The First Time

Kelvin found himself in a commercial transport on his way to a high institution. He was to apply for a place in the institutions' pre-degree program. This was his first time coming to the institution. He had taken the usual long but treacherous journey due to poor road network from his domiciliary city of Aba to Onitsha. It was mid-year of 2000. It was a four-hour trip that ended without any spectacular event. Though there were exceptions such as the sight of the usual lush and beautiful landscapes of hills that dotted the roadsides. There were other passing commuter vehicles.

Edifying buildings and bridges. The bridges were across well-known rivers that had left their landmarks on the shores of the political history of the country.

The names of some of these rivers had become emboldened and etched in the minds of the people. They had become political identities for some political states in the southeast region. These states are Anambra State, Ebonyi State, and Imo State. These States got their names from their respective and famous rivers after their names. Anambra River, Ebonyi River, and Imo River respectively.

Kelvin noted with keen interest the customary cries of ware hawkers. A good number of them were children, young teenage mothers with clear evidence of motherhood. The other parties are the elderly men and women. These groups lined up the length and side of the luxury bus conveying the passengers to their destination. These have been the usual trends each time the bus enters any major town or city during its many stopovers. This was either for some of the passengers to alert from the bus. To refill its tanks with petrol. To pick up some more passengers, the list goes on. Each of such stopovers had become an atrocious opportunity. Some passengers seized the opportunity to buy items they may need or may not necessarily need. They would stick out their heads through the side windscreen. Soon droves of hawkers will be dangling their wares at them to buy.

He struggled with the urge to join the foray and the usual mad rush to buy one or two things during such brief stopovers. There was no doubt that most passengers who bought things that way did so out of enticement than from necessity. He was yet on his thoughts when someone sitting beside him perceived the inviting aroma of a freshly peeled banana. The aroma must have come from another passenger sitting in the front seat. His co-passenger inquired of the cost of that particular size of the banana bunch. Moments later, he excused Kelvin to get access to the side windscreen with his head sticking out of the bus window. He was calling out to the banana hawker to himself for his own bunch of bananas of the same size and price as with the other passenger.

Once or twice during such brief stopovers, the shouts of "Driver please wait. Let me collect my balance,"

"Driver please wait, let me pay for what I'd bought." This was a constant chaos-rhymed song in the air. Most will be airing their objections and opinions with a mouthful of food. These passengers are either seen in a struggle with mouthful chunks of food and at the same time trying to get the attention of the driver who had already pulled the bus into motion. When such cries were not heard or ignored by the driver. A chain reaction of action follows. Other passengers will lend a helping hand to bring the attention of the driver to the need of the particular passenger. When that fails, they will come loud bangs on the metal or the glass partition panel of the vehicle. This panel separates the passenger's section from that of the driver section of the bus. The later ploy usually gets the immediate response of the driver. The driver is most cases would voice out in anger at the passengers blaming them for causing unnecessary delays. When it comes to this, Kelvin will always take the side of the driver within himself. Sometimes too, there will be no such loud verbal offensives.

He will always recoil into his shell of neutrality when the case was not a friendly one. This can happen when heated debates and harsh exchanges ensue with the driver, his conductor, on one hand, pitched against the passengers. Each side will be trying to out-reason the other party with their various points of argument. Kelvin noted that the female passengers of the mid-forties and above are prone to such unusual behaviors. They are of the behavior of either taking too much time bargaining on the price for an item. They are always at this as if it was their convenient time, they were buying such commodities especially edible fruits. When a price is finally reached, they would take a longer time fumbling with their bags. When that is not enough, they would squeeze out the money which is usually of high denomination. This is a habitual thing with people. Most prefer to present higher denominations at the point of trade. This no doubt will need the ware hawker to run about among his or her colleagues in the trade for a suitable balance for his/her customer. This would in most cases contribute to more hiccups in the proper continuation of the journey. Such action irritates some passengers like him but he dares not protest. You could never know when you would be in the same situation as them, maybe on an unfortunate day too.

It is with a note of interest too, that the crossfire soon ends as it started. A mutual ceasefire declaration ensues with the end of missiles of words. A blanket amnesty soon overrides any ill feelings that might have arisen. Before long everything becomes calm as if nothing had happened. Some passengers soon continue on their conversations before the outburst. Others would strike up new topics of interest. Most times a whole total political debate could arise and factions would take sides. Especially was the case when no preacher-man or drug marketer was present. This set of individuals hide under the cloak of religion or comedian. They are only aimed at exhausting their different wares at the expense of their co-passengers. These are two sets of persons, either selling their goods and services or monetizing their faith.

With drug marketers, the idea is to have the attention of their listeners locked up in their ludicrous jokes. Nonetheless, they all follow one set of approaches. They would start with an emotionally charged prayer section called praise and worship. This is with the sole purpose of gaining the undivided attention of their would-be clients. The procedure follows a more personal undertone. It leverages on the perceived passengers' bottled-up problems. These sets of people are well crafted at using religion as a tool of attention. The phase of capturing the passenger's attention ends the moment the praise and worship session is in progress. Psychological marketing will start with the proper advertisement of their goods and services.

The mode of adverts makes the products and services offered look more appealing than they were.

The preacher-man is of particular interest. His procedure would start with the usual long spell of emotion

charged praise worship songs. These centers on life and death and the afterlife experience. This is a well-calculated psychological design. It reminds every passenger of the overbearing presence of death. Death is always an unexpected visitor that can come knocking at any given time even on a highway through accident. The preacher- men don't miss to dwell on that; it's their main weapon of thrust. Such thoughts are as usual dispelled with the "Blood of Jesus" chants by the passengers. This line of thoughts forces every passenger riddled with the fear of death to fell in line with the preacher man's message. At this point, the air would be aural of spiritual charge. And on the fringes of fanaticism; the devil must, without doubt, be in trouble in his kingdom. All his works are cast out on the spot. His demons bonded as well as every dark force with him defeated in the battlefield of the luxury bus, all by the blood of Jesus! Every evil is seen and unseen sees itself casted out. The devil receives all the blame even when humans' errors were responsible for most of the fatal accidents on the highway. The self-denial of responsibility is the easy way out of problems. It is always the devil's cup of tea.

The whole frenzy exercise soon climaxes into the sowing of seeds. Offering-giving comes in different ways. It comes either involuntary form with the sharing of envelopes. The other way comes in the selling of religious wares and articles such as stickers and banners. These items according to the preacher's claim are divine and could help to deliver every buyer from the works of the flesh and the devil's attacks.

