Mutallib

In his hands was an address written on a small piece of paper by Dr Boko, a man whom Sadiq met at an event in Lagos few months ago. Sadiq was opportune to sit close to Dr Boko at the event which had a huge attendance including people from outside the shores of the country. Boko's eloquence, without more, spoke of his rare intelligence and intellectualism.  Sadiq glanced at the small piece of paper to ascertain whether he was actually in front of the house whose address was given to him by Boko. There and then, the thought of how a conversation started between him and Boko at the event in Lagos, descended into his mind. "Sir, could you tell me the name of the person speaking on the podium?" Sadiq curiously asked because he came in late as a result of the congested roads in Lagos. What added to his curiosity was the flawless flow of the speaker who was speaking about pan-Africanism and how, like a magnet, rolled up the attentions of everyone inside the extremely large hall....

"Aisha, the PTA meeting is tomorrow. Don't forget to remind your Daddy as you always do." Dije told Aisha at the hearing of the bell ringing from the over-anxious hands of the Time Prefect who seemed to enjoy every bit of the sound from the bell. Dije and Aisha are classmates who became friends from their initial days in the school. They are about 13 years old. For about five times, Aisha's father has not been attending the PTA meeting and nor was she represented by anyone. The notorious rule in the school is that, any student whose father or elderly male guardian has not attended the meeting, the student will either be fined or be given 10 lashes of koboko. To Aisha, any PTA meeting means 10 lashes of koboko. Dije, as young as she is, has been observing Aisha so much that she noticed some unusual things about her. Aisha used to be an-always-happy girl, telling and listening to stories from her friends. But in the recent days, about a period of three terms, Aisha'...