May 8th 2014

May 8th of 2014. Won't forget it a hurry.

One, I was going for my friend's father's burial and it was me visiting the east for the first time and it was via a chattered bus (Young Shall Grow )to IMO state .

Two, my pastor's birthday(Poju Oyemade) was on that day . Happy birthday to him. God bless him abundantly.

Three, I lost my grandfather , PA Lamidi Oderinde (The Asiwaju of Sawonjo Land).

Now, let me take it bit by bit.
Paul told me the bus was leaving by 4am the previous day, and I was like 4am??? I hardly wake up by 5am. To cut short the long story, I woke up by 3am and when I looked at the mirror, I noticed my eyes were red, I would have passed for someone who had smoke some sticks of cigarette. I got ready and by 5am , Sunny called to check if I was ready. I joined them and we started arranging the load bit by bit. Something caught my attention, the women who were going with us had at least two type of luggage ; breakables and unbreakables . Expectedly, the men had only one bag, the unism was as if it was pre-planned. Well, I guess we know women love luggage, while men don't fancy it.

We got moving by 7am. Yes 7am. Were we not supposed to leave by 4am? Or in worst scenario by 5am? But to my dismay, two of the passengers who happened to be MEN delayed us . Even one of them's wife arrived before him. Strange I suppose? Expectedly we were agitated I was even saying if we stayed till 7am, I would abort the journey. At last, we got moving only after the driver had collected extra N5,000 because according to him, we had delayed and infringed upon the agreement we had and he wouldn't be able to come back that same day. Talking about the phrase ' Time na Money'. We experienced some traffic jam at Mile 2, Oshodi, Ojota, but suprisingly, Redemption Camp road was free.

On our way, before getting to Ore, a woman asked to do the ladies twice, which it added to the driver's frustrations. I noticed the FERMA workers ,Policemen, Road safety, Customs all along the road. To be candid , am not impressed with the express way, lots of pot holes, vehicles broken down and diversions. Shortly before getting to Ore, I received a call from my mother saying my Grandfather had just passed on that morning. he was 106 Years Old . Sigh, so many things ran through my mind , I prayed a short prayer for his soul and I called my dad,uncles and aunts to sympathize with them. May Grandpa's soul rest in peace.

Immediately we got to Ore, the rain began, but we journeyed still. As soon as we got to Edo state around past 11am, the story changed . Good tarred roads with covet and yellow lines drawn on the outer lane with a picture of Benita Okojie welcoming us to Edo state. Now I was getting a good impression. This reminded me of (but not as smooth as) the London to Manchester road. But we shall get there right?
And so we got to the famous Niger bridge entering towards Onitsha. Hence, we made way to IMO state. Along the way, I saw the Peugeot Plant that had been abondoned for years. This plant, assessing it ordinarily, would have created Jobs for thousands if harnessed well, but, sorry is the case.

Then came the famous Madonna University Okija. Okija is famous for its notoriety of shrines, rituals and human skulls (as reported then in the news), now its even more famous because of the successes of the Catholic university in the land. The journey (escursion in my case) went on till we got to Mbaise but along the road, I noticed WOMEN riding BIKES and their children behind Proudly. In this part of the world, Bikes is for women . Mbaise lga is a very big place. We passed Ezinhitte till we got to Ilu, already the driver was complaining bitterly that we would add extra money, but we didn't mind his complains. I asked myself, " If I took a drop to Festac, isn't it anywhere in festac that I will alight?" Why complain?

So we arrived at our destination, and were treated to a plate of Hot Eba and ogbono soup with vegetable. I slept in a pent house and the following morning, I was on my way back to Owerri.
In Owerri, i observed something rather statling. I noticed keke NAPEP(Trycicle) were more than cars and humans put together in the city. And an average drop is N200 . So I looked for a place to lodge . After IMSU (Imo State University), from wetheral road to the roundabout that has rockview to world bank to orji I saw hotels; Mavic, Prestige, and I settled for Castle stone. Did I mention there was Radisson too? Like my friend said, OWERRI is the land of hotels. Even the catholic church after firstbank along wetheral had a hotel. From Rockview to Mimi's to 40/40 to Concorde hotel to All season's hotel, I made sure I visited all those places.

Now I was runing late and I had to rush back for the burial . At the burial venue, we were asked to go round and look at the open coffin where the late man laid in. He looked fresh and pale but couldn't move. I was reminded that DEATH IS A DEBT we all owe. I made up more in my mind to strive more yet make life easy and simple.

After all said and done. OWERRI was the catch for me, As Fate would have it, my friend Bill was in Owerri . Bill made me comfortable than I would have imagined. Thanks to him for accomodating me. I would not have explored owerri were it for me alone. He stayed in a GRA where this man they called Nwazurike the MASSOB leader stays at Area H not far from Achike Udenwa's house. You see, this freedom fighters are not fighting for you but themselves (Just telling). Owerri's night life is BUZZ and BUBBLING, you don't want to ask for more, but remember to take your cash with you when you visit, that place will cost you.