Kelvin delights in observing the faces and reactions of the gullible passengers.

In his excited mood, the preacher man would urge his listeners to buy his goods and services to ward off spiritual attacks. Buyers of such are assured to receive permanent and miraculous healings and immunity from all their what might have been responsible for it including H.I.V and A.I.D.S. To the preacher man, all it takes to get healed is your faith in what he is selling!

Kelvin spurns on such claims, not only because they are unrealistic but they are all fictitious and spurious. These false claims are common by a greater number of the so-called "men―of―God or drug marketers." They are only after the linings of their pockets. This is at the expense of the impatient, gullible, and quick-solution-finders among their adherents.

In some cases, the sales would go in favor of the preacher man or the drug marketer. And sometimes too, he would meet a stingier audience even after heated sections of prayerful charges!

On any particular good day, for both the preacher man and drug marketer, there would be all smiles of gratitude. But on a bad day, the reverse is always the case as the annoying tone of disappointment would be visible to everyone who cares to notice. Kelvin never wishes to miss this part. He had observed to his amusement that he gets glued to the drug marketer's tones of disappointment. He prefers him to that of the preacher man who focuses more on deaths and misfortune to coerce his listeners to dance to his message. This is a rather negative sentimental form of fear-marketing even though it works for them.

In his observations, some of the drug marketers are more professional in their pronounced sighs-of- disappointment. After encountering poor sales from uncooperative passengers, they never give up. They are not sentimental when compared to most of the preacher men's approach. They are flexible to adapt and are more likely to adjust and find a quicker way of breaking the ice with a striking tolerance. These are the techniques he had wanted the preacher men to adopt. The preacher men demand absolute compliance because they carry the messages of life and death!

Such was the case in the bus, the drug marketer was so disappointed that after having dissipated his energy there was no sale. He has made less or no sales of his wares. These usually include cosmetics, drugs, magazines, journals, dental products, etc. All the way from the beginning of the journey and with only less than an hour left of the four hours journey to come to an end. He resorted to making humorous-jeering remarks. Every obvious discomfit of any passenger of his interest becomes his marketing target. That skillful action of finding a solution among his goods to the obvious problem turned his sales around. He would redisplay each of his products that fells in line to solve the problem raised. The loud humorous response from the passengers made many people uncomfortable. A greater number of the passengers began to request samples of his goods. Every item in his bag went out to the passengers, which resulted in a total seller out of his products. Most passengers who requested samples of his goods ended up buying them. Others did so to avoid becoming his object of attacks. They thereby avoided becoming a subject of riling laughter from their co-passengers. That was a more persuasive way of driving traffic to your products.

Sooner, the journey was about to come to an end as the top of the high rising buildings of the city's landscape came into view. Kelvin realized to his chagrin that after the exit of the marketer he had lost interest in other events inside the vehicle. He was all–mind-focused on his final destination. On an ordinary good day, he would have volunteered to be a passive observer but today was not an ordinary day. He had made several unsuccessful attempts to gain admission into institutions of higher learning. The results were all disappointing in the end. Now he could see the light at the end of the tunnel. He had always been an average student. For the first time in his life, he was more serious with this longing than he had ever been. The singsong of triumph had long clouded his immediate environs. His only concern was to get to the institution at a lightning speed.

The luxurious bus came to a stop in the motor park. He alerted other passengers and began making his inquiries. The exact location, how and where he could get a vehicle to begin his next phase of the journey was all he wanted. The positive response he got emboldened him. He headed to yet another motor park at the other side of the four cardinals looking networked flyover bridge. This flyover bridge demarcated the center of the city into four equal diagonal sides. Each side having a dualized highways leading into and out of various parts of the political state of Anambra. It led to other neighboring political states such as Enugu State to the East, Delta State to the West, and Imo State to the South.

They have arrived at the city. It was his first time in the city. The city was Onitsha. Onitsha being a boundary city, a strategic one indeed, situated at the foot of the famous River Niger Bridge. Its boundaries extend to the shores of the famous River Niger. This river crisscrossed the length and breadth of West Africa from Guinea to Nigeria. History has it that River Niger became known after the British explorer, Mongo Park discovered it. The other end of the illustrious bridge to the west ended deep into the territorial integrity of another state. Delta State was the name. Onitsha was and is still one of the notorious commercial nerve centers of the south-eastern part of the country.

During the Biafran/Nigerian Civil war, she was bejeweled. And she became a victim of her beauteous endowment between two vicious lovers on both sides of the bitter encounter. All came with the vicious aim of establishing an exclusive right to her territorial booty. She ended up being pillaged, battered by both sides each time a particular faction gains an upper hand over her bootylicious body. By daylight, she was raped, and under power cuts by nights, she was ravished by the power lust man who only wants all that her bounteous bootylicious body offers. No wonder, by the time the skirmishes were over; she had become barren. A widow and empty without adequate care of what was to become of all her fatherless children and future endeavors. On her streets laid frustrated and hopeless youths who took to crimes and other vices as an alternative relief to their bleak future. Many turned to men of ill-gotten wealth in glorification as mentors. Soon a large drove of youths turned to the streets for counterfeit and hard drugs as trade in their mad rush for the comfort of wealth. High dropouts in every level of education made it a legacy. The political state became one of the educational less privileged in the south-eastern part of the country. This is despite the fact that a great number of their sons and daughters had been at the helms of affair of the leadership, both of their state and the country many years after the war had ended.

Kelvin made his way up the flyover bridge. Soon he was descending to the other side. Turning around to his left at the foot of the other end of it, he could sight with delight his point of destination as he turned. Next to the foot of the bridge, he could see the motor park. He walked into the park where Ekwulobia mass transit was being boarded by the likes of him.

After a long time of endless waiting, the 36-seater bus was finally filled to the brim with commuters. It was so filled beyond its recommended capacity unfit even for the animals, how much more for humans. There was no much difference between a vehicle for goods and one for human cargo. All received the same treatment as far as they were all paid for. And woe betides any particular passenger who dared complain. Its operators are well prepared to give you the worst of verbal abuse. Such grossed and obscene language can give you instant stomach ulcers.

Such scenarios are peculiar and common among such operators otherwise called "Agberos." These are motor park miscreants hired to operate and load the transit buses. One does not put all he sees and hears into words. Kelvin was later to realize with a total sense of discomfort the poor state of the roads that these less comfortable buses ply. A plausible reason why most bus operators and their hired miscreants would take on any complaining passenger. They are more likely to make life a nightmare throughout the duration of the journey. The poor state of the roads then was one of the worst sights of deplorable road network he had ever seen in his life. It then later dawns on him why the operators would want to make the best of each trip they make as far as maximizing profits were possible.

