FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH.

In February of 1980, I was a pupil of Demsawo Primary School in Yola, capital of the defunct Gongola State. I attended a class supervised by my mother at that time and it made me feel a little, you know, princely around the other kids. 

Gongola was just 3yrs old after creation and many things weren't fully in place for smooth operations but somehow, life was easy and more organized. People knew the right thing and they did it without being told. Well, that's not why I'm writing this.

Being a public school and free at that time, there were all kinds of characters forced to attend school back then(I was one). So the teachers had to look tough enough to keep such kids in check. That was a time when you'd see adults like Nelson Banker in a primary one classroom chewing gum while drawing a penis on the walls.

So my mum always went to work with my dad's radio power cable to ensure nobody crossed any unmarked boundaries. I never saw her use it, but no kid ever misbehaved when she was in class. Maybe it was her laser eyes that kept them under a spell, sometimes I forgot she was my mother and started crying when she zoomed in on me.

One afternoon, she stepped out of the class to have a chat with another teacher and the kids started playing and giggling, this I found unacceptable as her son, so I decided to step into my mother's shoes and serve justice before the merciful one returns to take her throne.

Prince Jibo slowly stood up, then majestically walked straight to his mother's throne and yanked off the cable his mother only hung beside her chair for a show, then slowly approached his unsuspecting prey from behind.

I closed my eyes, clenched my jaws and went for the swing with all my strength. I heard something pop, then I went blank for a moment. When I opened my eyes, I realised that I'd missed my target and my best friend, Aaron, who was innocently in the way, took the hit straight in the eye.

Aaron covered his eye with both hands, let out a very loud cry and ran outside. He fell down on the bare, sun-scorched, Yola sand and rolled there until my mum ran over and lifted him off the ground.

All the other teachers came around trying to know what had happened to him, but the pain was too much for the poor kid to speak through. They tried to wash the eye with water, but it didn't help. It was after they called me out to come and see my handwork that I realised the generosity of my stupidity.

 My mum and some teachers rushed him to the hospital and he came back with an eye-patch. So I assumed that he was healed, but when they took him home to his parents, his mum wasn't having it. She wanted an eye for an eye. She headed for the school with a table fork to inflict the same injury I'd caused her child, my mum took another route to come smuggle me out of school and ran me home to safety.

 

I stopped going to that school for my safety, but my dad insisted that I must go see Aaron again even if it was for the last time. Mum objected, but he came up with a plan that they didn't say anything, just the concerned teacher and her family coming to greet the child with some gifts. Mummy fell for the cheap plan but I knew that my eyes would give me up easily. I followed them anyway.

As my siblings and I sat there trying to act along, Aaron's remaining good eye was fixated on me while the parents talked adult talks. My mum got up and gave him the tractor toy as soon as she noticed his countenance, he collected it and thanked her but his gaze remained on me. I don't know why I couldn't look away, I found myself staring right back at him. I could feel his pain in the guilt deep in my heart.

My heart dropped when his mum hurriedly ran into the kitchen... My mouth started to shake as I wanted to start crying but Aaron signalled me to keep quiet, my mum saw it and took me aside as though to help me uncoil my garden hose so I could water their flowerbed. We remained in that position until the woman came back apologizing that her food was burning on the stove.

Well, I left with my eyes intact but my soul remained scarred that I had permanently damaged Aaron's eye because of one stupid premature decision. I don't even know where he is or what his surname was, but I know he remembers this exact story that he didn't choose to be a part of. I hope he is well and has forgiven me.

Now, we may all have done things we are not proud of, things we regret even thinking about. 

Would we make amends if given the chance, YES!

Have we learned from those mistakes, YES!!

Are we bad people because we've made certain mistakes in the past?NO!!! You're just foolish if you keep repeating a mistake.

Lastly, I was wrong to do the job of my mother which I wasn't qualified for, nor was I paid to stamp her authority behind her back. So what gives you the authority to insult another politician on behalf of another politician that is not your father or mother?

Aaron was my best friend and see what I did to him. Those you are quick to call best this, and best that are the ones who would gladly pluck out your heart with the same fork you're trying to feed them with. 

©JBZ_2022