1.
RoadofAgony
by
Joel Savage

2.
The contents of this work including, but not limited to, the accuracy
of events, people, and places depicted; opinions expressed;
permission to use previously published materials included; and any
advice given or actions advocated are solely the responsibility of the
author, who assumes all liability for said work and indemnifies the
publisher against any claims stemming from publication of the work.
This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living
or dead, is entirely coincidental.
“Road of Agony,” by Joel Savage. ISBN 978-1-62137-074-1
Published 2012 by Virtualbookworm.com Publishing Inc., P.O. Box
9949, College Station, TX 77842, US. 2012, Joel Savage. All rights
reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior
written permission of Joel Savage.
Manufactured in the United States of America.

3.
Thanks to Dr. Frankie Asare-Donkoh, former
columnist of Daily Graphic, Accra-Ghana, for his
help on this book.

4.
Preface
In the last week of January 1976, my father died mysteriously,
leaving behind his wife and eight children. I was just nineteen
but matured enough to realise that I had a big responsibility
lying on my shoulders, as the eldest son of my parents. Shortly
after completing my secondary school, the desire to continue
my education wasn’t there any longer. Instead, I chose to travel
and work, hoping that could help the welfare of my family. I
travelled extensively, experiencing bullies, corruption, beatings,
and lockup.
In West Africa, I covered Republic of Togo, Republic of
Benin, Nigeria, Republic of Guinea, Ivory Coast, and Sierra
Leone. Some of these countries I visited had its own story and
experience. My story is just not a story about me, but also
about the bad attitude, vicious character, mercilessness, and
wickedness of other people I encountered on the road of
agony. I count myself to be one of the luckiest person living in
this world today, fortunate enough to unfold this true story.

5.
To my mother Nancy Elizabeth Hudson (Savage)

6.
Contents
Journey to Abidjan ......................................................................... 1
Journey to Nigeria .......................................................................... 5
The Cruel Part of Life.................................................................. 17
Soldiers on the Rampage............................................................. 20
Death of a Former Boss.............................................................. 24
Behind Bars................................................................................... 30
The Separation.............................................................................. 38
Behind the Steering Wheel Again............................................... 43
Living in the Slum Neighbourhood........................................... 48
Freetown, Sierra Leone................................................................ 52
The Road to Gambia.................................................................... 66
Nigeria Closes Its Borders........................................................... 74
The Kidnapped Scene.................................................................. 80
Preparations to Spain................................................................... 84
Meeting an Old Friend................................................................. 93
Babatunde Sees Obanko............................................................ 102
Living at Centelles ...................................................................... 111
The Arrest of Monk................................................................... 115
To England.................................................................................. 117

7.
1
Journey to Abidjan
Babatunde boarded the Accra-Abidjan-bound bus, ready for
Ivory Coast, to see his friend, Tandu, an artist by profession.
He migrated to Dabou, a small village in Abidjan, a couple of
years ago, to look for greener pastures. Ivory Coast is a
country in West Africa. It has an area of 322,462 sq. km.
(124,503 sq. ml.). In the north, the country shares borders with
Mali and Burkina Faso, Ghana, by the east and in the south,
the Gulf of Guinea, by the Atlantic. Ivory Coast has more than
sixty ethnic groups, usually classified into five principal
divisions. The Baoules, in the Akan division, comprises the
single largest group of the population.
As a former colony of France, Ivory Coast’s national
language is French. The country attained its independence on
August 7, 1960. The late Felix Houphouet-Boigny was the first
president of the country. The Ivorian economy heavily
depends on the agricultural sector. Principal exports are
petroleum, cocoa, coffee, pineapple, and tropical woods.
Abidjan is the former capital city of Ivory Coast. The current is
Yamoussoukro, yet Abidjan holds its position as the most
important commercial and banking centre in the country. The
city is extremely beautiful.
The journey to Ivory Coast wasn’t a pleasant one. Too
much check points on the road and the frequent demand of

8.
Road of Agony
2
bribe from the travellers by the corrupt French-Speaking
immigration officers rendered him penniless by the time he
arrived in Abidjan, the capital.
It was an ordeal every passenger went through. Travellers
were subjected to a series of suffering and harassment at the
hands of the immigration officers. Those with the requisite
travelling documents seemed to suffer the most. The reason is
that those with the right documents only created a bureaucracy
and wasted the immigration officers’ time, while those without
documents paid as demanded and moved on.
In effect, travellers with documents like passports and
travel certificate don’t bring income to those officers; hence,
the officers intentionally put them through rigorous
procedures. To avoid losing money from those with valid
documents, the officers had made it compulsory that anyone
crossing the border would have to pay the bribe.
What they hated most was when one tried to avoid
payment or bargained to pay less than what they demand. The
more you beg them for consideration, the more these
immigration officers treat you badly. They were merciless and
inhuman. When a passenger was unfortunate to meet one of
the more determined officers, the passenger could be detained
overnight, thereby missing their bus, as a punishment for being
non-cooperative.
These officers had nothing called sympathy in them.
Effect of colonialism had left them nothing but a legacy of
inhuman activities to follow. When Babatunde reached
Abidjan, he couldn’t continue his journey to Dabou. The
continuous paying of bribe had rendered him penniless. From
the time he arrived, he kept seeking for help from strangers,
hoping one could assist him financially to pay his fare from
Abidjan to Dabou, but all his efforts were in vain.
Nobody listened to him and nobody cared about him. For
the past three days, he was begging for money. He used a food
seller’s table as his sleeping place. There was no other place.
On the second day of his arrival, even though the bus he came
to Abidjan with was still at the station, waiting to convey
passengers back to its country of origin, its windows and doors
were securely locked. This was to prevent stranded passengers

9.
Joel Savage
3
from sleeping in it. Thus, when mosquitoes began to harvest,
there was no way one could have refused.
Miraculously, on the fourth day he met a teacher who
knew Tandu, the artist he was going to, who paid for his fare
to Dabou. At Dabou, Babatunde was accommodated by
Tandu, and soon became Tandu’s apprentice. At weekends,
Babatunde went to Abidjan to sell some of his master’s painted
artworks to the numerous tourists at Adjame, a beautiful city in
the heart of the capital. Not long, Tandu faced problems in the
art business. Sales were not going fast. Babatunde went to the
city with about ten paintings and came home in the evening
with only one picture sold.
When the paintings were displayed along the pavements,
they were so beautiful that they would draw hundreds of
tourist around. But surprisingly, not more than one was sold
per day. Such an experience made him feel very sad and stupid.
Though Tandu never complained about the low sales,
Babatunde got so much worried over the situation. He thought
Tandu might feel he went to sleep somewhere without making
any effort to sell them. But only God knows the distance he
covered trying desperately to sell those artworks. Babatunde
was in Dabou for nine months before he returned to his family
in Accra.
On his return to Accra, things went on very well for him
in the first few months; but suddenly, things changed. He
wasn’t working, so he had no income, thus making him face
acute financial problems. It was within this depressing period
he fell in love with a Muslim girl, called Aminata. She was a
very beautiful girl who also likes Babatunde very much, despite
the religious difference. The two young lovers began visiting
each other. But Massa, Babatunde’s mother, didn’t like the
affair between her son and the girl.
Her reason had got nothing to do with her son being a
Christian and the girl a Muslim. But she thought Babatunde
was too young to enter into such a relationship. Secondly, he
was not living independently, since his mother was still caring
for his welfare. The persuasion by his mother to refrain from
the relationship caused a big row between mother and son. In
the heat of exchange of words between mother and son, she
tried to give him a slap, and Babatunde prevented it by