May God has mercy on the passengers of any of such buses should they break down on the roads. Such an experience on that long and treacherous journey from Onitsha to Ekwulobia then was less desirable. They would have to wait until that particular bus gets repaired. The situation was atrocious under the torrid weather of the rainy seasons. Every other bus plying the road in the same or opposite direction is always filled more than its capacity. There were no accommodating spaces for stranded passengers.

Back then, there were only two main transports companies plying their trade on such roads. Uyo and Ekwulobia mass transport companies were the names of the transport companies. Each is owned by its respective town unions or individuals using the name of their town unions as a company name. The two different transport companies all have their different loading and disembarking terminals. Among the two transport companies, Ekwulobia mass transit happens to be the most vibrant in the business then. As at the time, it seems to be withstanding the overbearing tear and wear accustomed to the poor dilapidated road networks. The owner and manager of the transport company must be a man of deep pockets.

As the over-bloated 36-seater bus pulled out of the park, Kelvin heaved a sigh of relief after what seemed like endless waiting. It takes a good deal of patience to sit in the bus for hours waiting to have the bus loaded to its full capacity. It takes yet another precious time with the usual bureaucratic haggling between the bus operators, the touts, and the park management. This further delay results as the bus operators attempt to settle their financial obligations. The bus owner has both the local loaders and the local union owners of the motor park to settle. The local union owners of the motor park serve as government representatives and manage it. They collect dues for each loading of the buses.

The bus soon hits the highway of Upper Iweka road and later into Limca road which was the only asphalt road in good condition then. It was when it began to swerve from side to side without stopping that he realized that it was going to be a rough ride anyway. And when it began the eternal bumping of its tires against the cancerous crater of potholes that he knew the journey was going to be an unforgettable experience in his life. Without a doubt, it was an uncomfortable one indeed. His only solace was that he was sitting in his favorite position. He took his first lookout through the side windscreen. It was his favorite sitting position; sitting close to the window. He noted a signpost depicting the name of the first town immediately after Onitsha as he had thought. Nkpor Junction was in bold writing on the signpost. That reminded him that they were already in Nkpor Township presumably in Obosi. The real ownership of some of these towns had been in contention. The Obosi people have long contested ownership with their neighboring kinsmen.

The bus ran through various towns and administrative headquarters of some local government authorities such as Idemili south, Idemili north, and the other towns. He was quick to note that most of these towns were famous towns he had read about in some war journal. These were especially during the Biafran/Nigerian Civil war. It fascinated him about what the situation could have been like then. He imagined living in fear of one's life during wartime. The thoughts were swarming in his mind. Being under constant heavy aerial bombardments, artillery shells, ambushes of enemy military convoys. The heavy battles that took place between the warring sworn foes. Life to an ordinary civilian could have been nothing other than a pitiable one indeed. He recoiled at the thought of how many times he had read about how Nkpor turned into a battlefield by the advancing Nigerian forces. How it was captured and fiercely retaken by the Biafran freedom fighters. He had read about the mercenary activities at Igboukwu. How a huge convoy of a battalion or so of soldiers of the Nigerian forces was torn apart by a locally made landmine called Ogbunigwe. The said event took place in one of the federal forces advance into the hinterlands of the then breakaway Biafran Republic.

Each of these towns as they passed them brought to his memory the vivid battles he had read about, that took place, fought, won, and lost. Accompanying them were the inevitable tragedies that follow such military activities. The countless young men were killed in the flower of their youths on both sides. The mournful tones of the defeated as well as the victorious army. In war, there's No victor, No Vanquish as the then head of state General Gowon coined it. All are casualties according to the literary icon and poet J.P Clark. The impression left a sour taste in his heart and misty eyes filled his emotion. His emotions swing from the shores of a conquering army to that of the defeated people. People fought literally with bare hands a war that was to change the destiny of the political landscape of its people.

Like the late and former Biafran warlord, Chief Ikemba Odumegwu Ojukwu said years later. It was after the bitter bloodletting, "The Biafran of the mind would never die." Kelvin agreed with him at some point. All those who fought in its heroic battles and survived as well as the generation that experienced it would never forget it. It has become a checkered history of a country. It was not a war that should have taken place in the first place nor should it repeat itself ever in the future. With that final note, he shifted his attention to the beautiful landscape of the towns. How the lush floral had buried underneath it the ugly reminders of the bloody sad history. The slow rising and falling of the surrounding lush hills in the distance caught his sharp mind. Being an ardent student admirer of nature in its puritan ecosystem, he let his eyes have a feel of the picturesque and exhilarating scene that unfolds itself. The bus jolted along

the pothole-filled dusty road.

The creative imaginations of his subconsciousness were briefly forced back to his immediate environments. The sudden chaos inside the bus.

The shouts of protest from the passengers, "Driver, please take it easy. Don't you realize you are carrying humans and not animals?" and "Driver, take it easy. There's no duplicate to life." It happened in a flash. The driver tried to maneuver a bend to avoid a looming pothole as he continued with his unhealthy speed. The terrible impact told the unsuccessful story. Kelvin saw himself in mid-air. He found himself hurled out of his rather tight sitting position into mid-air. Only his hands held on firmly onto the bare metal frame of the front seat. It provided an equal and opposite force. This prevented him from hitting his head against the protruding bare metal on the roof of the bus. His firm grip on the metal bar of the seat in front of him helped lunched him back into his seat forcefully. In that instant bizarre moment of madness, his head was not that fortunate. He collided head-to-head with his co-passenger.

It took a while before the driver slowed down amidst angry protest and curses rained down on him by the passengers. Four of the passengers occupying the attachment seats blocking the gangway had crashed to the bare and dirty floor of the bus. Some passengers were scrambling to keep their respective seats. To keep their balance, their seats had dislocated and slipped out from the two side positions on which they were hinged.

The attachment seats were extra seats made of wooden planks. They were placed in the gangway between each of the two original seats. This action blocked the gangway that was meant for passengers to make their exits.

"You wicked driver. God would punish you," shouted a female passenger.

"What type of a driver are you?" yelled a middle-aged man.

"Do you think we are animals to be driven the way you're driving us?" cried a woman now on the bare floor of the bus.

