Candid Pens

'A hell of a ride' Artwork by Gabriel Esu Finally, I snapped to life. Had to sit-up sharply with inspirations from watching Undertaker series, else I would have wasted another hour moaning, groaning and grumbling in bed. It is 4 am, not too early in a city like Lagos where life leaves everyone behind at some point. If you stand still for a second; you are running backwards before you realize it. To beat time, I got up to have my bath and get set. By 5 am I was out, and guess what; yea you guessed right, people already bathed the city roads.  "Oh Lord!"  I exclaimed " Don't they sleep?"  I screamed inward.  The first thing I noticed was the yellow buses called Danfo(a popular commercial vehicle in Lagos), they were everywhere, I thought it's an advertisement for MTN. Funny thing is, from different parts they all, knowingly, trooped into a narrow path that led to a hell of traffic jams. At first I wasn't bothered till I reali...

My radio comes on at 4:13am every weekday as I love to start my day with Bella Rose on Inspirational Hour and most days, it stays on till my phone battery needs a recharge. Last Tuesday, Debbie and Mark were on air and though I wasn't fully paying attention to their bants, my ears pricked when I heard Debbie mention  Tosyn Bucknor 's name, then Mark said something about great loss. Immediately, I jumped up, went straight for my laptop and quickly searched for the latest news on Tosyn Bucknor and there it was staring back at me. I gasped as my eyes scanned the page reading the headlines about her demise. As I read more about the sad news, it felt as though I was reading about the loss of a close friend, my eyes welled up 😢. Even though I'd been following the radio goddess for months, it was the first time I was ever seeing her pictures. That didn't make it hurt any less. As a matter of fact, I first heard about the " Area Boss"  in March while I was ...

"A Miracle She Never Saw Coming" It was sunset, that time of the day when the sky is orange as if a paint brush had been rinsed in it. A woman was in dire need of food for her hunger stricken family. She managed to provide breakfast but the day was wearing off and they had not even had lunch, not to say dinner. Then she cried to a neighbor who pitied her and gave her a thousand naira note. Hurriedly, she went to a super market that sell varieties. She got in, picked a few things and was heading to the payment booth when the spirit of God told her to go back and pick everything on the shelf. She got confused but she eventually obeyed, rolled out a cart and picked everything on the shelf. Fear was settling in but she kept calm and trusted God. Then again the spirit asked her to pick everything on another shelf. She became scared to death, she only had enough to buy just a few things and she had already picked every good on a shelf and now God wants her to pick ...

How did we get here? How did everything become fake? I wonder who brought us this far in our self deception. Sometimes, when I walk in the park, I feel like putting my two hands on my head, but because people will start to ask, "who died", "what happened?" And other Jamb questions, I don't. Some times I feel like just screaming, but the fear of people asking, "are your people aware of this?", or "are u still using your drugs?", "maybe you should visit a psychiatrist for medical attention." Most times we feel like doing some things, but because it is awkward, we won't. Why then are we all in deception. I mean self deception! Most of the things we do are complete imitation of what we are exposed to, we have successfully killed our flair, our innate ability to be creative, our self motivated actions are infinitesimal, but we imitate a lot from people. Why? I mean why can't we live the life we really crave, why do we have to...

Kate sighed. It’s 4:35pm already and she should start packing her bag, so she can get home before traffic get’s too heavy.  She slides her chair back a little, as her foot eases off the fur foot mat under her table. The warmth the mat brings is still as good as the first day Jamal gave her on a Valentine's day.  Jamal has always been one who finds it pretty easy to pick up gifts that would be appreciated for a really long time. Kate had once teased him about his real calling in life being to pick gifts for people as she has never met anyone who knows just exactly what to gift others. A day before that fateful Valentine's day, Kate was certain she would beat Jamal to the gifts that year as she had planned a romantic dinner at the newest restaurant in town, she had wrapped the perfume she bought him the day before; it was the most expensive bottle she found in the store and she was going to make his favorite dish for breakfast. She went to bed that night,...

Mum and Dad stands on the sideline waving proudly at him as he sits in the cockpit of the aircraft. He looks handsome in his all-white pilot uniform.  This is his first time flying and the joy on his parents faces that their only child is finally living his dream made his eyes water a bit. Mum shields her eyes from the sun, she had refused to wear her sunglasses because she "wants to see her son directly, no barriers". David smiled remembering his mum saying that to his dad and himself a few days back. They both are proud of their only son. Wait! "Did I just say that?" Scratch it. I keep forgetting I'm no longer an only child as Mum decided to get pregnant when I was 20 and I'm only just remembering the toddler in the stroller in front of her. My baby brother came along 18 months ago and even though I fell in love with the boy from the very second I set my eyes on him, I still can't help feel the stab of betrayal every once in a while when I re...