By Victor Edegbai
Now let’s go back to the Bank for a moment. Apart from the customers that always give joy with their communications, I also had very unique colleagues. Trust me, you can’t get a combination of that set of staff, together, at one time, in one year , any where in the world.
Is it Peter, Mr fine boy, whose smile dey make Abia poly girls leave factory road go Ariaria branch just to open account, or Chidi, who by the way has a side hustle as a publisher and carry my manuscript for my book THE LOOKING GLASS go Canada. Chidi had this very funny way of laughing eh, in fact his laugh dey make person laugh dey laugh. Then there was Onyeka Ebenighe. Ebeni, as we loved to call him had one kind cash shortage like this eh, my guy was raptured from Aba for 2 days. C J the professor and kingsley MODE, the Senior lecturer, they were the ones that made other branches to tag Ariaria branch as University of Ariaria. Then Chinwe, the single lady amongst many men of caliber. She became the single lady after Eunice left.
By the way, Eunice was the one that plotted the coup that took me from training school Enugu to Ariaria branch, so that she could be transferred to join her Hubby in Lagos. Izu was a maestro. I always looked forward to his grand entry every morning. He will always come in making calls on 2 or 3 phones at a time , with his head bent one kind so that his ear can balance the phone while pinging on his black berry of blessed memory. Joe was the cool one of the gang, but na him know all the koro for Aba pass.
The combination of Izu and Peter made me know some joints in Aba. They will always have the branch sit out every friday. And in the course of navigating those joints I started knowing road. So when I brought in my HONDA HALA, I stopped hearing KOPUO in my head and in my dreams. If you dont understand KOPUO, ask your Ibo friend.
Now you know Lagos is the head quarters of commerce in Nigeria, and Abuja is the head quarters of Politics. In Aba some places are known for being the oga kpatakpata of them all. YORK was for weed, NGWA Road was for boys wey like to throway and the police is their friend. NGWA road was also the head quarters of tailoring and agidi jollof. Then there was ALABALABA, the number one red light district.
I drove out one night to meet the boys in the usual weekly hand out. That is how my tire burst in front of ALABALABA of all places. So I came out to change it . The next thing was my phone ringing and I picked. Joe was on the other side of the call. “Vic, I just pass you now for ALABALAB.” Jeez! Joe could no even stop to help me oh, but he made sure he called me to tell me he saw me. Omo, by the way, Joe are you sure you were not patronising that night?
TO BE CONTINUED
NaijaNoiseMakers says “This Grandpa sef,….always creating suspense. Drop a line for him in the comment section.”
Barr. Victor Edegbai AKA Grandpa is a father of many nations, positive thinker, and friend of many. I like trouble, because I be lawyer.