Not few were the curses and angry reactions of the passengers as the driver slowed down to a halt. Not even the driver nor his assistant had a soft word for anyone who dared challenge them. They replied back hotly "word-for-word" and "curses-for-curses" to anyone.

"You're an idiot and a hopeless man," came their taunts to their injured clients. The usual case of most Nigerian drivers' relationship with their passengers. The road-rage is a common scene as no one seems to be at fault but always on their rights. In some cases, one would observe drivers engaging their passengers in a brawl over money. Incidents of reckless driving and poor human relationship are common. It all goes to show that the people were under pressure to survive. This is in the face of plentiful resources that had been hijacked by the few among the ruling political class.

The passengers regained their composures and the wounded were licking their wounds. The driver once again hammered on the throttle of the bus. The driver was not in any mood to soft-peddle in his usual kamikaze style of driving against the complaints and pleas of his passengers.

Kelvin's head was still hurting where it had collided with his co-passenger. He was still rubbing on the spot as was his fellow passenger. They caught each other in the eye as he glanced up to look at him for the first time during the journey. They said apologies simultaneously to each other with a rather sense of humor. This was amidst the missiles of words between the driver and his irate passengers, especially from the women.

It was not too long when the driver soft peddled. The driver became humane with his driving. Everyone saw that as a welcomed development even though the occasional bumps continued. The agonies of their past experience were still fresh in their memory. It soon became quite obvious to everyone why he had started driving less recklessly. The driver had entered a narrow strip of road in a new town called Nimo. The accompanying towns such as Nnobi were all connected with each other by a narrow road. The two towns are always a beehive of traffic due to their proximity with their local market at its main junctions.

Kelvin went back to his watching hobby of the sturdy landscapes and the hillsides. Apart from the beautiful nature of the landscapes and its hillsides, he observed the handiwork of gully erosions. The visible effects of which are clearly seen. The defacement of the landscape was quite obvious. It was nothing but an eye-sore. He had to acknowledge the glaring truth on the menace of these ecological disasters. And as well man's engineered economic activities geared by sheer greed. This is especially the case with the unregulated and illegal mining and excavations of the earth for major construction matters. To counteract the effects of gully erosions, he noted there was never-ending forestry of eco-friendly plants and trees such as the Cashew nuts trees. It was aimed at curtailing and to help check the ugly trend. The erosion was not only threatening the ethereal beauty of the landscape. It was as well endangering the people's livelihood. It was the more affecting the continued existence of the people of the political state at large.

The looming sight of a town at a distance and the shuffling of feet by the passengers was enough to tell Kelvin that the journey was at its end. It came as a huge relief to everyone. He could see the town's roundabout which seems to serve as its central point. It was the pivotal point of the town with a tall upright signpost. An inscription "Jehova Rules," was inscribed on the uppermost section of the signpost. This is followed by the name of the town "Ekwulobia" below the inscription. They were in bold letters and in clear view. The roundabout was the point at which the major roads leading into and out of it transverses. The major roads forming a four diagonal line emerging from the roundabout. One of such roads was the one they were approaching from, which heads from Onitsha to Ekwulobia; vis-a vis. The other end of it passes through Ekwulobia to Umunze through Ufuma. The second one, transverses through the town center to the capital city Awka through Nanka and other towns and cities.

When the bus finally got to a stop inside the motor park, he took his time to survey the surroundings. It was a beehive of commercial activity. Soon he was on the queue of passengers alerting from the bus. Once with his feet on the wet brown earth, he felt his head hurt a little from the hard-knock he received on collision with his co-passenger. It was only a few seconds' final reactions of his body to the torturous journey.

He took another bus, this time a minibus heading towards Oko, the town where the main campus of the institution holds swell. A few minutes' drives brought him face-to-face with the main gate of the school building. Federal Polytechnic Oko was the name of the institution. A few inquiries lead him to the little-known community bank, Oko Community bank but now Microfinance bank. He was to buy the foundation pre-degree forms there.

Before long it was night. He closed his eyes on that fateful day to sleep in the house of fellow Christian Brother. He told himself "My life has just begun for the better,"

Kelvin discovered himself living in an environment where a promiscuous lifestyle was a trend among his fellow students. In fact, it was said to be a part of growing up; a better way to get to know each other well? Sex means everything with the opposite sex. One might find himself at odds if not unnatural should he resist the strong urge to join the foray.

Most girls had regular boyfriends. It would sound ridiculous for a boy to be without a steady girlfriend. There are too many girls in number than the boys itching for the few available boys on campus. He also saw how ill-equipped and less emotionally independent the girls were. They relied more on their sexual and famine power to get the attention of their male colleagues. The girls were at war with each other. They tried to outplay each other to the available few boys. Sex seemed to be all that mattered in a boy-girl relationship. Why the mad rush on pre-marital sex? He had pondered many times. Waiting for something makes the value worth more because what is worth having is worth waiting for? Isn't sex worth waiting for?

The wrong orientation prevalent in the academic-social environment was not helping matters. It made things impossible for both sexes to find out exactly what they want out of such sensitive affairs. In Kelvin's own view, it was the girls who in most cases seem to receive cruel treatments at the hands of the boys. The boys change them as with clothes.

The wrong orientation prevalent in the academic-social environment was not helping matters. It made things impossible for both sexes to find out exactly what they want out of such sensitive affairs. In Kelvin's own view, it was the girls who in most cases seem to receive cruel treatments at the hands of the boys. The boys change them as with clothes.

"Boys think of most girls as a book appeals to the reader. If the cover doesn't appeal to the reader, they wouldn't bother to read the content." anonymous

Forty-one students were the tally number of the students living in his lodge building. Out of this number, twenty-five were females. Sixteen were males. The pre-degree students living in the said lodge were quite organized in doing things as a body. Each one was his brother's keeper. Misunderstandings were easily sorted out with a sense of humor. The disagreeing colleagues are made to reconsider their differences for the greater good of the community. On the academic and social level, there was that prayerful ambition for success. Even after so many years gone by, Kelvin still relishes the pleasurable memories of the playful serenity prevalent in the lodge. The heartwarming feelings of the students that took up residence in it were exceptional.

There were many things that he had enjoyed during the brief eight to nine months period of the pre-degree program. Among these was the unforgettable serenity of the surroundings of the community the campus was located. In spite of the obvious lack of basic amenities such as public power supply which was never felt despite the presence of the necessary infrastructures. Portable safe drinking water was void. The only source of water had been the small stream which wasn't all that safe for human consumption. Yet, that was the only source of water. When he first came to the area he soon took ill for typhoid fever. Not even the institution had the health facility to treat him. He had to travel back home to get treatment. Though there was an option of getting safe drinking water. To those who could afford it, bags of sachet of water were available for consumption.

