By
YINKA FABOWALE
Ago-Are!
A wave of
relief swept over me as the small town, the last and only some kilometres before
Saki, my destination, popped into view as our bus tore through the major
highway linking the nexus of other roads and dispersed communities in the
Oke-Ogun region of Oyo State.
My sense of relief
that the almost three -hours journey from Ibadan was almost at an end mixed
with a surge of excitement and anticipation of the culinary delights awaiting
me at the home of my friend, Mr. Malik Gbemisola, that evening.
Whenever I
am in Saki town I have the choice to stay with this family or another friend,
Mr. Bayo Akee, not only because of their warm hospitality, but also the sense
of home I get in the lively family setting and conversations with my hosts. Besides
easing the primary business that often takes me to the commercial town, one of
the biggest in this large swath of the state, being this family’s guest has always
assisted my job as a news man, as it provides me opportunity of picking
information about local happenings, which often go unreported in the media, due
to Saki’s remoteness from Ibadan where most media houses and correspondents in
the state reside.
Lodging in a
hotel only becomes a forced option, whenever I travelled in company with my
other friends, in the past notably Mr. Kolawole Badaru, a former crop breeder
with Cocoa Research Institute (CRIN) and Mr. Kunle Salman, who recently retired
from the Oyo State public service as a Director, or at such times when my
resident chums themselves are out of town.
Even when in
others’ company, Saki has a way of making me salivate like Pavlov’s dogs, once
on its fringes. The great attraction is ‘Banuso’, a popular local eating joint
where we normally dined. ‘Banuso’, which in Yoruba parlance literally means – “Have
a talk with your tummy” or more appropriately “Give your tummy a treat”, has a
reputation for serving the best of Yoruba’s rich dishes and delicacies- pounded
yam (Iyan), Amala, Fufu and Lafun with delicious vegetables soup, stew and
sauce, (Ewedu, Ila, Egusi, Ogbono) garnished with spiced bush meat, goat meat
(Ogufe), beef, ‘orisirisi’, cow tail, bokoto and assorted seafood ranging from roasted
to fresh water fishes, crabs an, prawns and shrimps. Of course, the meals, served
hot in china or aluminium plates don’t come cheap, but we loved gratefully
paying for our addiction.
Despite
Banuso’s allure, I won’t trade a bed and diner at the Gbemisolas for it! Mummy
Folasade, Mr. Gbemisola’s wife, is one dammed good cook who knew how to work
magic or miracles, producing hot and mouth-watering meals within minutes of my
arrival, even when she had no prior notice of the visit.
On this
occasion I was visiting Saki as one-man advance party to firm up arrangements
for a public lecture being organised by a group to which I belong in the town.
My brief included securing the venue, meeting critical stakeholders,
distributing flyers and other logistics. I had had to leave Ibadan late on this
fateful day because of the need to finish up my duties as a reporter, which
involved monitoring at-least the 5’ O’clock bulletin of the main broadcast
stations in the state before closing.
As it were,
the commuter bus I boarded at the Sango bus terminus took time filling up, as the
rush by passengers, usual in the mornings or on popular market days due to high
traffic of traders going on business trips to Oke Ogun, has, as usual, dropped
to trickles by late afternoon, thereby delaying take off by one or two hours
and causing frustration and vexation among passengers first to board.
Our bus
eventually pulled out of the motor park few minutes after 6pm and nosed its way
northwards. It was a smooth and ‘swift’ journey as the vehicle, which appeared still
relatively new and in good condition, whizzed through Iseyin, Okaka, Ipapo, and
Alaga in just about two hours.
It was past
8 o’clock when we left Ago Are behind too and found ourselves approaching the
dense forests and mountains heralding Saki. It has grown dark. But from my familiarity
with the terrain owed to regular trips to this countryside, I could predict we
would hit Saki in about eight or ten minutes, as the bus meandered through the treacherous
turns and twists of the hilly road flanked on either side by mighty boulders
and bushes.
Emerging
from one of these bends, we were forced to an abrupt stop by a barricade of
stumps and huge rocks heavily stacked across ours and oncoming lanes! The
impact of the bus driver’s suddenly slamming on the break ignited panic and
annoyance inside the bus.
Livid the passengers
began to protest and hurl abuses at the driver, but their angry voices presently
morphed into frightened shrieks and screams as armed men emerged from both
sides of the surrounding bush flashing torch lights.
My initial
thought that they were probably policemen at a checkpoint evaporated when, to
my shock, I saw that the strangers wore masks and were armed with charms,
cutlasses, swords, rods, bows and arrows.
Bang! bang!!
bang!!! Our assailants started to hit the body of the vehicle with their
weapons, harshly ordering us to open the door and come out. As they intensified
their pounding of the bus, it dawned on me that we had just ran into an ambush
of armed robbers!
Horror!
TO BE CONTINUED
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