Hey guys, thanks for all the nice comments…I’m blushing :$

So, where was i?….Ehnehn

The first day of the curfew was a Monday, woke up very early. I couldn’t leave my room so i picked my DVD player and continued watching “Vampire Diaries” which turned out to be too creepy for me. I watched it anyway until the battery of the DVD player went flat so i decided to sleep back. I was just dozing off when i started hearing some funny noises. I went by the door to check what was going on.

I stepped out only to see the four in-patients strolling around the hospital “Oh God I’m dead”  i thought in my head. The last time I was in their rooms, they were all chained to their beds, how did they get out???. I forced a smile and greeted them, they all smiled back “hey corper, wassup” they chorused. I tried to act as normal as possible but i couldn’t help but ask how they got out of their chains and they smiled asking me if i really expected them to stay in chains and wait for the hoodlums to burn down the hospital, i smiled back saying No. They turned away saying they wanted to go to the balcony upstairs to see whats happening……I followed them.

It was then i really saw what was going on,  all major roads were blocked, shops were closed, i saw a group of guys burning tires and holding sticks chanting in Hausa. That was when the guys started talking in Hausa too, i quietly sneaked off and locked myself in the room. I called the owner of the hospital ( the man dint even call to check on me, *smh), i screamed on the phone that i was scared and he should come and get me. He told me there was nothing he could do, his house was too far, there’s no way he could come over and said if I was too scared i should go hide in his office and lock the door, and he hung up.

                                                                   WOW

I was stunned to say the least, i should hide in his office??? Is the office bomb/bullet-proof. :/ ??

It wasn’t up to 5minutes that he texted me back to tell me i should cook for the patients, that their parents called to tell him they wouldn’t be bringing food because of the curfew. I wasn’t even angry as i was hungry too. I cooked Noodles, took my own portion and was then left with how to get theirs to them. I peeped out to check if they were still at the balcony, luckily for me they were there. I quickly ran across to one of the rooms and dropped the whole pot of noodles and ran back to my room. I called out to them from my bedroom window which was adjacent the balcony to tell them i dropped food in their room. “Enjoy it while it last” i said silently. I spent the rest of the day hiding inside my room and eating cereal.

The following day, i repeated the same thing, cooked noodles again ( Yes, i love it that much :p). Unfortunately, they were in their rooms. I recited all the Quranic verses i could remember and stepped out. I entered their room, greeted them and dropped the food and was just about turning around when one of them grabbed my wrist and asked me why i was scared of them. “Duhh….you’re drug addicts, who wouldn’t be” i dint say that out loud tho.

I smiled and denied it saying I wasn’t scared, they asked me why i never come to their rooms or talk to them ” ibo ni ipade oloja ati asiwin” (Pardon my vernacular)……..and i dint say that out loud either. I was forced to sit and they narrated their stories, how they got addicted to codeine in cough syrups (which i still don’t get till now). I kept nodding and repeating “ehya”. I left a few min afterwards to the solitude of my room, playing games and watching movies.

It was night and i was preparing for bed when i heard the knock on my bed, i stopped moving then someone called corper (0_O) i remained quiet and the person kept knocking for about 5minutes. Luckily for me there was no light so it was easy for me to pretend I was sleeping. I went to bed.

The following morning, I wanted to drink cereal and discovered I’ve ran out of drinking water . I stepped out of my room and i heard a vehicle moving outside, i went outside the gate and saw their were little movements on the street compared to the previous days so i went to the “mallam” to buy water and he told me he dint have. I was just thinking of what to do when a man across the road signalled me to come over. I went and he asked me what i was thinking coming out of hiding. I was confused for a while.

He told me the “mallam” had water but he wouldn’t sell to me and nobody in the neighborhood would either as “I’m not one of them” and that i should stop wearing trousers. He gave me 3 sachet water, told me that the curfew had been lifted and movement restricted from 2pm-6am so I should get out of town if I could because if the hoodlums found their way to our street, they wouldn’t hesitate to rat me out.

I texted the doctor that I was leaving whether or not he came to the hospital. I looked for the longest skirt I had, picked a long sleeved shirt , wrapped myself with a long pashmina and picked just 2 other tops in my bag. I dint bother to go to the ward or anything i ran out of the hospital, called my aunt that lived in the next city that i was coming. Getting to the park it was a mad place, it was like every single person was trying to get out of the town that day. there were few buses and about 300 people so everybody was hustling for bus. I spent over 2hours trying to get a bus, i was stepped on and pushed around severally.

It was about 12;45 when a man changed his mind about travelling and told me to come take his seat in the bus. We left the park but were unable to leave the town as there was traffic caused by the numerous road blocks. The bus-driver announced that if we still can’t get out by 1:45 he would drop us back at the park because of the curfew.

It was 1:1o and we still had three more roadblocks ahead of us when a convoy lead by an army escort came. All the roadblocks were removed and our bus immediately followed the convoy pretending to be one of them. We got out of the state at exactly 1;56pm.

I saw numerous burnt vehicles on the way; a tanker with the remains of the driver still on his seat, a vehicle with a whole family all burnt to ashes. A passenger in the vehicle told us how the villagers in those places attacked anybody that didn’t speak or dress “like one of them” .

Tears rolled down my cheeks as i prayed to God for saving my life; for sending the unknown man to tell me what was going on and of course “ori maami” (Yes, i’m Yoruba :D).

I redeployed a few weeks later and never went back.

I wonder what happened to those guys and why they came to my room that night *rme