The scenic view was that of beautiful hills and wet valleys. It was yet another reason why he admired the area. On so many occasions, en route to the stream to fetch water Kelvin had to stop at a vantage point to admire the sights before him. Each time he descends the hill to the stream, he absorbs the breathtaking sight of the surrounding hills. The thick presence of bushlands slowly grows into a forest as far as the eye can see.

From that vantage point, one could see the outline of the sunbaked earth. The bush tracks stood out clearly from the forest walls of bushlands. This stood on each side of the hills and on the other side on which he stood. The roads and bush tracts all seemingly emanating from a point at the top of the hill on each side. They descended with that steep thrust towards the stream below. The buildings capped and graced the top of the hills. These ran across more than a mile behind the shade of trees.

The possibility of having an aerial view of these beauties of the landscape-somewhere between the two hills also graced his thoughts. A picture of the memorable outcome will be indelible. He also imagined if he was the only person that admires the sight of nature. What an appreciative mind of the beauties endowed in those two hills. Any nature admirer from the other side of the hill would share his sentiments―beauty indeed they say is in the eyes of the beholder.

Kelvin knew he had daydreamed of buying the plot of land just close to the spot where he usually stops on his way to fetch water. He had erected a building in his imaginative mind that will be overlooking the valley and the surrounding hills. Indeed, no one would ever be denied these facts. The longing of being part-and-parcel of such scenic views or rather having a claim to it.

To add to the beauty of the landscape were the fruit trees. They were planted along with every nuke and cranny of the community and the political state in particular. The whole area―the political state of Anambra State was prone to severe erosions. The menacing gullies threaten the existence of its people and the landscapes themselves.

The fruit trees were cashew nuts which combine as a cash crop as well as a check to the looming reality of erosion. The cashew nut tree was such that it occupied some fields of thousands of hectares of land. It may be right to say that the cashew tree had taken over the landscape of the community. The tree in itself is self-propagating. One planted seed is required to turn a greater percentage of land into a forest of trees. One could spend a whole day plucking and enjoying the juiciness of the fruits when in season.

In his lodge, especially in the main boys' quarters. It became a regular routine that every of its member goes to the stream together. The stream was close to the lodge. Only a few walking distances away. It takes only a few minutes, yet it takes close to a few hours before they could make it back to their domicile lodge. Why? This is what usually should be on anyone's lips―the answers are not farfetched too. Their endless adventure to cashew fruit plucking. After having their fill in the bushes, with sacks of nylon bags to justify the rounds of cashew hunting. They would take the nylon-filled bags of cashew fruits back to the lodge. A stomach filled with cashew fruits to many was the lunch. Those who were not able to go for the cashew hunting will share from the bush spoil.

Kelvin relishes the periods in which the cashew trees were in season as it was a great boost to them. It was an advantage to the students, especially in the lodge. It came to serve as a lunch alternative to most of them who could not afford three square meals a day. Even those who could boast of three square meals could not resist the urge to join the bush hunt for the cashew nut juicy fruits. It helped to save most of their lunch money back into their always-lean pulse.

On a personal recall, Kelvin was among those who benefited more than anyone else. He did not find it funny. He loved fruits. It was among his delicacy. He had to be meticulous when it comes to money and has always been.

He knew too well that for the months in which these trees were in the season he made the best of it as he substituted it for his lunch most times. He wasn't the only one on the same page because most students were not shy to go for cashew fruit-bush-hunt. You will be surprised at the cache of fruits on each hunting expedition. When you see a tree shaking with its branches, do not presume it was the winds, birds, or monkeys. They are evidence of students dangling on the branches. Students climb the trees in the public view of fellow students.

It was a thing of pleasure to spend most afternoon periods after lectures on top of a cashew tree with ripe fruits dangling all around you.

Before long a club was born. A club for boys called the Cashew boys' club―a free admission club. You can only be a member if you're a lover of cashew fruits. Your regular presence is welcomed on the trees with your books in hand. Your books must accompany you as a mandatory requirement. Voluntary efforts encouraged each member to introduce new members to the club.

One favorite place of voluntary meeting was in front of the library. These are peculiar for Kelvin. He spends most of his time too in the library. Between his reading sessions, he would stroll out of the building to hang out on the trees with his colleagues. When the library had closed for the day, some lecture hall blocks had dozens of such trees. These were decorated with the endless yellowish and greenish color of the ripe and unripe fruits in their bunch.

The club lasted as long as the fruits and their season lasted. A spirit of comradeship soon developed among the members. It would not be a surprise if a member makes inquiries during the lectures period to ask whether the others would make it to the meeting as usual. The need to make plans ahead cannot be over-emphasized. Thus, the importance of passing information to the regular members was a necessity. At the meetings, the welfare of other members who were absent at the previous meetings was also made known to those who care to find out. At a point, the meeting point soon became a rallying ground for discussing important issues. The topic ranges from the fruits to polities, sports, education and whatever the latest in the news was. Trending news points in the dailies are always hot issues to deliberate upon. The library was always stocked with current daily news-making around the country.

The beautiful cool shades provided by the trees were another reason why the club attracted many members. All around these trees were wooden seats brought from the lecture classrooms to accommodate the teeming fans of the club. The timing for the club meeting was set and coincides with yet another activity that each member enjoys as well. When the sun might have gone down, everybody knows what time it is―time to have some fun. Time to play the master-of-all-sports―the football game.

Before the time comes by, most of the members would go home to their respective place of domicile to change into their appropriate dress of shorts. In so many cases, in other not to miss the first game selection, some who wore their boxers would immediately shed their clothes for the game. If you are not a lover of football games don't find this ridiculous. You never knew what it means to those who love it. For a football game on the spot, one should always be ready.

The funniest part of the activity of the club was the unending drama and jokes they made about each other. Members are always questioning each member on why he was always found reading his books under the cashew nut trees.

"These boys, I wonder what your parents would be thinking of. They would think you are married to your books here. Unknown to them you're only married to the cashew tree," Emeka would mock his fellow members.

"I don't blame you. Imagine someone who calls himself a serious student. You're pretending to read your books. Your eyes are always up the trees for a yellow fruit," Daniel replied.

"Hey, look at that fat one over there. I beg someone should help me with a stick to pluck it," Samuel called out.

"Let me pluck it for you, dear," Samson suggested as his eyes roved over the uppermost sections of the tree.