10.
Road of Agony
4
blocking her arm. She tried the other arm but that also wasn’t
successful. Massa then held her son’s shirt by the collar. In a
scuffle to free himself, Babatunde accidentally pushed his
mother and she fell.
He watched his mother on the ground, yelling and
screaming at him. His mother didn’t take things for granted.
Massa went for a glass of water and cursed her son with words
of anger, as she poured down the water from the glass. After
this incident, Babatunde didn’t stop visiting Aminata.
However, things changed later on. The family of Aminata
started giving him cold reception any time he visited her. He
felt he hadn’t done anything wrong to his girlfriend, yet she
wouldn’t talk to him. It seemed to him that she had lost
interest and confidence in him.
This went on for a long time. Babatunde began to feel he
had had enough humiliation on each visit to Aminata.
“Enough is enough,” he told himself, and decided to cease
going to her house. That was the end of the love affair.

11.
5
Journey to Nigeria
Early February 1980, Babatunde left Accra, Ghana, for Lagos,
the populated city in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It was
then an era when every young man wanted to go to this oil-
rich country. It was like the Exodus, the mass departure of the
Israelites from Egypt to the promise land. The oil boom had
improved the economy, giving rise to employment in every
field. It is one of the biggest countries in the world, located in
West Africa. It has a total area of 923,768 sq. km. (356,669 sq.
ml.). Nigeria is a federal constitutional republic, comprising of
thirty-six states. The country attained its independence from
Britain on October 1, 1960.
The country has many ethnic groups but the largest and
influencial ethnic groups are Hausa, Igbos, and Yoruba. Its
former capital was Lagos. The current capital is Abuja. Nigeria
shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west,
Chad and Cameroun in the east, and Niger in the north. Its
coast lies on the Gulf of Guinea. At one time, Nigeria is the
largest exporter of groundnuts, cocoa, and palm oil. Petroleum
plays a large role in Nigeria’s economy. It is the twelfth largest
producer of petroleum in the world, accounting for 40 percent
of Gross Domestic Product and 80 percent of government
earnings.

12.
Road of Agony
6
Babatunde found himself a place to stay at Surulere, a
suburb of Lagos, through the help of a relative living in
Nigeria over four decades. Lagos is one of the most populated
cities in the world.
Looking for accommodation was just as hard and tedious
as excavating ground for gold. The city was very beautiful
despite its filth. Lagos Island is surrounded by vast body of
water. It has the largest seaport, especially the Tin- Can port,
then also Apapa.
The numerous overhead bridges connecting the whole
city exposed the beauty of the country. For example, the Third
Mainland Bridge right from Ebute-Metta to Obalende, both
suburbs of Lagos, was a well done job by the German firm,
Julius Berger. In the city, wriggling through the crowded
afternoon shoppers was what the pickpockets liked most. The
city was very beautiful at night; unfortunately, poor drainage
system made life unbearable for its inhabitants when it rained.
It was very common to see a single room occupied by
seven or more people. Babatunde shared a room with four
other men who had been in the country for a very long time.
The four were working at the same place, the Apapa port.
Nigeria was a country with regard to foreigners, each one for
himself and God for everyone. Don’t expect to be fed when
luckily you have got someone to accommodate you, so most of
the time Babatunde used to go out with them when they were
not working. Thus, within a short period of his arrival, he had
already become familiar with the neighbouring suburbs, such
as Yaba, Orile, Ebute Metta, Eko, Ikeja, Edu-Motta, Palm
Grove, and a host of other places.
Exactly three weeks after his arrival in Lagos, Babatunde
was walking through the city when he saw an advertising
studio. On its sign board was “Champion Advertising and
Publicity Company” boldly written. He stopped for a while,
gazing constantly at the office. Something was pushing him to
enter the place and request for a job. He had a strong feeling
that he might be employed if he talked to the manager. Being
an apprentice to an artist for nine months, he knew something
about art, which had something to do with advertising and
publicity.

13.
Joel Savage
7
He entered the office to try his luck. He met three neatly
dressed gentlemen; he later got to know them as the managing
director, the art director, and the studio director. He greeted
them with enthusiasm, while prostrating and touching the
floor with his right hand. This culture of the indigenous native
Yoruba is highly respected by its people. Greeting the elder is
always accompanied by prostration. Elders, whether at home
or meeting on the street, could prostrate to each other, while
asking of the health of both families. Sometimes, it takes a long
time, before they rise up to their feet.
There is a joke that two elderly women met on the railway
line and prostration took place, accompanied by questions,
“How are you? How are the children? And so and so forth.”
While exchanging and answering each other, they forgot
themselves and a train ran over them.
“Yes, what can I do for you?” asked the manager.
“Please, I’m looking for a job,” said Babatunde.
“What is your name and where do you come from?” he
asked
“My name is Babatunde. I am a Ghanaian, please, and I
live with my grandmother, who is a Nigerian,” Babatunde
replied.
“A Ghanaian called Babatunde; you must be a Nigerian.
What is the name of your grandmother?” asked the manager.
“Mama Ibukun, she lives at 19 Oladeinde Close,
Surulere,” said Babatunde.
“I know that beautiful Mama, with fair complexion very
well,” said the manager.
“I will employ you, but how much do you want to be
paid?” he asked.
The shocking question, which Babatunde wasn’t
expecting, totally got him into confusion that he fumbled
orally. Instead of saying 100 Naira, since that was the
government approved salary for ordinary civil workers, he said
50 Naira.
“Start work on Monday at 8:00 A.M.,” said the manager.
Babatunde left with happiness and mixed feelings. At
home that evening, Babatunde disclosed the good news to his
friends when they came from work. They asked him of his
agreed salary per month, and he said 50 Naira.

14.
Road of Agony
8
“We are very happy that you’ve found yourself something
to do, but the proposed monthly salary is very poor,” said
Bami.
“I wasn’t expecting the boss to ask me this question, when
suddenly he did. I was afraid in case I said something higher he
might not employ me. Then absent-mindedly I said that
amount,” said Babatunde.
“Never mind. I hope he would increase it in the near
future,” said Bami.
The evening air was oppressively hot from the afternoon’s
heat. Babatunde and his friends, sweating profusely after meal,
took off their shirts, to prevent body rash. He couldn’t do
anything without thinking of the job he was to start soon. He
had insomnia, which made him weak the next day. On Monday
morning, Babatunde went to the office thirty minutes earlier
before 8:00 A.M. He was standing by the office when one of
the workers came to open the door. He introduced himself to
the man.
“Yes, I know you will be coming,” the man said.
Babatunde went for a broom and swept the whole office.
He cleaned the three directors’ offices gently, as he nearly
broke a flower pot due to nervousness as a first day worker.
The three bosses came in within the hours of nine and saw
Babatunde watching the workers printing on t-shirts. Even
though he was just a cleaner from the initial stages, Babatunde
took interest in the studio work. At the office for two months,
he wasn’t aware that the managing director was gradually
gaining interest in him as a hard worker he could depend on.
It came as a shock to him when one day his boss called
him to his office and asked him if he would like to live with
him and his family in their three- bedroom apartment.
Babatunde obliged and within a short period, he left his friends
to live with his boss. Mr. Yomi Olatunji, the managing director
of the company, was a married man with three children. The
wife, fondly called by everyone as Mama Taye, is a secretary to
a newspaper publishing company’s general director. Mr
Olatunji, who hailed from Akure in Ondo State, also lived with
his cousin. He was called Shola.
Babatunde was told to share a room with him, so they
became two in the room, with only a single bed. But since the

