.

This episode is actually dedicated to a special woman; one who has perhaps come to mean so much to me and could easily be considered to be my ‘better half’ (not that I totally subscribe to that term though) like they say. I’m dedicating this post to no other but my own girl and babymama, who happens to be a year older today. Yeah, she was born on the 9th of September many years ago, which makes her a 999 celeb. Now, I wonder if this babe is not evil. lol. This woman is not just my number one woman (besides my mum and daughter though. Who says a man cannot have three number one women). She’s the mother of my two-year old daughter, TY and I just thought it would fit so perfectly to continue the series by introducing her into the picture. I would not be using her real name for anonymity sake just like I haven’t been using real names of all characters so you can excuse me for that. However, if you’re so curious to know her real name, you can walk the little extra mile called ‘THE JOURNEY OF FINDING OUT GEEBEE’S WOMAN’S TRUE IDENTITY.’ Funny enough, it’s a somewhat easy journey and some of you guys already know her true identity. Anyways, let’s leave that aside and get on with the real gist. Meanwhile, HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABYGURL! You mean more to me everyday and I’m so glad I found you!


By April 2005, I had left my job especially after my experience with the ‘zombies’. Of course my boss was pretty hurt to see me leave but my mind was made up, especially after considering the overall situation. In fact, I left without collecting my full outstanding salary. That had to be paid in two separate installments over a couple of weeks. It didn’t take me too long to get another job, this time in a bigger and much more organized place. It was a cyber café in a more pleasant neighbourhood. The salary was better and much more guaranteed. However, as I came to find out, my new boss was the shrewdest man ever. He was a Masters Degree holder in Economics, my progressing discipline (kinda why he fancied me, I guess) and he had retired after working with the Central bank to begin his own chain of businesses. It was indeed obvious my new boss was a man of means especially considering the fact that he had three offices on the floor and judging by the location of the shopping complex, the spaces were definitely very expensive. The three offices were shared thus: a cybercafe, a photo studio and a bar/restaurant. He had a pretty queer manner in which he ensured that every member of his staff served in all three outlets simultaneously. I was not just a cyber café attendant. I was also a photographer and a bar man! We usually rotated these responsibilities but along the line, I was lucky to be excused from the bar/restaurant services so I was restricted to the cyber café and the studio. It was there I learnt a thing or two on digital photography. From these three outlets, my boss made good money everyday. Our rates were pretty high compared to the ongoing market rate. The location of the business provided the perfect excuse for the higher rates, thus, it wasn’t at all difficult for my boss to maintain a work force of about ten people, myself included. In fact, our monthly salaries put together was a teeny weeny percentage of what he made from his businesses every month. This was a far cry from where I had just left and I was delighted at least for a while.

Mr. Valkyrie (a random name) also knew how to get what he wanted and he never hesitated to talk down anyone who would not do his bidding perfectly. He insulted both his staff and customers alike whenever they crossed his path. No one was at all special in Mr. Valkyrie’s sight and as such, the office always had permanent vacancies, as workers resigned every now and then and some new fella came on, only to resign after a few weeks or at most, a month! Mr. V obviously noticed this trend and thus decided to work on it in his own smart way. He changed the salary payment structure to two separate installments, where he paid half a week before the month end and the other half a week into the new month. That ploy worked so well, since no one would be willing to run away after working an extra week in the new month. Somehow though, I steered clear of my boss’ bad books and we hardly had any confrontations (of course there were a few but compared to most of my colleagues there, I was pretty lucky). The man also believed he was the smartest man alive and he constantly affirmed this to no end.
“Nobody can cheat me,” he would say. “I am too smart for any of you.”
Truly, he was. He had a check on every thing that it was so hard to short change the man. The books were so arranged that every kobo had to be accounted for and whenever there was any shortfall, the staff on duty bore the loss, as Mr. Valkyrie deducted the total amount of shortfall at the end of the month from the fella’s salary. Sometimes, some guy would have shortfall amounting to about half of his salary for the month. Aside from the boss’ attitude, this was the major reason why most of the people who worked there resigned pretty soon. I settled down pretty soon and after studying my work environment for sometime, I realized that Mr. Valkyrie wasn’t really as smart as he claimed or at least, even if he was that smart, he could still be outsmarted and I was that guy who could do that; afterall we were both in the same discipline of Economics. I decided to bid my time.