"Sorry dear, I don't need to trust a Monkey with a bunch of bananas," replied Samuel as he made his way up the tree.

"I wouldn't like to observe you committing suicide just because of that fruit at the fringe of the tree. Simple, let it be someone else to save you the pain of crashing to the ground," Samson chipped in with humor.

"Longer throat, don't forget that you should by now be having your lunch but you're up there in the tree," Samuel fired back.

When a member is absent for some time for any reason, seeing him again will elicit some interrogative questioning. It was a normal routine to pick on him.

"Hey Onwa, what do you think you are coming here to do, enhh?" Ifeanyi cried out on sighting the object of his attack, Onwa.

"Does that mean your parents had forgotten that you are in school to have sent you back empty-handed?" Nnamdi re-echoed it.

"Don't mind the guy. I saw him coming back yesterday with enough Ghana-must-go bags filled up with foodstuffs. When he brought out his wallet to pay the Okada man... he was a smelling-mint-of-hard-currency," Uchenna insinuated.

"You cashew boys, I' am aware that the number of the ripe fruits had remained the same since I left them. Let me warn every one of you that I've been counting all the ripe fruits from my hometown," Onwa replied. "I took count of them all,"

"Yes! Hurry boy, you never land from your travel, and your eyes don dey hot for trees, abi?" Peter quarried him hotly in pidgin English.

"Everything he thinks these days is cashew fruit all through. He will soon change his name to cashew fruit and not Onwa―the moon," that was Ikechukwu's voice as everyone laughed.

"Una no-go go eat better food for the house. Every morning cashew. Every afternoon cashew. Every night cashew, haba!" Onwa replied as he climbed the tree. "You," pointing at Marcus, "the way you dey carry book climb up the tree. Are you sure it's the book or cashew fruit you're after?"

"Never mind him, he pretends to be reading whereas he is documenting the number of ripe cashew nut fruit on the tree," Okonma added.

"Onwa, how far now? Wetin you carry come back for the boys?" Charles asked.

The newcomer Onwa deliberately avoided the question.

"I beg you let me be. Make I taste this ripe fruit first before I answer you," replied Onwa as he launched for a ripe fruit.

"Onwa don't tell us you didn't come back with anything. Or are you saying that your girlfriend had weed zapped everything," Samson added.

"You think I am the likes of Samuel. Who always account to his girlfriend every dime he receives from his guardians?" Onwa objected.

"You better fix up your mouth. Where did you sleep last night?" replied Samuel.

"Myself?" Onwa asked a rhetorical question. "Yes, was it not in your girls' room?"

"You must be joking,"

"Well, good a thing you talk what you know best. Let me tell you, you slept in your girls' lodge last night and your girls' room No. is D12. She answers Nkechi Akwarandu. Do you think no one saw you when you sneaked out early in the morning?"

It was obvious that the cashew fruit trees were a rallying point. Yet, it was a thing of surprise that not all members knew exactly where the other members are coming from. Most of the members rarely knew much about each other except on some occasions when something so sensitive happens. Or something that has to do with their respective place of domicile came into the front-line of discussion.

"Boy, e bi like say you are too close to my tails," Onwa replied saving face.

"So Onwa, you meant to say that you'd given everything you came back with to your girlfriend for keeps?" Samson pushed further.

"See that little girl hawking boiled groundnut. We wouldn't mind doing with that." Charles pointed out. He wasted no time calling the girl over.

"How much are you selling the groundnut?" Onwa immediately asked the young girl as he brought out wades of Naira notes. The action received loud applauds. He was hailed by all. They all have a way of making him feel high and willing to go a little further with his ego already inflated with pride.

"Onwa na you biko-kwa o," echoed Uchenna as he received his own package of the boiled groundnut in a nylon bag.

"You are the aka ekpuchi-onwa," (Meaning the moon that can never be obscured with palms) cried Ifeanyi.

It was not long; the club started receiving some female members. These girls got attracted to the club for the same reasons as were their male members. Some of them it turned out were the girlfriends of the male members. Since some of these girls are shy and could not climb, except for the few among them that dared the climbing phobia. It became the obligation of the male members to feed the female members by plucking the fruits for them.

Many bonds of relationships got broken as soon as they sprouted. These became possible after the curiosity and the fire in their loins had exhausted its heat. It was not a common sight to observe the expression of long faces on parties that were once aflame with each other now on odd terms. The victims of such relationships at most are the girls who end up more wounded at heart than they had envisaged.

In their unguarded bid for attention and acceptance from persons of the opposite sex, they offer themselves at a giveaway price. They soon discover to their utter dismay that they had only felled victims to the predatory sex-mongers of their male partners. It doesn't matter if it was a he or she either way they both were casualties of romance.

Kelvin's colleagues at the lodge considered him often as the bad boy in their midst. He was taken as being too conservative and not stirred by some of their objectionable fanfares which they indulge themselves in the name of having fun. In the case of such fanfares, he did not take pleasure in condemning whatever it is they were at. He takes a walk from their midst whenever he senses that things were no longer moving as planned. To be sincere, those fanfares were a minor occurrence compared to the other wholesome engagements. Nonetheless, they were enough to compromise him.

In spite of their different views about him, he was admired and respected by them. A good number of them understood each time he had to explain himself out―why he had excused himself from some activities which he did not feel comfortable with. Even at that, others were not convinced that he was normal. They see no reason why he opts to deprive himself of having some funs which in their view he deserved. He felt tempted to have a feel–of– the-fun not once or twice but many times. He found himself trapped in the carefree lifestyle prevalent on the campus and the lodge where he now lives. Yet, out of his inner struggle to keep virtuous―it was a heartbreaking fight. It was either he succumbs to the pressures or goes on torturing his mind against his fleshy feelings.

Kelvin knew he must keep chaste. He wants to keep chaste. Yes, that had been his decision which he was predetermined to uphold but not without a hard fight. He came close to breaking apart under pressure on several occasions. He was almost swept off his feet by the suggestive approach of his female colleagues though not in the lodge itself. Who would have known what he did? Who could have queried him if he had decided to lay any lascivious girl? Was he not man enough to live his life the way he wants it, yes, follow after his heart? He could have discovered how fun it would be to be in bed with any willing girl. Why would he be having this terrible feeling of losing out on something? Ordinary suggestive eye contact was enough to get a bedmate of the opposite sex. Could he afford to breach a contract with his conscience? Was he normal? Was he just afraid of being caught out and losing face at the end? If the opportunity presented itself in a secluded place where no one knew him would he still keep up with his stance? He would on several occasions found himself pondering over in his mind. But for his conscience, he rather dares not.

