She had a baby with mucus running down her nose and sometimes reason out loud,her cloths were stained obviously from carrying her baby after crawling on the red sands of Upabi Nimbo,but her eyes dazzeled and starred straight at mine,I was getting Uncomfortable,as we tried to drive a peg to the ground.
The community rep wave her to leave as the degree to which she distracted me was obvious,then he picked up a branch and chase her away,as she ran clinging on to her baby,those stern dazzling eyes were fix on me,or rather I stared at her.
The blue velvet skirt she wore magnified her hips and the way she ran revealed she had slight knock kneels,the jiggling movement of her breast showed the degree of firmness,on a scale of 1-10,they were 10, her height advantage gave her distance between her and her assailant,down the road her scarf fell off revealing a full dark afro natural hair,the success of her escape caused her to smile,those smiles that made you inquire more about her.
Who is that lady I asked as the rep returned panting seriously from his escapade,An "Osu" he replied,decoding but not wanting to acknowledge,I stared at him,he wave it off that I should not let that bother me. Here we were just 30km from Nssuka where the first Nigerian University was situated,50 years on the ideology of considering fellow humans as outcast in a society still exist even amongst the Educated.
My every being rebelled against this attitude and though I might cause a great conflict of interest,against the" True born"whose community the 70m glo tower was situated,I decided I would interact with everyone of the the same way,,,,so after work that day I set out through a small bush path behind Upabi Nimbo leading to the land of the outcast in search of that strange beautiful woman who starred straight into my eyes..Here we were just 30km from Nssuka where the first Nigerian University was situated, 50 years on, the ideology of considering fellow humans as outcast in a society still exist even amongst the Educated, Here at Upabi Nimbo was where I first met Omoibo.
My every being rebelled against this attitude and though I might cause a great conflict of interest, against the" True born"whose community the 70m glo tower was situated,I decided I would interact with everyone of the the same way,,,,so after work that day I set out through a small bush path behind Upabi Nimbo leading to the land of the outcast in search of that strange beautifully woman who starred straight into my eyes...
The community was neat and organized,mud houses with yellow bushes plants in front of them,well organized, I approached an elderly man and ask if I could get an accommodation here,I explained we were here to construct a telecoms mast.His sarcastic smiles was cut short when I clears any doubt by making him the offer he could not refuse,while stretching out 15k to him,I told him I would pay 1k per week for 10 weeks and 5k for his consultancy,the Igbo man instinct for business took over and he said in clear crisps' queens English," consider it done"
Rumors spread quickly in small towns, and the rumbling had began that the engineer has rented a room at the outcast section of Upabi Nimbo, this news was not taken likely by the council of elders, hence the heavy brawl that occurred at the summon, I insisted that I would remain there. By now I had established contact with Nkechi and her 2 year old son simply known as Hope, she was well spoken, I asked her why she stared so much at me, she said that the project we were about to begin,was to her, the last and final opportunity to raise some cash and leave to a place she can be free, for as long as she has refuse the declare the person responsible for Hope she remained an outcast even amongst her own.
In my direct nature I ask, so who is responsible, she just smiles and stood up, then I asked, how much do you need? An opportunity she replied, to do what? To cook again, she explained that before her child issue she was the best cook in her community she had a restaurant, but since she refused to disclose the identity of Hope's father nobody would eat from her pot again....it was tradition. Ok cook for us we would buy, myself and my crew I told her she was shocked and tears dropped from her dazzling eyes,,,
Ooooonnnnyooopaaaaaaa"rings out through the air as morning dawns in Upabi Nimbo, it was Nkechi advertising the "Opa" she brought to site for sale, this would cause another round of summons at the council of elders, they disagreed, I insisted by now the hatred for me in the council was severe with an all round verbal assault lead by the community rep, who went on to praise the Benin people for being children of kings and wonder why I would eat from a slave's pot, I made it clear that the universal law of Zero tolerance to any form of discrimination was my guiding principle, and if they like it or not, within the premises leased. Out for this project, all and everybody would be free to come and do business.
Day by day we managed any conflict, with Omoibo in full support if my cause, There and then he told me he would follow me when I concluded this site, he said he was fed up of this segregation, he updated me with necessary information that kept me safe. We managed any conflict that came up, mostly by withdrawal and completely ignoring any act of discriminations while rewarding acts of free interactions and socialization within our GLO site in Upabi Nimbo, we created a space of equity amongst all persons.
Soon Rumors began to spread of an all out war, but  the need for the mast would push the D- day till when I finished, so each day that passed the treats became more visible, I then sent my team Including Omoibo one after the other to Nssuka once their task was done, until it remained only myself and Manwaka,.