I had gotten the job during the long break and by that same April, school reopened. I was now in my second year as an Economics student and what made it particularly cool to be in second year was the fact that some new faces would be coming in – the freshers. Hmmm, they looked so cute and for once, I wouldn’t be seeing just the same old faces again. The 100 level students far outnumbered the staylites. Obviously, more people were now interested in the part time University programme after seeing it work successfully for the first year. This time, there were more young people unlike my set where the old jostled for dominion with the young. The new guys were cool and the new girls were a hell of a lot cooler. I allowed my thoughts wander to Lovina and I was indeed glad to be well rid of her. Had she still been in the picture, it would have been pretty difficult to get in the groove with the new blood. Babygurl (BG) was one of the girls of the new blood. She was a fresh student of Business Administration. Actually, that wouldn’t be the first time I was meeting BG but that would be the first time I was seeing her as a student of my school. I had met her almost a year before through a friend of mine, another colleague called Sam. Sam, Simon and I used to hang out a lot and at a point we were like three inseparable kids. We had a fourth guy, Bayla, who was a little older and was hardly around (except for lectures which he often missed too) due to the fact that he worked in a big organization on the island. Sam had introduced me to BG on that fateful day as his friend and we had exchanged pleasantries but I never took any special notice of her. At that time, I had still been deeply engrossed in my affair with Lovina to notice any girl. Like every young guy with a tinge of youthful exuberance, Sam had painted a bad boy picture of himself and how he had girls at his beck and call. In fact, he claimed BG was just one of his many girls and truth was, we always envied him for his collection of babes as he claimed. There really was nothing exceptional about BG though. She was petite and cute in a little way and I never really took any notice of her until I saw her almost a year later in school.

SEE YOU IN THE NEXT EPISODE OF GEEBEE’S TRIP.

EPISODE 18: ALL IN THE NAME OF A ‘JOB’

Hey folks, what’s been up with y’all lately? Trust life’s been pretty good as usual (for some anyway. lol). Well, it’s been awesome over here at my end. Thank God for the weather and for the breath of fresh air. Thank God for his protection and provision for me and everyone that concerns me – family and friends and of course for you guys too. In the last episode, I talked about my ridiculous job and how difficult it became to keep my head up especially after Madam L’s exit. I had to endure the job and its frustrations for a little while until a particular incident finally made me decide it was time to wake up and smell the coffee (some folks would say it was time to ‘give myself brain’ and sure I did).

Now, part of my responsibilities as an office assistant and the sole employee of my employer included going out to deliver our stuff – complimentary cards produced, ID cards and also to collect money from defaulting clients. Now, that was a pretty rare occurrence, especially because we hardly had any serious clients at all! We continued to do the usual outsourcing of those printing jobs we could not handle due to lack of the necessary gadgets. Usually, we had such jobs handled by bigger computer centers far away from the office, all in a bid to reduce the cost to us and give our ‘clients’ the impression that we actually ‘did’ the jobs. Of course we constantly had problems with some of these clients especially because of delays in getting their jobs ready or mistaking up one client’s job for another among other stuff. My boss (his name was Iyke. I even related with him on first name basis) was pretty enterprising in his own little right. He never seemed to bother about the fact that his business was quite small or that he lacked most of the facilities needed to execute the jobs he claimed to do. He did his bit in marketing himself and the business to some big companies and organization and even though most of them hardly gave us any jobs (of course they had bigger computer centers handling their stuff), one or two were willing to give us a try and it was in the cause of recouping our payment from one of these companies that I almost got killed.

Whitehorse Limited was a multinational corporation based in Victoria Island and somehow my boss had been able to get the contract to handle the design and production of new complimentary cards and ID cards for its staff. Whitehorse was into importing and exporting, shipping and general merchandise. The contract was definitely worth some good money and Iyke was grinning from ear to ear. I believe it would have been worth a lot more if only we handled the jobs and did not outsource. However, whatever was coming to us was still fair enough, especially considering the financial resources within the capability of this corporation. I was even beginning to get pretty sure that I would get my full salary for the first time plus all previous outstanding balances. Meanwhile, Iyke hoped to give them the best job ever in order to open more opportunities for bigger contracts in future. I agreed with him. On that fateful day, I was to pick up a cheque at Whitehorse Limited as balance payment for the job we had done. I arrived at the company’s office and I was very much impressed with what I saw. These guys definitely had some good money. I flirted with the idea of asking for a job if ever the opportunity arose while I was there. It would definitely have been pretty cool to be working with Whitehorse Limited even as an errand boy rather than stick with Iyke and his stipends.

