Eight Hours in Ore

On Thursday morning, I got up eager to head from Ibadan back to Abia. I knew I would be leaving Ibadan on Friday even though I was completely cashless, and the transport company insisted on doing transactions in cash.

I said my goodbyes on Thursday night. I packed my stuff and went to the car park on Friday morning. Despite the back and forth, they collected the transfer.

We finally moved after taking all the time to do so. I prayed and hoped to be home by at least 6 pm. I slept from 9 am to 11 am because I didn't sleep well the night before. A few hours after waking, our car and a few other cars stopped, and the drivers inside began putting leaves on their vehicles. I felt somewhat alarmed and perplexed. Apparently, that was done to show solidarity with rioters.

I began to think riot kwa, about what. For the currency issue, but then is Buhari on this road? Why are they blocking the road? I want to go home; this does not concern me. I just wore my sandals and clutched my purse in case of OSONDU.

There was a rumor they would clear the road by 5 pm. I thought they were joking. Thinking the jam would disperse in a maximum of 30 minutes before I knew it was 1 pm, and the next thing, it was 2 pm. Then vehicles started moving. Only for ours to move too and the driver was nowhere to be found. We looked, searched, and made calls. This man left us in the middle of the highway! One lady was sure he went to eat and enjoy life while leaving us on the highway. At a point, we suspected he might be dead, and some started saying maybe he was working with abductors to abduct us. In all these, I just wanted to be home.

About 2 hours later, he returned, very apologetic but trust everyone to give him a piece of their mind. So we moved a little, only for the man to say his clutch got spoilt. I remember texting my friend about how I was confident the universe is against me.

Since they were still stuck in the traffic, another driver helped him fix the car. This is something about the drivers on the highway, their willingness to help each other because, hmmm.

So by 6 pm, our vehicle began the snail movement, and it took another 2 hours for the jam to disperse. Then we were off. I was thinking about who exactly sent me packing, who asked me to leave Ibadan. I couldn't blame my parents because they didn't even ask me to come back, so this is all me. If I had been told I would spend 8 hours at Ore, I would call the person a false prophet and an enemy.

We got to Benin by 11 pm. The driver insisted on travelling that night, me I just wanted to get to my bed. Omo, the driver, got tired, located their Benin branch, went to eat, used the toilet, and bid us goodnight.

Aside from the external vehicle factors internal one too, this old lady has to be the loudest person I have met. I have to give myself credit for my self-control. I was on the brink of asking her to spare us the complaints; we are all in this mess too. She complained about the driver and fought the girl who sold okpa; she told the okpa sellers she used the regular beans to make it (okpa is made with Bambara beans/flour). She fought the gala boy and told him the gala was 50 naira, and she fought the girl beside her. She fought her kids over the phone and was having loud conversations with herself.

I wouldn't care much on a regular day, but she was behind me, so it seemed like she was screaming into my ears. I could feel her so close. My own was she should leave the driver alone. Please let him drive me home; all these distractions shouldn't take his attention off the road. I have to give him a medal for tolerance because he didn't utter a single word to them despite everyone wanting to bite his head off at each turn.

5 am on the dot, the old lady woke everyone up. She wanted to get out of there immediately. Oya, we moved again. The road was clear, so the driver was at high-speed.

To summarize, the rest of the journey was smooth. I got home tired after I was duped of 200 by one transport man. Cleaned up, ate, and slept to my fill. So, I got home after 27 hours.