The Gen was switched on, I could hear the sound from my room as I laid awake during the 24hours soak test of the just concluded Telecoms base station at Upabi Nimbo, I thought of my endeavors at Upabi Nimbo, all the delicious delicacies of Nkechi, the Opas early in the morning, Abachas in the afternoon, and Apu and Oha soups in the evening, the strong and hard working people, my landlord with his war time stories, and those night I spent probing Nkechi to revealing the father of Hope,of which she never told me. Suddenly a loud bang on my door brought me on my feet, Manwaka was already standing, I open the door to find my landlord clearly shaken," your security is no longer guaranteed you have to leave now" it was 2am, I headed towards the main Upabi town but he pull me back and directed me towards the bush path, my Landlord walk with us for about 30mins then I noticed he had disappeared. by now my geographical location in this jungle was a mystery, but the faith sound of a suppressed screams from a child led me further into the forest where I Met Nkechi, she has been banished from the land as the cause of all brouhahas'.
I grab her son Hope from her and with some words of encouragement in which I was rained to produce in times of crisis like these, I told her to lead us through this dark night to the express road leading to Nssuka, but tears flowed down her lovely cheeks as she told me, we would be hunted down and killed, then they would claim we were killed by the gods who upheld the "Osu" tradition, Manwaka was close to tears as I could feel my hands trembling, the sounds of my heart was loud and clear as I fell on my knees and Prayed, Oh lord Abide with Me',,,,,
The Key was to keep Moving as I believed by doing this we would stay ahead of the " gods" after about 30mins of stumbling through the forest we began to here footsteps and people mumblings, the sounds of my heart beat could give us away so I took a long deep breath to calm my nerves but the voices came closer as we laid stiff on the cold forest floors of Upabi Nimbo. Now they were standing over my head as we all laid quite, Hope could sense danger as he was also unexpectedly mute until one of our assailant step on him, his sudden scream sent everybody scampering toward different direction, by the time we regrouped, a voice said " if you move" The dim moonlight that penetrated the forest shows we were surrounded by two men carrying guns, one in front and the other behind, the click sound from behind me prepared the gun for firing, then Nkechi grabbed Hope from my trembling hands, raised him towards the gun barrels and said calmly Shoot your son, then the Gun went off gbauooo!!!!!!.
The need for an Original Tokunbo cordless drill got me scanning through various warehouses at the popular Ladipo market in Lagos, after the standoff and nightmare I had in the riverine lands beyond Amasoma, this was to be part of my tool kit where ever I was to go. The stress of walking up and down the crowded market got me tired and hungry, so the scent of well made Oha soup coming from within this market attracted me like ants to sugar. " Give me a plate of Apu" I ordered, everything seems normal until a voice said " Hope put water on the table before you go to lesson oo oo “grabbing his bag he put a bowl of clean water in front of me as he ran to join his peers outside. Hope? I wondered, it couldn't be for that night in the forest of Upabi Nimbo, I docked as the gun rang out, crawled a few meters on my knees and elbows with Manwaka following closely, we ran through the forest till noon came out along the express then joined a sand tipper to Nssuka that was the Last I heard of Hope Nkechi and the tradition of segregation, that was Eight years ago, Just then the Madam that own the restaurant walk in holding a baby," Madam bring Success make I carry am" one of the sales girl said as she handed the baby to her, I stared straight into her eyes and to my wildest surprise standing before mew was Nkechi of Upabi Nimbo.
In her usual calm and caring attitude she insisted I finish my food before she could tell me what happen, those where the longest meal I ever had, what happened, do you know “Nkaegbu”? , I asked as I swallow each roll of Apu laced with delicious Oha soup That is the real name of Omoibo, Omoibo was easier for the team, and in the team, your team name is it, “bring the load from Oga Moto" she said to one of her girls, then Oga walked in and behold it was the community rep,,,,,,,,
They both told me of that night in the forest of Upabi Nimbo, He raised his gun to shoot, the screams of Hope would not let him choose tradition over his blood, and that I had given him confidence that there was life beyond the little segregated town, he aimed the gun and shot the second guy’s gun off  his hands, grabbed his son and Nkechi and they escaped to Onitsha where he pushed wheel barrow for a living. After a year, he saved enough funds then settled in Lagos, They told me they are blessed with 2boys and a girl Success and that they long to return home to Upabi Nimbo. Omoibo has since stayed with me and recently rented a room in Mowe Area of Lagos-Ibadan Express way.