15.
Joel Savage
9
bed belongs to Shola, Babatunde laid his mat on the floor to
sleep on at night. Living with his boss gave him much comfort
than when he was living with his friends. But he had a lot to
do in the flat every day, besides the office work. Chores like
general cleaning, washing of used clothes and cleaning plates
after dinner became his responsibility. He wasn’t happy about
that; he would like to talk to his boss over pay increment.
He was scared to sit down with his boss to discuss such
an issue, so he didn’t do it. Instead, he wrote a short letter
about his opinion, and posted it through the mails to his boss.
He wasn’t sure if the letter might let him lose his job, but he
was optimistic that since his boss really liked him, there must
be a good outcome of his letter. Exactly a week after writing
the letter, he was called by his boss to his office. His heart was
beating like an athlete who had just finished a hundred-meter
race. He breathed in deeply and out softly to adjust his heart
beat.
At Mr. Olatunji’s office, were the other two directors who
had already taken their seats. “We have received your letter.
Thank you for writing to us. As the head of this office, I like
your letter, but there is a comment in it of which I’m not
pleased about. You don’t have to say that you need to be paid
the sum of 100 Naira per month, since that is the approved
salary by the government to ordinary civil workers. This is my
company. It is not for the government. If I fail to pay you that
amount, no police could arrest me for that. I hope you
understand me? However, I will discuss the issue with my two
partners.” said Mr. Olatunji.
The discussion lasted for about ten minutes. When it was
over, Babatunde apologised to his boss. To give him every
respect as his boss, after the apology, he prostrated to him and
went back to his job. The four young colleagues of Babatunde
were all Yoruba. Yoruba was one of the largest tribes of
Nigeria, covering the areas of Ogun State, Oyo State, Ondo
State, and others in the South of the country. They hardly
spoke to Babatunde, unless they wanted him to do something
for them. One of them, called Layo, was the only one who had
made it a habit of playing dirty jokes with him and also
showing him no respect.

16.
Road of Agony
10
He used to tell him every time, “Omo Ghana, you no dey
go back to your country?” meaning, “Son of a Ghanaian, are
you not going back to your country?” From the initial stages,
when he started those silly jokes, Babatunde took it as fun and
was always quiet. But soon, he realised that the situation was
getting out of hand. Layo asked him one day, “Where did you
get your name from? All Ghanaians are called Kofi. How
could a Ghanaian bear the name Babatunde? May be you stole
it.” The whole studio was thrown into laughter, for his Yoruba
companions liked it when he was acting like a comedian.
The fact of the Savage Family Descendants Tree’s history
is that Babatunde’s family originated from Fura-Bay, in the
Republic of Sierra Leone. In the early 1930’s, before the
country attained its independence in 1967, part of the family
migrated from Freetown to settle in Nigeria, Ghana, and the
Gambia. The percentage of those who settled in Nigeria was
greater than the other countries. Babatunde visited one of
them at Ebutte-Metta who had compiled copy of the Savage
Family Descendants Tree, on which he saw his grandfather’s
name.
Another part of the story was about a white doctor called
Gabriel Hugh Savage, who came to live in Africa. He married
an African woman and had many children. This story might be
partially genuine as there are a lot of fair- complexioned, like
halfcastes, in the Savage family. Babatunde’s father therefore
gave three of his children Nigerian names. Apart from
Babatunde, there are also Modukpe and Adjani in the family. It
is therefore not strange to see streets by name, Savage Street,
in both Freetown, Sierra Leone, and in Lagos, Nigeria (Which
in this book the name Juskosave is being used to represent
Savage.).
Layo refused to call Babatunde by his name. Instead, he
chose a name for him. He called him “Ogufe,” which is always
accompanied by laughter from his colleagues. The amusing
character of the workers was getting on his nerves. He thought
Layo was calling him something funny. At home after work, he
asked Mama Taye the meaning of the word “Ogufe.”
“Why? Where did you hear that?” asked Mama Taye.
“On my way to the house from work yesterday, I heard
someone mentioned that,” Babatunde lied to Mama Taye.

17.
Joel Savage
11
“Oh, I see! That is how the Yoruba call a goat,” Mama
Taye said.
The next day when work resumed, he didn’t say a word to
Layo, even though the anger in him over that name was tearing
him apart. Almost at the point of boiling water, he still tried to
control his anger, as he didn’t want to do anything bad to hurt
his boss or to discredit his name. But Babatunde failed. When
the printing of t-shirts started and Layo was in need of ink, he
called, “Ogufe, give me that ink on the table.”
Suddenly, like a wounded lion attacking a wolf, Babatunde
rained blows over Layo. He fought back, giving Babatunde a
terrible blow to the chin. But he couldn’t stand the strength of
Babatunde. He gave Layo a terrible punch to the mouth to
silence him once and for all. He fell on the floor with bleeding
mouth. At that point, Babatunde left him alone. As soon as the
three directors came to work, one of the employees reported
the matter to them. He didn’t even report the case when two
of them came. He waited till the arrival of the three.
Babatunde was called to the office with Layo. After
listening to both sides of the story, Mr Olatunji passed his
verdict. Babatunde was found guilty. He should have reported
the case to his boss, and not to take the law into his own
hands. He was strictly warned not to repeat that again and that
any similar case would lead to his dismissal. He was asked to
leave the office. Babatunde left very downhearted after
prostrating to his boss. From that day the incidence took place,
Layo ceased to call him “Ogufe.”
It wasn’t long after demanding for a pay increase, the
directors raised his salary to the sum of 100 Naira, as he
demanded. He was so pleased he quickly wrote a letter of
thanks to his directors. At the office, he was a happy man, but
at home, there was trouble brewing. Shola didn’t want to share
his room with him. One day, Shola arrived from town and saw
him fast asleep on his bed. Impolitely, he shook and woke him
up from his bed saying he wanted to sleep. Babatunde then
laid his mat on the floor to sleep. But instead of Shola using
his bed, as he said, he did something contrary.
He removed all the bed sheets and the pillow case to soak
them in a washing basin. This attitude of Shola went on and on
any time he found him asleep on his bed. Therefore,

