By Oni Olusola Gbenga
Last weekend I was in Agbor for a funeral. I had worked in the admin. of the College of Education Agbor as a Senior Assistant Registrar from 1981 to 1984 and those years remain quite memorable for me.
I was in my 20s, held a senior position in the College admin and was very willing and ready to mingle, if you get my drift.
I had a Volkwagen Beetle then which I painted black and with it I painted the town red, if you get my drift again.
For the period in Agbor, I lived first in a well funished College rented apartment on number 40 Isedeh street, off Mariere. Nice apartment. Life was good. The place bubbled.
I later relocated to no 100 Cemetery road, a very beautiful place owned by one affable but disciplined gentleman, Mr Nkechika who lived in one of the two flats upstairs with his wife, 3 or 4 young sons and and a daughter. Mrs Nkechika taught at Mary Mount while Nkechika was a senior staff at the local govt secretariat. Two of the sons were in the university then and the other two in secondary school. Nice family.
Clearly the Agbor of1981 to 84 is not what it is today at all. So much development has taken place that it is difficult to navigate to places one once knew like the back of one’s hand.
The dividends of democracy is so evident
The road network development is simply amazing. Commerce has bludgeoned. So many beautiful houses
And there are over a million commercial motorcycles ( okada) the main source of commuting. And also private ones. Many ladies ride their private motorcycles proudly and happily seemingly without a care in the world.
I decided on my last day in town to visit the 2 places I lived.
Number 40 Isedeh a 4 flat storey building is now turned into a private school. It looked run down.
At 100 Cemetry road, I was told Mr Nkechika had died ” tayyy tayyy” and that the wife died just a couple of months back and the funeral done with.
There was still left hanging in the burglary proof a massive Obituary banner of Mrs Nkechika.
I was told the family had long moved further down cemetery road where they had built another house.
The building, 100 Cemetery road 4 flats were all now occupied by tenants.
Retail shops had been built in front of the house which robbed the house of the serenity we enjoyed there 40 years ago.
I told a lady I saw there who had her child strapped to her back that I once lived in the flat downstairs on the left 40 years ago and she screamed, laughing, her eyes wide open she said she was not even yet born then!!
And then I suddenly felt the weight of my 70 years sojourn here on earth.
You know at times I do not remember how old I am and some petulant younger friends call me “agbaya”
Me I no dey kuku mind them.
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