There was a residential building right beside Whitehorse Limited’s office and there were three men playing cards at the gate. They were all dressed in army uniform making it pretty obvious that they were soldiers or at least they had some military training. I greeted them as I passed by and they responded well. I proceeded to see the guy I was supposed to meet at Whitehorse and he asked me to hold on while he verified some details. It was as though by ‘hold on’ this guy meant something else as I found myself sitting there for almost an hour. To worsen the situation, the so-called guy was not even in sight. I was just about to go to the office I had seen him enter earlier on when he came out and from the look on his face when he spotted me; it was obvious he had totally forgotten about me.
“Oh, I’m so sorry.” he said, his countenance showing he meant what he said. “I just sent someone to get the funds from the Accounts department.”
I was double sure he was lying just to cover up his forgetful ass. I sighed impatiently.
“So how much longer do I have to wait?” I asked, hoping for the worst.
“Twenty minutes. Not a second longer.”
I decided that rather than sit and wait another twenty minutes, I would take a walk outside the premises to while away the time. That proved to be a major mistake. Fifteen minutes later, I had taken my walk and was on my way back to Whitehorse. I wonder what I was thinking when I entered right into the premises the men in uniform had been guarding. The soldiers of course had been so engrossed in their cards that they hardly noticed me go in. The gate had been open all along and I just strolled in, obviously assuming I was in the premises of Whitehorse Limited. I had scarcely gone two yards into the premises when I realized my error. Quickly, I turned back to leave and just as I made my move, I heard someone yell.
“Hey you, what are you doing here?”
A man emerged from inside the building. He was a rather stout man, wearing a boubou and trousers and he looked pretty furious.
“Sorry sir,” I apologized. “I was actually going to the next compound.” As I spoke, I made a move to leave the place immediately.
“Stop there!” the man bellowed and his tone caused a shiver to run down my spine. I could instantly smell the trouble in the air.
“Koko! Dunba! Foli! Where are you idiots?” the man barked.
Immediately, the three uniformed men I had seen outside rushed into the premises, saluting the man. My heart raced furiously.
“Who is this boy? Who is he?” the man in boubou asked; more like screamed.
I began to speak quickly. “I was actually going to . . .”
“Sharrrap!” the man yelled again and before I knew what was happening, something as hard as a rock hit me at the back of my head. It was actually a man’s fist – one of the uniformed men’s. I believe I saw stars at that moment. Before I could recover another cut my legs from under me in a swift low kick and I found myself flat on my chest. The man, who was obviously their boss muttered some words in Hausa or Fulani (I’m not quite sure) and these guys gave me a good beating that took me within metres of Heaven’s gate (at least so I felt). I knew these guys were going to kill me if I did not do something fast and suddenly I began to heave and touch my chest, signaling something to the man in charge. The men continued to kick and flog me with their belts.
“Please, I’m asthmatic! I can’t breathe.” I managed to half scream. That was the only thing that came to mind at that moment. Of course I was not (and have never been) at all asthmatic but I bet anyone would even claim to be dead if need be to escape what these lunatics were doing.
“Let him die! Fool! Barrao bansa!” the man snickered for a second before telling the men to leave me alone. I could hardly move for a good while but I was glad to still be alive. The man retreated into the main house and the soldiers pulled me up and took me outside.
“My friend, sorry o,” one of them said. “Na our oga be that o.”
“Thank God say e no talk say make we kill you sef. We for kill you be that,” another said. That was the soldier who had first used the belt on me.
“Na true o,” the third soldier concurred with his colleagues.
I could not fight back the tears pouring from my eyes. I had never felt so abused, insulted and cheated in my entire life. At that moment, if I had the powers, I would have rained fire from heaven on the ‘bastard’ of a man and his ‘zombie’ soldiers. In fact, it was at that point I truly understood what Fela meant when he called soldiers ‘zombies’. Imagine what the soldier said. They would really have killed me if their boss had asked them to. Painfully, I dusted my clothes. The stupid fools even had the guts to help me in dusting my clothes too. I did not utter a word. I returned to Whitehorse and it took all I had in me not to curse the guy I had met earlier when he told me I would have to come back the next day because the accountant had to check on some details that had not been confirmed. I walked out of the premises and again, the soldiers waved at me, apologizing. I totally ignored them. They could rot in hell for all I cared. I swore by my bruises and rough clothes that they would all get their rewards someday. I proceeded back to my office. As far as I was concerned, that was the last straw that broke the camel’s back. I decided to quit my job.