He had always believed that it was a man that takes the first step towards getting the attention of a woman. But he was wrong in many cases as he soon discovered that sometimes it's the girls that initiate the first step. Some are tactical in their approach. Others were not. That came as a surprise to him judging from his previous orientation and what the culture had laid before his society. He soon got over that as part of the ever-changing culture as we all try to acclimatize with the surprises of modern lifestyle as defined in high institutions.

Yes, everyone wants to have a regular girlfriend or boyfriend to date. There was that natural tendency, to long for attention and feel wanted by the person of the opposite sex. This is more so with someone whom you would want to spend your life with. No one has a monopoly on his or her emotions and that of the other person. Emotions and feelings could run so high when unchecked particularly under some prevailing circumstances. Everyone seemed to be falling in love and out of love. Such was the case with events at the lodge, the British Lodge.

Kelvin had noted how a fellow lodge mate was beginning to grow thin at an alarming rate that he decided to pry into the matter. He tried to get to the root of the matter by asking him. He had known him as a healthy boy full of life. He had attributed the sudden change in him to the usual economic imbalance. It is a general disease common to students. A good number had to struggle to feed well even as they have to sit up with their studies in college. This is not notwithstanding the dare cost of education in the country.

It was his roommate Iyke who in his usual jesting way threw to light what had been the matter with Onoo.

"Kelvin so much cared about Onoo that he wants to know what's the hell was wrong with him," He had a sarcastic smile that lighted his broad face and about him.

Iyke bent over the plastic bucket in which he had been doing his laundry. "Onoo, you're growing too thin these days please what's the matter?" he gave a mockery shout at Onoo.

The boy passed them by. They were about seven in number. They were sitting on the stepped pavements by the side of the main building. It was overlooking their own side of the apartment―a boys' quarter of six rooms next to the side of the main building.

Onoo ignored him and made straight for the 19th numbered room of the main building facing the boy's quarter. He climbed the stepped pavement and began to knock on the iron burglarproof in front of the balcony immediately after the room. That was the room apartment of Kolia and her roommate Sofia.

In the student lodge, a free flow of pidgin English and conventional English was an order of the day in their everyday communication.

"Onoo leave Kolia for God's sake and for your own good too!" Iyke added. It was an almost yell at Onoo.

"Iyke what's your business between the two?" It was Alaska's voice who feigned a righteous concern. Even at that, he was trying to put a check on the choking laughter he was struggling with.

"See you Alaska. I'm beginning to suspect you. You're a child of mischief," came Peter's voice. He reprimanded his friend Alaska for being inciting with his false pretense.

"Hey, you Peter-eem Mr. doggy-master. I didn't call you over," retorted Alaska still struggling with fits of laughter.

"I don't know whether we are going to worry over the two of these brats or over Iyke's ill comment on Onoo. Why wouldn't the two of you let us be, to solve one issue one at a time before creating another scenario, enh?" Kristor lashed at the two friends even with a smile.

"Kristor my man, let's not quarrel. Don't mind this pimp. Soap and water," Alaska now laughing loud and jeering at Peter.

"Alaska, if you ever call me a pimp again or even soap and water, I would blast you!" threatened Peter who was beginning to smile in spite of himself.

"Blast me, Mr. Dog. I want to go to heaven sooner. In fact, if you dare make a noise now," he paused. "I wouldn't mind calling you a pimp or a soap and water," retorted Alaska once more as everyone began to laugh including Peter himself.

Peter was a big fan of Snoop Dog, hence the dog master acronym. He had on several occasions for whatever reason did not take his bath but instead washed only his arms, head, and legs. The same way the Muslims do before prayer. Alaska nick named him soap and water on that.

"Both of you want to interrupt what I was saying earlier...," Iyke was saying when Mekus cuts in.

"Onoo leave Kolia alone or ease...,"

"Or what?" shouted everyone in a chorus.

"Or ease...in chort, I don't know what to tell you," Replied Mekus reluctantly.

"Was he struggling with the word in short?" Kristor mocked Mekus.

The indigenous people of Anambra origin have an assent in their mother tongue. They always struggle with some letters of the alphabet. For example, the letter (l) could be pronounced as (r), (c) as (s).

Everyone quite knew too well that Mekus was good at backbiting. He was more disliked for being a betrayer. To them, he hardly sees matters clearly especially when he had a hidden intention. So whenever he exhibits that character he was bound to receive a collective lashing.

"Or what!" came the second unanimous shout urging Mekus raised his demands.

"I swear, Mekus has a hidden agenda," shouted Peter when Mekus declined to speak further.

"What is it?" queried Iyke.

"Announcement, announcement. The dog wants to say something please," cried playful Alaska. He had walked up to where Peter was standing. With an extended arm, he clenched his fist towards Peter's mouth as a microphone gesture.

The little scene caused another round of laughter. Peter chased him into his room.

"Are you people watching as the dog chased after my roommate? What if he gives him rabies?" cried Eme, Alaska's roommate laughing.

The comment made Peter stop chasing after Alaska and made for Eme.

"Aricoco my brother, I heard you've got the medicine for dogs. Please come to my rescue," came the still laughing Eme as he took to his heels.

"Yes, the medicine for the dog is kids' excrement. If you can get an infants' excrement. Then call out to the dog, this way, Pieaa, pieaa, pieaae! The dog will start running towards you to lick the shit," Aricoco replied to Eme.

Overhearing that sarcastic comment Peter stopped from chasing after Eme who he was about to engage in a little exchange. He hurled a used empty can of a tin of milk at Aricoco who dodged it.

"See these kids, oh. When would you graduate as men?" Kristor asked.

"Don't mind Peter. No be you say your nickname na Snoop doggy-dog, ennh? Are you not the doggy master? Why you de hala? Don't take offense whenever a person tells you what some dogs eat as food in the village. Do you want us to remind you of the disease they can give a person if they are not vaccinated? At least, Aricoco had told you the food he feeds his dogs on. Abi, you eat infant excrement as his dog does?" Iyke mocked Peter.

"Does it mean that Aricoco doesn't have anything better to feed his village dogs than on infant excrement? That is quite abhorrible. I can't imagine how lanky, malnourished and sickly such a dog would look like?" Kristor objected with a shocking shrug.

"Let me ask you Kristor. Does it not strike you that doggy-master looked so lanky and malnourished?" Iyke said with a sly look at Peter's contorted face.