18.
Road of Agony
12
Babatunde quickly got the message that Shola didn’t want him
to use his bed so he stopped using it. But that wasn’t the end
of it. Shola tried his possible best to eject him from his room.
He wanted him to use the corridor, used by the tenants of the
storey building, as his sleeping place. The idea behind this ill-
treatment to Babatunde was only mere jealousy Shola couldn’t
stand to see his uncle giving such love and care to a foreigner.
Mr. Olatunji took good care of Babatunde to the extent
that after he got himself a driving licence, he was allowed to
drive the cars of all the three directors. Shola, on the other
hand, couldn’t drive. Many times, Babatunde drove his boss to
his home town at Akure in Ondo State. The trust his boss had
for him was causing hatred for him. The continuous
harassment and pressure from Shola to eject him from the
room made him to lose his temper. Babatunde confronted him
face to face, warning him to desist from the way he was
behaving.
Here was a man who stands six feet two inches over
Babatunde, who just five feet eleven inches tall.
Within some few minutes, there was a fierce fighting
going on in the house. Shola held his neck and gave him a very
hard blow to the head. He, however, managed to free himself
from his grip and gave him a kick that sent him sprawling onto
the floor. He sprang up unto his feet and held Babatunde once
again by the neck trying this time to head-butt him. But he
missed all his targets.
All the women in the house escaped and screamed for
help. The men in the house at that moment tried to stop the
fight, but none of them was able to drift the two strong men
apart.
Outsiders who heard the wailing and calling of women
rushed into the house to stop the fight finally. Babatunde
never thought he could face that monster making life a hell to
him. From that time, there was no more fight, but Shola
continued making life miserable for him as long as he was
living in the house. Babatunde made several reports to his boss
over this bad treatment to him, but there was no positive
change. He complained to the other two directors, hoping
things would be better but the situation remained the same.
Nothing at all on earth could change this bad attitude of Shola.

19.
Joel Savage
13
Lack of peace affected him psychologically and when he
couldn’t handle the situation any longer, he planned to run
away from his boss house to live again with his friends. But he
changed his mind because he thought that might let him lose
his job. He stayed, hoping things would be better one day. But
things never improved. His countenance, both at work and at
home, showed that he is a worried man. In a deep worry and
confusion, he forgot himself and did a stupid thing that almost
ruined the relationship between his boss and him.
One weekend, a key got missing in Mama Taye’s
bedroom. After she had searched for hours without any
success, her husband asked Babatunde to continue the search.
After two hours of unsuccessful bid to trace the missing key,
he felt tired. He sat at the edge of the bed, laid on his back
with both feet resting on the floor. Within a short period,
Babatunde had fallen asleep. While deep asleep, something
unusual happened: He saw a scene he found hard to explain.
Like fallen in a trance, or having a dream, he saw his boss
and his wife standing in the room and his boss pointing at him
to his wife. He woke up immediately in shock, to find out that
it wasn’t a trance or a dream, but a reality. There stood Mr
Olatunji and his wife. His hand was still in the air, pointing at
him when he woke up. Still amazed and recovering from
shock, he couldn’t say anything to them. His boss also didn’t
say anything. He knew exactly what was in the mind of his
boss. The fact that he saw him on his wife’s bed meant
something different. Who knew if he was having a secret love
affair with his wife? His boss’s mind was full of thoughts.
However, Babatunde knew it was just a careless mistake.
He explained the whole situation and how it happened to his
boss. After his explanation, his boss left the room, leaving his
wife behind. Mama Taye felt somehow stupid and perplexed.
She watched Babatunde for a while and also left her room. She
was a confident trusted woman. But at that very moment, she
didn’t know the mind of her husband. As a matter of fact, she
didn’t take the matter seriously like her husband.
Babatunde knew that he has done an unpardonable
mistake, the biggest mistake that could ruin a marriage and tear
the two apart. It was also a scene that could lead to his death,
assuming Mr. Olatunji grabbed a pistol or whatever to kill him.

20.
Road of Agony
14
Despite how sorry he was, he remained calm because of his
clear conscience. A day after the incident, he greeted his boss
in the morning when he was ready to go to the office to open
the doors, but his boss didn’t respond.
He knew that Mr. Olatunji was still upset over the
incident, so he left him alone and went to the office. As usual,
he tidied up the whole office. When his boss arrived at the
office, the whole day he refused to talk to him, till the end of
the day. The next day, he repeated the same thing. Babatunde
became upset and thought the best thing to do was to keep
himself away from his boss for a while. He stopped greeting
his boss, when they met both at the office and at home. This
went on for sometime and Mr. Olatunji noticed it.
He called Babatunde to his office. “What kind of rudeness
do you want to show to me?” He asked. “I have watched you
closely these days, without any greetings. Does this show any
respect?” he questioned him again.
“Sir, I must apologise. I am very sorry of what happened a
couple of days ago. I know it is my fault, but it wasn’t
something I deliberately did to hurt you. It was just a careless
thing I did. Since this case happened, I’ve seen the anger
burning in you. Couple of times I greeted but you gave me no
response. That is the reason I stopped greeting you. I stopped
not as disrespect to you, but only to leave you alone for
sometime.” After his explanation, his boss took the incident as
a mistake and accepted his apology.
Mr. Olatunji was a very nice man who cared much about
Babatunde, but wouldn’t like to see him meddling with his
family in regard to love affair. For example, there was a time
he discovered that his niece, Bola, a naturally beautiful girl of
twenty-one who was on holidays in Lagos had deeply
developed interest in Babatunde. This was when he found
Babatunde’s photograph in her hand bag. Without hesitation,
he quickly sent his niece back to his hometown, where the girl
also hailed from.
No one could tell what a man is looking for in a lady’s
hand bag. All of a sudden, Babatunde discovered that Bola had
disappeared from his boss’s house. Mama Taye revealed
everything to him and narrated how Bola, in tears, knelt down
in front of her uncle begging for forgiveness. “Begging for

21.
Joel Savage
15
forgiveness for just the interest in someone. I don’t understand
this,” said Babatunde.
However, Babatunde knew that it was Mama Taye herself
who informed the husband about it. Because Bola has much
confidence in her. Having told Mama Taye everything, she
thought she could keep her secrets. Mr. Olatunji didn’t ask
Babatunde anything about the photograph he saw and the
reason he sent Bola away If not for his wife, he wouldn’t have
known what had happened.
Meanwhile, the relationship between Shola and him had
gone from bad to worse. This gave him much worries and
nervous breakdown. The pride, jealousy, and foolish attitude
of Shola also emanated from his uncle’s wealth. As a business
man who was financially independent, he had been to Europe
a couple of times. He gave Shola anything he asked for,
including money and once promised him a ticket to London.
The promised ticket hadn’t been handed over to him yet, but
he had already started bragging that he would be leaving to
London soon.
Weeks, months, and a year passed, the same story of
travelling to Britain was still on his lips. He was nothing than a
swollen headed boastful and wishful thinker. Shola didn’t like
to bathe. He took his bath about three times a week, with
ordinary water—without soap or sponge.
Therefore, his hairy armpit stunk like hell. Usually, when
his boss was to travel to his home town, he had to drive him.
But one weekend, Mr. Olatunji travelled out of Lagos with the
company driver. Babatunde thought he had had enough and
now it’s time for him to abandon his boss’s house. He sat
down for a while to think about this issue.
He finally made his decision. Before he left, he wrote this
sad letter to his boss.
“Dear Sir, I’m very sad to announce my resignation from
the company, as well as leaving your house today. For over a
year now, I know what I’ve been through at the hands of your
cousin. I’ve reported him to you several times, but the
situation remains the same. How long must I be in silence of
misery? I’m very proud to say that you have done very well for
me during my stay with you. I give you the greatest thanks you
deserve from me, through Christ, who strengthens us. May the

22.
Road of Agony
16
Lord be with you and your family. But for Shola, who has been
talking about London all the time, he would hear and talk
about the land of Canaan everyday, but his feet would never
step there.”
Babatunde left his boss’s house with sorrow. He didn’t tell
anyone where he was going, including his friends. When his
boss arrived from his hometown, he found his letter and read
it. He sent someone immediately to Mama Ibukun’s house to
see if he was there. But the old grandma told the messenger
that she hadn’t seen him and she even didn’t know that he was
no longer living with his boss. In fact, she was even amazed to
hear that Babatunde had disappeared from his boss’s house.
When the messenger returned with negative result about
the whereabouts of Babatunde, his boss shook his head in
disbelief and went into his room. He asked the wife if there
was another fight when he was away, and his wife said no.
“Then how could Babatunde do that to me?” asked Mr.
Olatunji; without knowing what to do, he gave up his search
for Babatunde.

