I dont know what hell looks like but i am sure that the road to hell is better than what i passed through to get into OWERRI..The reason for my absence from this blog for two days is due to what I experienced two days back on the road to owerri.I have not yet recovered and am writing with shaky hands . I decided to take a trip to owerri to settle a pressing issue,i asked my mum if I could drive her car down there and she replied shaking her head ...have you not heard of the road to owerri?...its uncommutable she said ..you would need a boat to ferry you across. I looked at her with my eyebrows raised and said to myself,this woman has come up with another of her exaggerated lies so I won't use her car(lol) . Let me hire a taxi then and ask him to take me it would even be better for me ..I can rest through out the journey and write while the cabman drives me.I called my cabman to please come and take me to owerri ...He replied in pidgin ...*am sorry ma buh I no fit go that side ..that road na death trap..* I even agreed to double the cab fare for us to dash into owerri and come back that same day, but he refused .I was shocked when did EMEKA my cabman refuse anything that has to do with money ? Even after I doubled his fare? Emeka an ibo man? The thought that EMEKA my cabman who i have known for years, would reject the generous offer of money to take me to owerri was disturbing ...all because of this so called GHOST ROAD ...I really had to get to owerri the next day and was prepared to be in owerri through any means by hook or crook...the road can't be that bad I said to myself . My last option was to go to the park and board a public commuters bus heading to owerri ...when I got to the park i paid my fare , i paid for two seats and settled in a comfortable seat to accommodate my long legs ..We left Port- harcourt by 6.30 am and I said to myself ..owerri is just about one hour thirty minutes by at least 9 oklok giving the bad road we will get there.. I slept off shortly after the bus moved ,only to be woken up by a sharp jolt and a voice shouting * make una come down from this bus we don reach the part wey una go trek cross this water I go turn my car meet una for the other side* ..I opened my eyes and looked around dazed and still groggy from sleep ...what is happening I said to myself as I squinted to look out of the window... Lo and behold I saw a SEA of muddy WATER...and the biggest gulley I have ever seen on a road in my life ..after the gulley were several GIANT potholes that can Bury a child comfortably ..then tires of big trucks(911 trucks) buried deep unable to move ..stuck in the water.. I still cannot put to writing what I saw before my eyes .. cars were stuck..in some cars the passengers put there legs inside the muddy water which got up to there waist to push the cars across the gulley (I wish I was exaggerating) the only thought that came to my mind was the level of wickedness shown to me by my cabman and my mum for not explaining in detail what I was to face passing through the valley of this shadow of death. .. to cap it all I wore high platform white sandals ..and my best pencil jeans..imagine the trauma I was passing through at that moment . I got down from the bus reluctantly and watched other passengers eagerly alight ...the men rolled up there jeans ..the women strapped there bags to their waist ..some rained curses on the past president GEJ...Others on BUHARI ..some on ROCHAS OKOROCHA... but the intriguing part is I did not care for the insults or putting the blame on anyone ...all I was saying was is this the way I would end ...how can I put my leg inside this muddy river and trudge foward in a place where tapeworm and hookworm gather for post sallah party .. My jeans ...my white sandals ...my health ..nobody noticed me standing frozen in time ...lost in space... I have to stop here and gather momentum to write PART two..to be continued. ...(winks)
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