A.M.A Writes

There were certain perks to having a younger brother who is closer to your age and is not a tattle tale, 17 year old Eno had come to agree. Certain incidents were easier to hide. She smiled as thought of this as she and her mum sat in the kitchen to gist about the wedding she had just come back from, her mother oblivious to what had gone down to retain the pristine state of this kitchen less than 10 minutes ago. About 2 hours ago, she and her brother Edi who was two years younger than she was had been using the router at home on their individual laptops with the TV showing a Disney show in the background. Edi had just checked the rice he was cooking. “There is still some water in it”, He said when he got back. “Alright.” Eno went back to the picture she was trying to edit for her online store. Time went by and Eno could smell something. “Is it just me or is there a funny smell in the air?” “Oh no! Edi, the rice.” She abruptly stood up from the rug where she was...

The Voice Season 2 has finally come to an end. After weeks of training and performances and voting, we finally have a winner. Idyl. Definitely not who I had predicted would win but at least he’s way better than the other option. He’s a great singer. Ebube on the other hand though… I don’t know what to say at this point. I guess I could start by asking these salient questions. How the hell did Ebube get selected over Yimika? Who did the voting? Did those people have ears or did they vote primarily based on sentiments? Who are his sponsors? He definitely has to have someone sponsoring his voting or something because Yimika is a far more better singer when compared to Ebube. He’s also a better performer and has better charisma and packaging . Did you guys notice how Ebube went off key in his supposed finale performance? Celine Dion could sue him for ruining that beautiful song. The song he sang, had no semblance to the one Celine Dion made. Also, how did he make it to the top 2 f...

We left the zoo at about 2:30pm and headed towards our lodge for the holiday. The amazing place I spoke of earlier. It’s the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture IITA. They don’t seem to really like adverts but this is not one though. It’s an expose on my Salah break or holiday. Anyways, less than 20 minutes later, we arrived there. It’s said to be a diplomatic facility so you kind of expect some really serious security measures in place and they really took it seriously.  There are two gates, one nested within the other at the entrance of the facility. At the outer gate your vehicle gets screened for bombs and whatnot and then at the inner one where you sign in and present your valid means of ID. In our case my dad used his national passport since he was the one who made the reservations. Check in was smooth and the rooms were magnificent. Well considering the fact that they waiting lounge was wonderful, I kind of expected such excellence when I got to the room...

Eventually we got to Ibadan and headed to University of Ibadan. The zoo was our first stop. I remember visiting the zoo once but I was quite young at the time. I was probably 8 or 9 at the time. I don’t recall much from that visit but a few memories stood out. There was a gorilla there at the time that was definitely not camera-shy. It knew how to pose for a picture and kept giving the person taking its pictures different styles and postures. My brother, Kachi who was about 4 or 5 then, was terrified of the gorilla and refused to walk beside the gorilla enclosure. On the other hand, my other brother, Ifeanyi who was about 2 years old or less then had engaged in a stare down challenge with a lion whose roar was shaking its enclosure to the foundations, making grown men fret. As we got closer to the zoological garden, I knew a lot of things were definitely going to change as it had been 12 years since I was there last but I hoped it would be for the better. The walls looked new...

I like vacationing. The sights to see, the sleep to catch up on, the foods to eat, pictures to take people to relate with etcetera. The travelling though is what I usually don’t fancy. In fact, I loathe travelling. That was why as we prepared as a family to go to this amazing place my dad had reserved for us at Ibadan, I mentally braced myself up for the journey ahead. I packed packets of chewing gum to help with my motion sickness as I packed the clothes I was going to use there. I wasn’t about to start hurling with all that fancy make up I was going to wear that day. Finally the day came, Friday. The beginning of the public holiday that marked the Salah celebration for our Muslim friends. At about 8:30 am, we left the house. Immediately I got in to the car, I dozed off. It was going to be a long journey so I decided that I might as well make up for the shortage of sleep that resulted from me sleeping a little bit later than 12 am and waking up by 5:30 that same day. I can’t rememb...

Dark clouds were gathering, the sky was getting gloomy. It was threatening to rain. Oblivious to that, were a group of children within the ages of 3 to 5 years of age playing in the playground. Toyin’s 3 year old daughter, Zara short for Chizaraekpereanyi was among them. She looked up from the sand castle she was building with her friends and saw her mother looking at them.  “Mommy! Daddy! We’re building a sand castle.” She said excitedly. “I can see that honey.” Toyin said smiling.  Her husband, Uche, who was reading a magazine beside her smiled and gave her a thumbs up then continued reading his magazine. Toyin knew she was meant to get her to adequate shelter before the rain started as the rain falling on her could become a problem for both of them but she didn’t have the heart to see the disappointment on Zara’s face as she dragged her from her friends. They were currently on a company-sponsored retreat at Epe Resort as a family and this was Zara’s first proper tr...