SEE YOU IN THE NEXT EPISODE OF GEEBEE’S TRIP

EPISODE 17- SURVIVING THE AFTERMATH

Recently, a friend of mine got robbed. ‘Robbed’ as in, accosted on the highway by dare devil armed robbers who had posed as policemen; forced into the bushes along with many others; having their cars and pockets ransacked and all valuables commandeered and the worst scenario was the fact that two of the victims were actually killed. One was a cute lady probably in her early twenties who tried to resist the evil men’s attempt to rape her and the other, a middle aged woman who had attempted to conceal the jewelries she had on her. It was a most pathetic tale and I have tried to imagine my friend’s reaction after it was all over. The usual reaction after escaping a precarious situation is hardly predictable. For some, it’s a sigh, for some, it’s an accelerated heartbeat and for some, it’s just a silent mumble of ‘thank God’ or a wave of happiness flooding through them that the worst has ended. The aftermath of ending my relationship with Lovina remains a vague picture in my mind but I remember I was so glad it was all over even though I found myself wondering once or twice if she wouldn’t come back out of the blue to continue from wherever we had left off. Well, she didn’t . . . at least not directly.

Lectures resumed soon and by February 2005, I was about to celebrate another Valentine’s Day without a girlfriend. I suppressed a chuckle as I imagined if I would have actually had one with Lovina had she still been in the picture. It didn’t seem likely but then who could really tell? I resumed school with a breath of fresh air and bumped into Lovina on a couple of occasions. Her sense of maturity surprised me as she acted as though nothing had happened. Surprising as it seemed, I was glad. I really would never have wanted to make enemies with this woman but still, silent voices in my head told me to continually watch my back just incase she still planned to make me pay for my ‘sins’. On the other side, work was going pretty bad. I had been working for about three months, earning a paltry N 8000 that never seemed to come as at when due. My boss was a young man in his early thirties who had just started a computer center. We did printing jobs, typing, complimentary cards, ID cards and all other stuff you could do with a computer but the funny thing was that most of the jobs we claimed we did were actually outsourced to other computer centers so we really never did most of the jobs except the typing and printing. We even claimed to sell computers too, something that never happened throughout the duration I worked there. I was my boss’s only employee and my duties included minding the office, handling the ‘few’ jobs we ever had. Note the emphasis on few. We hardly made any money and so it was very easy to understand why I couldn’t get my salary as at when due. Usually, my N 8000 was split into four separate installments, making the money worth virtually nothing by the time I got the full payment say two months after. For example, my November salary was paid somehow like this:

31st November – Story . . . no money
7th December – N2000
17th December – N2000
23rd December – N2500
12th January – N1500

Then we would begin to see how we could structure the payment for December through January and part of February and the January payment through March and part of April. It was very pathetic. I couldn’t blame my boss since we hardly made that amount in a month. Keeping me as an employee was actually an added cost to the business but somehow he did not wish to let me go. Truth was, I was really not bothered initially since I still got pocket money from my dad and the extra excess from Madam L but soon I began to realize I was bothered, especially since the ‘money well’ seemed to have dried up since Madam L’s exit. . . and for the first time, I began to miss her. With Lovina, I never lacked and Chief’s money felt like chicken change to me. In fact, I hardly bothered whether he gave me pocket money or not. My phone was constantly recharged by Madam L. At that time, airtime validity was not like what it is today. A N500 recharge card had 5 days validity and stuff like that so your validity increased as you loaded airtime on your phone and for a ‘little boy’ like me, that would have been tough but with Madam L in the picture, I had an excess of 3 months validity in the least. It truly dawned on me that the tap had stopped running and things would no longer be the same. Even my friends noticed I was not as buoyant as I used to be and they asked the most frustrating of questions, most of which I hardly answered. I started to worry about money and my job no longer seemed appealing at all, especially when I almost got killed by soldiers all in the cause of working for a paltry sum of N 8000 that was almost non existent.

SEE YOU IN THE NEXT EPISODE OF GEEBEE’S TRIP

EPISODE 16: DAMNING THE CONSEQUENCES

The last time I dropped a post, just a little over two weeks ago (post came pretty early this time, right? You bet!), aside from doing Episode 15 of Geebee's Trip, I said some stuff about celebration(s) - My birthday, my daughter's birthay and my grandmum's birthday. True, we ha a party on 19th July and mehn, it was banging! It was one whole great reunion. Talk of cousins, aunties, uncles, in-laws, friends and what have you. My grandmum was particularly happy to be celebrating her 70th birthday, after being blessed with 7 children, 23 grandchildren and 1 great-grandchild who happens to be my daughter. Hey, ain't I the bomb! lol. That said, let's do Episode 16: Damning the Consequences.