23.
17
The Cruel Part of Life
When Babatunde left his boss’s house, it was as if a curse had
been pronounced on him; he wasn’t successful in anything he
tried to do. Finding a job became impossible and life became
extremely difficult for him. Within a short period, the
handsome good-looking young man had emaciated into a
frame of skeleton. He couldn’t ask for help from his friends
because he knows how the living condition in Lagos was.
Nobody would do it. Even though commodities and food
were generally cheap, due to hard living, brothers and sisters
do become enemies sometimes when it comes to food.
He soon met a friend who accommodated him for a
while. Koku who was then working as a security man in a
certain company, when he used to smuggle him into his cabin
provided by his employers. But that didn’t last long, since he
was scared of losing his job when seen. The world couldn’t
hold Babatunde any longer. His living conditions became
dread as he fought for survival. He was living like a gypsy,
without any permanent place to lay his head.
At one time, he was selling pre-recorded music cassettes
on the market as a hawker, when suddenly, he met the studio
director, Mr. Olufemi, face to face. He was moved to tears to
see Babatunde’s condition.

24.
Road of Agony
18
“Oh, Babatunde! Look at your present position now! How
much are you going to get from the sales of these cassettes?
Mr. Olatunji was totally disappointed when he arrived from his
home town to know of your disappearance from his house.
Come back; don’t worry, he will forgive you,” he concluded.
Babatunde told him that he would return, but he never
did. Who is stupid to jump from riches to poverty and put
himself into such a horrible situation, he asked himself. He
wanted peace but now it had cost him. Soon, he realised that
cassette trading was not giving him adequate financial help, so
he stopped the sales. He quickly joined someone as a partner
in meat distribution. The meat was distributed by van to
housewives and those living far from the market. But the
business collapsed just two months after being employed. The
customers were complaining that the meat wasn’t fresh. As if
they made a meeting against the sales of the meat, nothing was
sold any time the van comes.
Each day, large quantity of meat got wasted and thrown
away because his partner was facing storage problems due to
frequent lights off at the area he lived. Despite how rich
Nigeria was, electricity facilities in Lagos was very poor. There
could be light off for almost a week. When the light suddenly
comes, it could be brighter than the sun, damaging most
electrical gadgets at people’s homes. Or the light comes very
low like a touchlight with a weak battery. Sometimes a break-
down vehicle carrying human waste could be abandoned in the
middle of the city, with bad odour hanging in the atmosphere
for days or weeks.
At long last, he left the job without any savings.
Babatunde found a new factory that needed a couple of
workers, and he went to the place as soon as possible. The
nature of the job was to put labels on the bottles of a new
product. He did that for a period of six weeks without any
payment. The employer said the factory was facing financial
problems. Babatunde quit the job the very day his employer
gave him that explanation. He knew getting his money would
be a problem. Many foreigners have been victims to such
exploitation from bad Lagosians. They know that most of the
foreigners living in Lagos were illegal immigrants who were so
scared to report them to the police.

25.
Joel Savage
19
Babatunde suffered both physically and psychologically
for almost four months without any permanent job. He saw a
billboard by the road side reading “Building contractor looking
for site workers.” He followed the address to the site. He
confessed that the job was one of the most difficult jobs he
had ever done in his life. At the site, all the work was done by
manpower with no machines involved. Among other six
workers, they divided themselves into three groups. One group
moulded the bricks, another mixed the sand and cement with
water, while the third group supplied water from a nearby
stream. Since there were no hand gloves provided for the job,
one could feel the tediousness of the job.
Babatunde chose to supply water. The third day when he
went down the stream for the water after filling the heavy
head-pan, he was moved with sorrow and his eyes were filled
with tears. Babatunde wept bitterly. He felt life had been too
cruel for him as a young man since the death of his father. He
washed his face to wipe off the mark of the tears and went
along with the water. After working for nine days, he decided
to go back to Ghana.
Thinking of going back home was a sort of happiness in
his heart. With the little money he made during the hard
working days at the construction site, he bought himself some
few things, including a portable television set, a stereo player,
table fan, pressing iron, and he left for Accra, Ghana. He
looked skinny and gaunt but he knew there was no place like
home. He soon forgot his entire ordeal.

26.
20
Soldiers on the Rampage
There was a trader who lived near the Juskosave family. The
woman had gone to the market, leaving her shop for her
twelve-year old daughter. The intelligent little girl knew the
price of all the commodities in her mother’s shop to the extent
that her mother was always confident and felt secure any time
she left her daughter to manage the shop.
An armed soldier came to the shop for a stick of cigarette.
He wasn’t happy with the price the girl sold to him. He argued
with her over the price and asked for reduction. The girl
refused his demand. He lost his temper and gave the girl a dirty
slap. Close by was a retired army officer who witnessed what
was going on. He confronted the armed soldier and told him
that he was wrong to lay his hand on the girl. He explained to
the armed soldier that if anything at all he should have waited
for the mother of the child, but shouldn’t put the law into his
own hands.
Such a simple explanation provoked the armed soldier to
the extent that he hit the retired army officer’s head with the
butt of his riffle. The badly hurt retired army officer, in frenzy,
ran into his kitchen, brought out a pounding pestle and hit the
armed soldier. In the ensuing fight, the armed soldier, who
sustained some injuries, madly walked away. Unknown to the
retired army officer, his opponent had gone to call a dozen of

27.
Joel Savage
21
unranked soldiers for a deadly intention. They went on
rampage, destroying anything that came their way. The retired
army officer escaped immediately to avoid beaten to death.
The soldiers broke down his door and destroyed all his
properties in the room. After the destruction of his belongings,
the soldiers weren’t satisfied yet with what they had done so
far. They went from room to room of other tenants,
destroying their belongings and stealing petty items such as
wrist watches and jewels. Babatunde was at the beach relaxing
when his sister, Modukpe, came running to tell him what has
happened. She could hardly breathe.
According to her, the soldiers want to attack her, too, so
she fled. Babatunde left his sister, running home like a
possessed man. When he arrived home, the soldiers had
completed their destruction mission and gone. That day,
Babatunde lost everything he had struggled and worked for in
Nigeria. The television set was smashed into pieces. The
family’s stable fan wasn’t spared. The fridge was turned upside
down and badly dented with the butt of their rifles. Finally,
before leaving, there was a drum full of water, which they
pushed down, flooding the rooms.
In another development, the escaped retired army officer,
as quick as possible, had gone to the military camp to report
the incidence. A jeep full of soldiers was despatched to the
scene to control the situation. On the way after the rampage,
the wayward soldiers saw the jeep of soldiers coming towards
them. They took to their heels in different directions. To avoid
any of them escaping, warning shots were fired. The tough
ones refused to stop but the coward ones stopped. Three were
arrested and arraigned before the military tribunal in Accra.
The case lasted four weeks and the soldiers who were
found guilty of harassment and destruction were jailed. The
Juskosave family received a letter to come for a cheque as
compensation, but what a funny compensation? The money is
insufficient to cover even the price of the pressing iron, which
was also smashed against the wall. The family didn’t bother to
go for the cheque when they were asked to do so. That was a
very bad experience to Babatunde.
He lay in bed with eyes full of tears. There was never a
day he wouldn’t think of the disaster. To avoid any frustration,