"But for God's sake he is not as lanky as Onoo," Alaska replied laughing.

"Thank you, Alaska, for reminding me about Onoo," acknowledged Iyke with a deliberate sense of urgency.

All this while Kelvin remained silent, watching the unfolding drama as it unfolds. Soon Kolia made her way out of the room and opened the burglarproof to let Onoo inside her room. Kelvin had been aware that the two had become friends. Yes, lovers and to a point, they were shameless at the way they carry about their libido inflamed affair. He sees no connection between the relationship and Onoo's sudden malnourished-looking state.

"Before any further procession on the matter on the ground, please, I would like to hear Peter's secret on Mekus," cuts in Eme.

"Yes, that's what we want to hear first. Oya, Peter, please have the floor!" Kristor urged.

"I would only allow myself to be obliged because it was Kristor's bidding," replied Peter non-smiling. He has found the pleasure to hit back at his arch-rival Mekus.

"We agree. But explain yourself please," Eme added. "The reason why Mekus hadn't been able to come out in the clear is that he himself had been eying Kolia. He is merely jealous that Kolia had not agreed to his hand of intimate friendship. Do you all know that this stingy Mekus

had been spending his money buying cans of juice and presents for her?" Peter lets the Cat out of the bag.

"For God's sake which Mekus? This stingy one?" asked Aricoco laughing. It all sounded like a puzzle to everyone. "Alarm don blow! So Mekus you'd been chasing after Kolia in secret, thinking that we would never get wind if

it?" Iyke said laughing.

"I talkam (I said it), say this kin person wey no dey give person money, something must be eating his money and na girls. See your life!" Kristor added laughing out loud.

"Chie! Wonders will never end," replied dumbfounded Alaska.

It was common knowledge that most people viewed Mekus as stingy. Others would say, he was too meticulous at spending or helping out. We all agreed he wasn't a generous person. He rarely admits he had any money to lend to anyone or help out. Maybe he was right. Most students came from poor families. The meager fund they get from their families they manage with utmost priority. Mekus could be given the benefit of the doubt. However, they knew as always crying of lack of money. So, it had come as a surprise to everyone though not unexpected.

But not everyone was taken by surprise. The fact that Mekus could have been spending his little income as he always puts it, on any girl. They were all surprised because it was, he who was always backstabbing about the waywardness of the girl Kolia. Yet behind their backs, he was secretly itching for her hand of friendship with gifts. What an absurd kind of character.

"You all are nothing but crazy! What'd I to do with Kolia by the way, enh?" Mekus found himself in an awkward defensive position.

"Kelvin, you'd been here. Had you ever seen her in my room alone with me?" he sought Kelvin's help out of the situation. Kelvin had not joined in the endless jeers as well.

"Leave big boy Kelvin alone my friend. When did he turn into a private room investigator? Does he enter your people's room excerpt if Kristor was inside it? Have you ever seen him with a girl before? Abeg, leave him in peace!" Iyke cuts Mekus short even before Kelvin could speak for himself.

"Get out of my way, am I talking to you?" Mekus was visibly annoyed as he barked at his fellow kinsman.

"I would never allow you to interact with Kelvin. He'd made me his mouthpiece," Alaska said in amusement. He stood akimbo between Kelvin and the two quarreling kinsmen.

"Secret womanizer. Why can't you own up? You hadn't even denied it," Aricoco said.

"Look at you. You think I am an endless womanizer like you?" Mekus tried to save his face rather poorly.

The parties got divided with Aricoco, Alaska, Eme, and Peter. These were the youngest students among the male students living in the lodge on one hand. Together they enjoyed the opportunity of ridiculing Mekus to his discomfort. Kristor and Kelvin sat together with Iyke still doing his laundry watching the scene.

"Mekus, if you're looking for an alibi you'd found the wrong person in Kelvin," Eme added.

"Yes, does Kelvin knew when you were secretly buying cans of juice and gifts to persuade her to date you?" Peter added amusedly.

"Omo, get behind me the lots of you!" Mekus scowled at them. He had never expected himself to feel embarrassed the way he was. Shamefaced; he quickly sought the refuge of his room.

While the amusement and jeering were going on, Iyke now put Kelvin and Kristor in the clear as regards Onoo.

"So, Kelvin you had been living here yet you seem not to sniff the ground enough to know what had been going on?" he said in a low but audible tone.

"Well, I am quite aware that the two had been amorously inflamed with each other, but I don't seem to relate his plight with their affair. Anyway, it's their lives," Kelvin replied in a nonchalant way.

"Well, it's not your fault. You don't enjoy our many gossips here. But call it gossip or pork-nosing, I don't give a damn! I would be the last person to see a boy like as am writhing in pain. And as foolish as that would be because he is after a girl," Iyke said as a matter of fact.

"To hell with girlfriends if this is what it is all about," Kristor said.

"How can a boy be giving all his money for keeps in the hands of a girl just because you sleep with her. She uses the money to buy anything she likes and feeding fat while you go hungry. Could you imagine that Onoo had gone to eat his breakfast inside her house at this particular time of the day? Who hadn't taken his lunch by now?" he retorted in annoyance. (hold)

"Maybe she didn't go to the market on time and couldn't prepare the food on time too," added Kristor in a sneering manner.

"Are you sure she no hollam with juju?" Peter who'd rejoined them asked in amusement.

"Which kain juju? For where? Our people said that it's how you place your mat that you lay on it," Kristor replied.

"Listen, Kelvin, you're my roommate. You quite knew I have girlfriends. Yes, I have them in every size, skin color, taste and texture, whatever. In a sense, I'm not speaking out of bitter jealousy. We all are well aware that we're doing a pre-degree or a foundation program so to say. In my own viewpoint whichever lifestyle, one had decided to live on as a student he mustn't treat his studies with kid gloves. One is my fellow kinsman as such my brother. If he didn't do well at the end of the pre-degree program even if I decided to ignore him, it would affect me because he's, my brother. I don't see any logic behind him abandoning his studies just because of a girl," Iyke continued with a concerned look on his face.

"Yes, he shouldn't be sacrificing his future prospect just because of a girl. Every morning, afternoon, and evening he is in Kolia's room, doing what?" Eme chipped in.

"For God's sake instead of concentrating on his studies," added Aricoco.

Kelvin looked at the busybodies and smiled. They all were no different from Mekus in some sense. Among all the girls in the lodge, Kolia was to a point an attractive girl among the girls in the lodge but not the most intelligent.