What were the consequences in question here? Was it actually worth it damning the consequences of resigning from being a yuppie, a 'sugar-son'? Was it easy damning the consequences of leaving a sugar-mummy? You bet it was, especially when the act itself became too close for comfort. That was exactly how it felt for me in January 2005. I had travelled for the 2004 Christmas break and I returned feeling somewhat refreshed, renewed and determined to put a final stop to the affair with Madam Lovina (or Madam L). I seriously doubted if I would be successful in getting her off my back but I resolved to take the action nonetheless and I did. How did I? Funny enough, I did not right away actually tell this mother-of-five off face to face. Truth was, I had no balls to. I rehearsed a million and one times on how I would face her and tell her it was over but when the real test came, I failed like hell. Finally I took the coward's way out - UNAVAILABILITY. I began to avoid her like a plague and this time, I allowed it go as far as it could. I deliberately avoided her calls and refused to go see her. Much to my chagrin, she finally checked on me in my workplace (I had gotten a job as an Office Assistant at a Computer Center before the Christmas break to ease the boredom of staying idle during the daytime).
"Geebee, I knew I would find you here at least." the woman had begun on sighting me as she stepped out of her car. I was outside the office as I had just returned from lunch break and seeing her was the last thing I had expected.
"Lovina, what are you doing here?" I began, surprised at the anger in my tone. "You know I don't appreciate you coming to my workplace."
"Why have you been avoiding me, Geebee?" she lashed at me angrily.
"I haven't been avoiding you." I defended. "Please, let's discuss this later. My boss is around and . . ."
"And what?" she barked. "How much does he pay you? Eight thousand naira? I give you much more than that in a week. Let him come out and let me talk sense into his head."
I was beginning to get very uncomfortable and I looked around repeatedly to make sure no one was watching. This woman was becoming hysterical and I knew I needed to get her out of that vicinity or risk her embarassing my boss. She was the kind of woman who could easily do that. She was right. I was being paid N8000 but I was not working because of the money. I had to do something to occupy my self during the day since I had lectures only in the evenings and I had taken the job three months before despite Lovina's pleas for me not to work.
"Okay, I promise we would see and talk this evening." I said finally, praying she would see that as a reasonable offer and leave. I looked at her pleadingly.
"It's a lie." she snapped. "You have been avoiding me and . . ."
She ranted on but I was finally able to convince her to leave after repeatedly promising her that I would see her after closing from work by 4pm. My school was yet to resume for the new session so we had the time to talk. That evening, we met at our usual hangout and I summoned the courage to tell Lovina that we had to quit the relationship.
"Why?" she asked stubbornly. "We have been over this before Geebee and I told you there was no problem."
"We can't," I pleaded. "This is wrong. You have a husband and children and I am beginning to feel guilty about all this."
"Did you just start feeling guilty?" she asked mockingly.
"No. I have been feeling guilty from day one." I said pointedly. I was determined to end the whole thing once and for all.
She sighed. "You would have to give me some time to think about this." she said finally. "We can't just stop like that."
"No Lovina. We have to stop. I'm sorry."
To my greatest surprise, she began to cry and I was moved to tears as well. It was so odd to imagine that this woman loved me that much, enough to cry because I was leaving her. It hurt me to end it all as well but I knew I had to end it before things got too crazy. In fact, it was already crazy enough as it was. Over the course of time we had an affair, Lovina proved to be more than a friend and a lover. She lavished me with gifts, time, money and just so much. I could not begin to estimate how much she had given me but it was sure worth a fortune. The goodwill did not end with me alone. It extended to my friends, Simon, Sam, Bayla and all who associated with me at the time. She even met my younger brother when he came home for the break. It was so easy for people to know there was something going on between me and this woman, but I continually denied it. We were indeed very close. I drove her cars, I visited her home. Her kids loved me like an elder brother and the older ones saw me as a close friend not just to their mum but as their own friend. Her husband liked me a lot as well, often calling me his wife's son. In fact, I settled a quarrel between him and his wife on about two occassions. I had so many reasons why I could not continue to sleep with this woman. The guilt was bound to kill me sooner or later and I could not understand why Lovina did not feel thesame way. Weighing both sides, the losses to me sure outweighed the gains and so I took the plunge and damned the consequences.
"Please, just understand." I said still comforting her. "We would still be friends."
She did not say anything further. She simply got up, picked up her bag and left. As I heard her car zoom off, I silently prayed she would leave things the way I said. However, I decided it would hurt more if I totally ignored this woman. It was best if I kept the friendship alive, especially for the sake of her family members, people I had come to be very close to. I resolved to keep the friendship going, howbeit as careful as possible. This time, there was no doubt in my mind that it would work.

SEE YOU IN THE NEXT EPISODE OF GEEBEE'S TRIP.