28.
Road of Agony
22
he said bye to his family and traveled back to Nigeria, when
that country’s economy was gradually declining. Corruption
and expensive projects had affected the country. No more ten
kobo bread. A plate of rice, which used to sell at twenty kobo,
was selling at fifty kobo. This time, in his second trip to
Nigeria, he couldn’t find a job easily.
He made efforts to find a driving job, but things didn’t
work out because the few foreigners have disappeared with the
vehicles they were driving. Thus, if one was not recommended
by a Nigerian, there was no possibility of getting a job. When a
recommended foreigner disappeared with a vehicle, the one
who recommended him for the job would be held responsible.
Two reasons accounted for the disappearance of vehicles. It
could be that the foreigner deliberately went away with the
vehicle to sell it, or he might have been be killed by armed
robbers and the vehicle snatched away.
Walking around daily without any experience, he got a job
in a roofing company as a roof technician. The nature of the
job was to mend leaking roofs. Among other workers, he
climbed tall buildings. At times, it’s very frightening and
dangerous. Materials used for the work, such as prime felt, and
a gas cylinder were transported unto the roof top by means of
rope pulled up by six or eight men. The burned primed felt
was used to patch up the leaking part of the roofs. It was the
most uncomfortable job to do when the sun was at its peak.
Under the scorching sun, accompanied by heat from the gas
burner, one could feel like leaving the job the same day. Every day
the workers grouped at the work premises to be driven to the sites
where they were to work. One morning, Babatunde, among his
co-workers, sat in the company’s bus waiting to be conveyed to
work. All the workers knew that the driver was a man who didn’t
know what punctuality was. He was always late to work. But that
very day, he didn’t come to work.
Mr. Adebayo, the transport manager in charge of all the
buses in the company, as well as a driver to the managing
director, went to report to the boss the problem they have had
that morning. Probably, the boss told him to find someone
who could drive among the workers, for as soon as he came
down from his office, he asked the workers in the bus who
could drive. Babatunde quickly responded. He politely asked

29.
Joel Savage
23
everyone in the bus to descend. Babatunde was to be tested.
He sat behind the steering wheel while Mr Adebayo sat next to
him. He then took off.
Few yards from the premises, as he drove along, he
noticed a number of faults on the vehicle, which he didn’t
know whether the transport manager was even aware of. When
Babatunde told him of the faults on the vehicle, the manager
quickly had the impression that he was an experienced driver.
He asked Babatunde not to go further but to return to the
premises. From that glorious day, Babatunde ceased to be a
roof mender, and was employed as a driver.
He couldn’t believe his ears when he heard the transport
manager, a typical Yoruba man, speaking Fanti, one of the
local languages of Ghana, to a worker about how good he
could drive. According to him, in the early sixties, when Ghana
was on the map of Africa as a very great nation, he was there
with his family. He returned to Nigeria when the ‘Aliens
Compliance Order” requesting every foreigner to leave Ghana
affected him.
Almost about two decades after this expulsion incident,
Nigeria took a sweet revenge by expelling all Ghanaians from
their country. The number of Ghanaians who died in that
repatriation order was too huge. Two ships were sent on
Nigeria waters to evacuate the stranded Ghanaians. The ships
were so full that some people were hazardously hanging on
places not meant for passengers. Many people lost all their
belongings to thieves and criminals before they even had the
chance to go on board the ship.
When the ships finally brought them on the shores of
Ghana, they came to meet a season of famine. It was an
experience many Ghanaians who survived the situation would
never forget.
People were eating all kinds of food that previously they
wouldn’t like to eat. Homes that kenkey (local food made from
corn) are prepared were stormed and the half-cooked food was
paid for in advance and taken away immediately before
someone bought everything. Cheap bags of rice suddenly
flooded on the market from nowhere. This in some way
helped the situation a little for almost a year or two until things
gradually became normal.

30.
24
Death of a Former Boss
Babatunde, as a happy man with a new job, decided to visit his
friends after leaving them for almost a year. He met them
gathered together as they used to do on Sundays in the ghetto.
They were enjoying sweet songs of reggae music vibrating out
of the stereo’s loud speakers. Kweku asked Babatunde if he
had heard what has happened.
“How would I know?” Babatunde jokingly said.
“Wait a minute,” Kweku said. He went for an old folded
newspaper and opened a page for Babatunde to read.
Under the photograph of Mr. Olatunji, Babatunde’s
former boss, he read, “Chief Oladipo Olatunji, the head of the
Olatunji family in Akure Ondo State, regret to announce the
death of Mr. Adisa Olatunji, the managing director of
Champion Advertising and Publicity Company, whose death
took place at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH)
on....”
Babatunde couldn’t continue reading the news. He was
trembling like one rescued from a freezing ocean. The
newspaper fell from his hands. It was a shock to him. The
unexpected news hit him like a blow. At that moment, he
regretted leaving the man who employed and provided him
shelter when he first arrived in Lagos. He thought of visiting
his wife to give her his condolence but he changed his mind,

31.
Joel Savage
25
for the fact that she might not receive him, since he left the
house without informing any one.
Rumours behind the death of his former boss were too
much. Before his death, he had already survived two serious
road accidents, one of which nearly crippled him. He died at a
tender age of thirty-seven. He left behind a widow and three
lovely children. Babatunde went home, provided by his
employers, downhearted. The next day, when he resumed
work, he wasn’t feeling well. The death of his former boss
could hardly escape his mind. The transport manager saw it
and asked him if he was sick, that he might have a day off. He
insisted that he was all right. He didn’t tell him anything.
He drove the workers for just three months, when he was
promoted to drive Mr. Ekanem, the managing director, also a
politician. The man didn’t have a good education but his
money ruled his kingdom. He was a very strange man who
loved women too much that he couldn’t control himself.
Despite having two wives, his vast interest in women had
soiled his reputation. But he didn’t care. He could make love
to three or four women a day, in his office or at a hotel.
Babatunde, as his driver, witnessed many times that he
slept with some of his friends’ wives. As he drove home the
women his boss has slept with, the boss would ask him to go
for another woman. He exploited Babatunde to the extent that
he never had a good rest in all the years he served him. As a
politician and a businessman, Mr Ekanem traveled a lot.
Before he left Lagos for any of the states, for political or
business reasons, Babatunde had to move in advance to the
airport to await for his arrival. As soon as he arrived, he rented
a hotel, then asked Babatunde to find him a beautiful
prostitute to pass the night. This was the most embarrasing
request to him, but he had no choice. Babatunde finally arrived
with the prostitute with him.
Within a short period of driving him, Babatunde became
familiar with almost nine states out of the nineteen federal
states of Nigeria. However, as time went on, gradually more
states were created in Nigeria, due to the large size of the
country. It was his state, Cross River State, Calabar, where
Babatunde met a beautiful girl as his girl friend. It seemed as if
all the time, Adua, the girl friend, was waiting for a man like

