I was sitting at my base at an old Garage of the present days in Osogbo. Getting carried away by the attractive colour of the early morning sky and imagining the lives of the people in Garage.
Oh! People from different background are here, pulling aside their differences and working together for a common purpose.
Smiling at this, I raise my head and see the freedom park from a far. I said this Aregbesola man is a man of legacies o. In fact it is very unlikely that Osun people will forget him.
Smiling as I thought this off….
Some people are running around shouting “catch him, catch him” what/who are they catching? No one knows.
Showing an attitude of nonchalance as I turned to face my business. It may be their normal doings. In Garage, there are no elders or kids, they all play “kidfully”.
Then suddenly I heard “GBA!!!!! That’s a sound of Gunshot. I bend down and hide myself under the table in a container. The sound of Gun shot continue. I was freaked out. Let me close this container upon myself. I stood up to close and then saw a rising flames in front of the POS container I am hiding. Oh No! It is “Teargas”.As I was hurrying to close the window, it had gotten to me. My eyes hurt, I could not see a thing. It hurts…I ran away leaving behind all properties. Like a snail, I crawl to a shop and fell. A man ran to me and sat me down on a chair as he fanned me.
Sorry miss, take it easy” was what I heard the man saying.
Again, Some people ran helter skelter towards the direction we were, the man ran away, leaving me behind. That is when I started to think, Is this the Biafra war, or Boko haram insurgencies, perhaps could it be the herds men?
I managed to stand up, then head into “spices pharmacy”. I enter and the door was closed.
There in, I call my boss and a friend whom I know the numbers off hand and report the situation.
My phone was at where I left it. I borrowed phone to do that. As I noticed things were getting less furious, I get out, board a bike and ran back to the office.
I had never witness such thing before. Infact, to me war was nothing but since that experience at old Garage I realise war is more than something. It is of anything. It come suddenly and took advantage of the innocents because they are the receiver of all insurgencies.
Without knowing what happened, we breath with fear and had to run for our lives. Without being involved in anything, we face the cruelty of teargas that ended us half dead.
The beauty of the state I was admiring then become nothing. I couldn’t even go back to my thinking.
So it is beautiful only when it is peaceful.
Yusuf Najat,
