Destinies of men For Abubakar Adams Ibrahim
CAIN prize nominee 2013
Ever since my childhood, books had
been my passion. I grew up in a household where everyone was constantly turning
the page of one book or another. There were nights when amongst other children,
I would sit beneath the brilliance of the full moon and listen to grownups tell
stories, my hooded eyed uncle best of all, the stories which he told enchanted
me, transported me to newer worlds with strange happenings and fascinating
characters.
During the day time I would see him
holding a book and when he wasn’t watching, quietly I would pick up the book
and try to discover the secrets behind the stories he told.Armed with words and outlandish ideas
I was unhesitant to venture into every intelligent banter, argument and debate.
I engaged myself with dramatic
activities sometimes drawing up the plot for a play in which I would act and
also direct.
‘David would end up a lawyer.’ a
teacher once remarked within my hearing.
You must study law’ Boniface my closest
friend at that time persuaded. I had read about civil rights struggles in
faraway lands and names like Martin Luther king will not leave my mind. He must
have been a lawyer I reckoned and so applied and chose law as my course of
study. But fortune was otherwise inclined.
In my country, one is constantly
faced with the reality that it is not merit that counts but family ties and
oftentimes how much money one has to give out. In the company of my father I
would go to plead with some professors asking them to lobby on our behalf and
ensure that the university grants me and my brother admission.
‘Admission is not easy nowadays.’ one
professor said, taking off his rimmed spectacles and looking at us in a squint.
My elder brother was applying to the university for the second time and he was
more anxious than I.
The admission list was finally
released. Consumed with trepidation and curiousity applicants flooded the
university premises. I too, after scanning the chosen candidates for law, I
could not find my name. I scanned the list for what could have been a hundred
times. Wishing somehow that my name will magically appear or a certain David Amodu will alter itself and become
David Onotu. That was the extent of
my need.
Fortunately for my brother his name
came out in two fields of study,Microbiology and Medical Laboratory Science,
all he had to do was chose. In his excitement he had printed out the entire
admissions list of the university.
I had scored 236 in my JAMB
examinations and my neighbor Mary had scored 210 we both had applied for Law
and she had been granted admission; in disbelief and confusion I went through
the admissions list again. This time from top to bottom, no course was left
unchecked.
Onotu David
Onimisi- Theatre and Communication Arts
Came the faint lettering, I stared with mixed
feelings, should I be ecstatic or not? I could still hear bleak voices offering
condolence to me as though I had been the victim of a grave misfortune.
Inwardly I smiled as I recalled the words of my story telling uncle with the
books and hooded eyes.
‘You
must believe that there is a divinity that presides over the destinies of men.’
Onotu David
Onimisi
Secretary Jos
ANA
07030937905
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