32.
Road of Agony
26
him. The two seriously fell in love. It wasn’t long when she
conceived and gave Babatunde a handsome baby boy, who was
named Ato.
Calabar, the capital city of Cross River State, was a small
city, without much employment. However, those working are
extremely hard workers. They were very neat people. One may
wear an old shoe but well polished. Most of them were well
educated but a number of them were kept out of school due to
financial problems.This had made many of the people moved
out to live across Nigeria, with Lagos State having the greatest
percentage of the people.
A large body of water stretching from Calabar to Oron, a
small town in the Akwa Ibom State, had provided fishing
livelihood for a group of fishermen and fish mongers. They
love fresh fish and sometimes dried ones. Almost all their
meals are prepared with special favourite green leaves.
Generally, there are socially nice people but the lack of job had
transformed a number of its people to be very stingy.
Babatunde’s boss, Mr Ekanem, himself was a very difficult
person to deal with when it comes to financial matters. Most
of the time, when he needed money to fill the tank of his car, it
usually turned to an argument and a tough task, especially
when he was alone at his office. But the best time to get
money from him without any difficulty was when he was with
a woman at his office. In this way, Babatunde used the
opportunity to get money from him for petrol, when he was
with woman.
There was one of his luxurious vehicles which have
broken down and at the garage for a very long time. Due to
the number of cars he had and also the financial cost that he
would meet in order to repair the vehicle, he abandoned it.
Even though his boss hadn’t sent him, Babatunde secretly
went to the garage and gave instructions for the repair of the
vehicle, as if the orders came from his boss. For the mechanic
to believe him, he quickly paid the estimation cost when he
was presented with the bill.
Babatunde put the mechanic under pressure to repair the
vehicle within nine days. From the garage, he drove the Range
Rover jeep to his boss’s compound without his knowledge.
When he saw his vehicle, he couldn’t believe his eyes. He

33.
Joel Savage
27
focused his attention on Babatunde, trying to find out what a
sort of man he was, a devil or a saint? He was so pleased about
the improved condition of his jeep that he refunded
Babatunde the money he used for the repairs. Later, he told
Babatunde to get prepared to take the vehicle to his office at
Lagos.
The journey by road from Cross River State to Lagos
State or vice versa, was one of the longest journeys Babatunde
had made. It went like this: from Cross River State to part of
Rivers State, then down to Aba in Imo State. From Imo State
to Onitsa in Anambra State, then to Benin City, in Bendel
State. From Benin City, one has a long way to drive to part of
Ogun State, before finally driving down to Lagos State. Some
of the big coaches used sixteen hours, but using a good fast car
could take between eleven and twelve hours.
He left Cross River State at 4:00 PM. As he was driving, it
became darker and darker. Since he preferred night driving to
day’s driving, he decided to check his headlights to see if they
were in order, when he saw a road side autoelectrician.
Surprisingly, the headlights weren’t working. The electrician
worked on the lights for about thirty minutes. But when the
lights were tested, there was still a problem. The high part of
the lights was working but the dim part was not. It was then
getting late and as there was no time left for the electrician to
continue the work, Babatunde took off through the city with
constant high lights.
At about six hours drive, he stopped at a restaurant and
had his meal. After eating, he didn’t even sit for a minute to
rest before he jumped behind the steering wheel and drove off.
Within the city, the high light was causing partial blindness to
other motorists. They signalled many times for him to lower
down his lights, but he didn’t act. At 2:30 A.M., when he
arrived in Bendel State, there was no single soul on the street.
The place was as quiet as a cemetery and he couldn’t see any
moving vehicle. He was extremely tired and wished to rent a
room at a hotel to pass the night, but it was impossible since it
was very dangerous to walk alone at such an hour in Nigeria.
He therefore continued the journey.
He wasn’t worried about fuel, since he filled the diesel
engine vehicle’s tank full of gasoline prior to leaving Cross

34.
Road of Agony
28
River State. On the Bendel express road from Benin City,
Babatunde saw the most horrible sight he had never seen
before, which nearly cost him his life. In the middle of the
road sat a strange figure, an old man roughly about ninety
years or more. One could clearly see his skeletal frame in his
tiny emaciated wrinkled skin. He sat like a Buddhist offering
prayers in the monastery, with open hands and legs crossed.
His long grey beard touched the ground in between his crossed
legs and around his loin; he wore a dark coloured cloth.
The sight of the horrible creature sent cold waves of fear
through the spine of Babatunde behind the steering wheel. To
avoid running over the old man, he swerved to the left, then to
the right. He straightened the steer forcefully and quickly to
avoid hitting the concrete slab in between the roads. After
gaining his momentum, he looked back through the driving
mirror, but the strange creature had disappeared.
The badly shaken Babatunde, who was driving about one
hundred and twenty kilometres per hour, couldn’t continue
driving any longer. As if paralysed from his waist to his legs, he
couldn’t press on the accelerator any longer. The whole place
was forested and dark, with noises of night living creatures, so
he summoned up courage and drove along slowly, perhaps
thirty kilometres per hour. The glass of one of the rear doors
of the vehicle had broken and he could hear the noise of the
sweeping air through that broken glass. That frightened him
most. He was all the time looking into the vehicle if the old
man was not in it.
Babatunde believed that what he saw wasn’t an ordinary
person.He was an evil spirit or one of the blood-thirsty gods
who roam on the streets looking for spilled blood. He was not
the only driver to encounter such a fearful scene on that road.
The Bendel express road, since it was constructed, had claimed
hundreds of lives. The blood thirsty evil spirits rove along the
road, frightening most drivers to death. The inexperienced
frightened ones easily became victims.
According to sources, when the road was under
construction, some of the trees pulled down were found
standing upright the next day. There was a particular tree with
blood oozing from its stem when it was cut down. Workers
also claimed of constantly hearing the cry of children in the

35.
Joel Savage
29
forest. Babatunde drove about ten kilometres and came to a
police check point. He asked the officers on duty if he could
pack the vehicle and pass the night near them. They agreed. He
was then showed a good place to pack to avoid some one
running into his vehicle.
In the vehicle, the mysterious figure he met never escaped
his mind. He knew that if he had mistakenly run over that
dreadful thing, he wouldn’t have died but would escape
spiritually.
Assuming he was not an experienced driver, he would
have lost his life by sacrificing his blood, as it has happened to
many drivers and was still going on without an end. He slept
uncomfortably till about seven in the morning before he took
off towards Lagos. At about 3:00 P.M., he arrived at the
premises of his working place. He went for the record book
and booked his time of departure and arrival. After he had a
meal, he went to take his bath then he went straight to bed.

