By Oluwole Leigh
The camera zooms in on the luxury car and shows the Rich man sitting at the back of the car. As the car moves on, he suddenly shouts on his driver to stop and put the car in reverse. The car comes to a stop and the rich man gets out. He walks across to a haggard looking individual standing at the side of the road and calls his name. Mr. Haggard looks at Mr.Rich but wonders how Mr. Rich knows his name. Mr. Rich reminds him that they used to be in secondary school together. As Mr. Rich takes off his cap and spectacles, Haggard suddenly remembers him. They both shout their childhood names and hug themselves. Rich asks Haggard how he ended up on the side of the road. Haggard starts crying and blames his enemies. Rich consoles him and tells him to come along with him. Rich takes Haggard home, gives him a change of clothing and an opportunity for redemption. ‘3 Months later’ appears on the screen and Haggard is shown in an office building serving as a Personal assistant to Rich.
More often than not, life doesn’t come across as a typical scene from a Nigerian home video. Life happens to us in unexpected ways. I had a ‘blast from the past’ encounter recently and it left me shaken. As I walked to the car park, I thought I heard my name being called. The voice came from among a group of guys sitting under a tree. It is necessary to point out that the area served as a high-brow office area as well as a hangout for social delinquents. I did not answer because I assumed that no one would know me in a gathering of drug addicts or social delinquents. I also felt that the call was probably meant for someone else.
After waiting for a while, I heard a few words being mentioned. I was startled when I heard those words because I knew that whoever uttered them probably knew what he was talking about. He had shouted the name of the church that I had been associated with in the early part of my life. The fact that the church was located over one hundred and twenty kilometres away from Lagos unnerved me. At this point , I knew I could no longer feign temporary deafness. I turned to look at where the area boys were gathered. They usually hung out around a betting machine that is popularly known as ‘Baba Ijebu’. I noticed that one of the boys turned towards me. After a while, he started walking to where I stood. I could see the eyes of everyone around following the scene.
He stood beside me and I looked at him. His hair was unkempt, fingers were burnt and he was eerily thin. All my powers of recall failed and I could not link a name with his face. I hesitated as he stretched forth his hand for a handshake. He mentioned my family name and the position we occupied in the community while we grew up. I accepted his offer of a handshake. After a few minutes of silence, he told me his name and told me that we grew up in the same neighborhood. He mentioned some of our mutual friends. I picked up the gauntlet and asked him for names of his neighbors in order to put a face to the name. He got all the answers right. Suddenly, a few memories fit into place. The first or last time I saw him was at a friend’s birthday party in 1997. I couldn’t understand how someone who used to be beefy turned out to be so thin. I was quite confused so I asked him – ‘What happened to you?’
His face went dark and he became a little sober. He explained that life had dealt him a bad deal and he had ended up on drugs. He was the first born in the family and the only one who fell into bad company. His siblings had moved on in life and were doing well. He asked me for financial help and I fell into a dilemma of sorts. Giving him money could be similar to funding a drug habit. Refraining from giving him money would mean I was heartless. It could also mean that I would constantly look over my shoulder anytime I walked to the car park. However, an act of generosity could set up future expectations or extortions. It seemed as if there was no easy way out. After a while, I reached into my pocket and gave him some money.
I was left in a sober mood as I left the area and immediately placed a call to a mutual friend. I gathered that he had finished from High School like we all did but went rogue shortly afterwards. Those were the days when anti-social behavior among youth included taking stuff like jewelry or expensive items and getting them pawned off. This was a ‘Pre-Yahoo’ era in which every scam had to be physically carried out. He became a drug courier of sorts and was transporting drugs across countries for various barons. He lived life on the fast lane as he made a lot of money from his escapades. He was known in bars and hangouts in town as a guy with deep pockets. Somewhere along the way he had some disagreements with his overlords and they orchestrated his imprisonment. I gathered that he spent at least 3 months in Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison. Prison time became a defining moment in his life as he left with a drug habit and nothing to fall back on. I could imagine that he had sought help among friends and family but had been eventually ostracized when his issues became protracted. I guess that he found his way to the streets shortly after.
I looked back on the encounter with him and I wondered how he had remembered my name and names of other friends after many year. The only explanation I had was that circumstances of life made it easier for him to remember the past since those were probably his best moments. It is possible that the succor provided by those memories made it possible to identify any character that featured in them. I realise that this explanation is not based on any scientific evidence but that was all I could come up with. I guess there are many others out there with similar stories who have fallen into circumstances that have drastically altered the course of their lives. One would realize that life is tough enough for those who seem to have it all together. We can only imagine that the degree of difficulty is multiplied for those living on the edge of society. Would he get help? Would his life turn out right? Would his suffering end? Would he get a good ending as the home videos tend to show us? I really do not know.
