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Aba. 22nd, July, 1998. Papa burnt down Mama’s farm the day we left. It had rained heavily on the night Mama had finally asked for a divorce. She had called me the previous evening, her voice [...]

One. The absence of peace Even before she passed away like the sun in a wet season, her life wasn’t tranquil. My mother was a psychologically tortured woman. A harassed woman and of course [...]

Reaching out my tainted hands Empty of purity Discord, my identity Eclipsed by the world and ‘of the World’, Mundane… my priority. Prints of destruction Taking a toll on my soul In all of this, [...]

“Redemption is the pathway that is trailed by perpetual light. -Thompson Emate   Freedom from the night Walking towards the light Darkness seeks for the escaped souls It’s like running on [...]

I spent my life in a haze, a suspended animation With every breath taking me farther from the surface And every sigh pulling me deeper into the void.   I never had grand ambitions, nor did I [...]

The early morning sky brooded at 3am and Ojotule’s heart was a beehive of activities. For 30 years, she had wallowed in confusion, anger, and now a deep-seated sadness; weariness that nothing [...]

Lately, memories from my childhood have been surfacing, like fragments of a forgotten dream. One late afternoon stands out vividly. I had gone to buy Baba Dudu from a Hausa man’s kiosk, drawn [...]

All the children in Class 6A could read and write except Nora! Nora was quiet, withdrawn, and easily distracted. At break time, she sat alone under the big orange tree to eat her lunch and never [...]

They say when you’re about to die, your life flashes before your eyes in a myriad of pictures. For me, there are no flashes—just the inner voice of my mother saying, “Be organised, dammit. And do [...]

I heard the hooting of a barn owl on my thatched roof this morning. People said seeing an owl in the morning was a bad omen. The sky was tar black, blotting out the old blue ambiance. At a [...]