36.
30
Behind Bars
Babatunde served the company for two years until he was
involved in a serious case that sent him behind bars. His boss,
as a politician, took consignment of seven vans for campaign
purpose in the then impending elections. A week after taking
delivery of the campaign vehicles, one mysteriously got missing
from Mr Ekanem’s compound in his home town. The mystery
surrounding the disappearance of the small bus without any
one noticing when it was driven away still beat the imagination
of his boss.
As a foreigner, Babatunde was suspected the most. His
boss questioned him many times whether he knew anything
about the missing vehicle. But Babatunde repeatedly claimed
his innocence. His boss, who wasn’t satisfied with his answer,
took his own course without Babatunde’s knowledge. He was
in the house when a plain-clothed policeman came and
arrested him. He was charged for stealing a mini-bus. In
handcuffs, Babatunde was taken to the police station and
thrown behind bars.
With the handcuffs still on his hands, he passed the night
in the cells till morning without food.
The next day, the same policeman who brought him there
came to see him at the cells. At seeing him, he thought he was
going to remove the handcuffs off his hands but he rather put

37.
Joel Savage
31
another one on his feet. The feet cuffs hurt him most. After
accomplishing his mission, he left him and went away.
Babatunde knew perfectly well that his boss has bribed the
policeman to ill treat him if that could help the police to get
information from him. But nothing at all could break the heart
of Babatunde.
He remained adamant to his one answer, claiming his
innocence. In the cells for three days, the policeman came to
him one midnight with his baton to force him to speak the
truth. “Tell me the truth, so that you can be released,” said the
policeman.
“I have no truth to reveal,” said Babatunde.
“I’m repeating my question, if you fail to tell me the truth,
I will hit you with this stick,” said the policeman.
“I said I’m innocent,” said Babatunde.
His answer infuriated the policeman. Boiling with anger,
he struck Babatunde repeatedly with the baton. After much
beating without any positive respond, he left him and
promised to come back. That morning, he found out that the
beating has produced thick marks all over his body. It was that
same morning that they removed the cuffs from both his
hands and legs. The large single room serving as a cell at the
village’s police station where he was locked up was situated
near a vast acre of bushes. Black ants from the bush found
their way into the cell to bite him every night. The continuous
bite of the ants caused bruises all over his body.
Exactly five days in the cells, the chief police officer in
charge of the police station gave orders for Babatunde’s case
to be transferred to the main police station in the town,
because he thought the case needs much attention. At the
main police station where he was transferred were three cell
rooms. Each room had an iron gate, which was securely locked
every day. Inmates only came out of the cells to the common
corridor, which has no escape points, to eat whatever was
prepared for them. The first day at the cell, Babatunde ate
nothing when he was served. He wasn’t on hunger strike but
he didn’t like the food.
He watched with astonishment as his mates fought over
his food. However, on the second day, he was starving so he
ate his meal. The people he met at the cells were all friendly.

38.
Road of Agony
32
None of them treated him badly as they used to do to
newcomers. Within only two nights at the cells, the inmates,
about nine in number, have liked him very much. Every day
after eating, when the officer on duty was pushing them into
their cells, everyone would want Babatunde to join them in
their cell. He joined two men at cell number one at his own
will.
Later, he found out that his two companions believed in
God, as himself. Their faith in the Lord brought them some
sort of joy, despite their situation. They prayed in the morning,
afternoon, evening and night, before putting their heads on the
hard cemented floor to sleep. One of them who cared much
about Babatunde, subjected him to a series of questions.
“Where do you come from and what brought you here?”
he asked Babatunde.
“I’m a Ghanaian working for a certain politician. I was
brought here because, I’m a suspect to a missing bus,” said
Babatunde.
“You have no case. You are only a suspect. Assuming you
were caught redhanded that might be a different case. Don’t
worry, you will be released.” He was quiet for some time and
he started again. “Do you have any family in this state?”
“No, my family is in Lagos State, but I have a child with a
certain girl, whose mother lives in this town,” said Babatunde.
“Does she know that you are here?” He asked Babatunde.
“Yes, she was here the first day when I sent her a note
through one of the policemen, but since then, she hasn’t been
here again,” answered Babatunde.
“I’m not surprised. I know my people; she will not help
you,” said the young man.
He was ready to ask Babatunde another question, when he
was interrupted by him to know his name. “My name is
Emobu. By the way, where is the girl you have the child with?”
asked Emobu.
“She doesn’t live with her mother. Probably her mother
has informed her about it,” said Babatunde.
“Do you speak Yoruba? You are supposed to speak the
language, at least a little of it, if you live in Lagos State,” said
Emobu.
“Yes, I do, but not so well,” said Babatunde.

39.
Joel Savage
33
“Now, listen to what I want to tell you carefully. The
police boss of this station is a Yoruba man. He comes here
every morning to check the list of the number of people in the
cells. If you can speak the language with him, I believe he can
help you out of this place,” said Emobu.
Emobu, the strong built young man in his late twenties,
was brought to the cells for beating his wife. He told
Babatunde frankly that he did beat his wife. “I hate nonsense.
After a hard day’s work as a fisherman, it hurts me so much to
come home when my food is not ready. This makes me mad.
What is the work of a housewife? A housewife must stay in the
house to cook for her husband, but my wife irritates me. She
likes gossiping with friends without realising the time is far
behind. The time she will be aware of herself and starts
cooking is the time I come home,” Emobu concluded.
Emobu is a regular customer to the police cells, so he is
well known. As a well-known fisherman, most of the
policemen and women used to buy fresh fish from him when
his canoe was ashore from the lake. Thus, he thought he could
escape being detained for long any time he was brought to the
police station. But this time, he wasn’t spared. Babatunde
heard the policeman telling him that “I don’t think this time if
you leave this place you will love to come back here.”
When Babatunde met him at the cells, he brought the idea
of the daily prayers so that the almighty Lord would forgive
them of their transgressions for them to be released earlier.
But when he told him that he beat his wife, Babatunde began
thinking that he was not really a good Christian.
“If a man who has faith in the Lord would beat up his
wife, that doesn’t make him a real Christian,” said Babatunde
to Emobu.
“Well, you are right, but remember that no one is perfect.
The scriptures say that ‘We all come short of the glory of
God.’ I know that I will change one day but my wife must
change first.”
During the first two days at the cell, the police boss
Emobu talked about didn’t come for inspection. A different
officer did that on his behalf. Later that day, the inmates heard
that Inspector Akinbola has travelled for a press conference
within one of the states.

40.
Road of Agony
34
Unexpectedly, he appeared on the third day. In his
uniform with different badges lined up on his shoulders and a
cap to fit, the man didn’t look friendly at all. His coming into
the cells created an atmosphere of silence among the inmates
that the noise of a falling needle could be heard.
Babatunde had already been overwhelmed with fear that
he wasn’t willing to talk to the inspector. But Emobu pressed
him harder to talk to him. “This is your only chance,
Babatunde, do it,” said Emobu. As soon as Inspector Akinbola
approached the cell where Babatunde was with his mates, he
greeted him in Yoruba. “Ekaroo” (Good morning). The
inspector responded and asked him “Bawoni?” (How are
you?). Then Babatunde started narrating the incident that
bought him there to the inspector.
His accent of the Yoruba language sounded clearly as that
of a foreigner, yet the police boss listened to him attentively
without any question. He finally broke his silence and told
Babatunde that he has already read his case, so he should give
him three days to study it. Babatunde gave a sigh of relief. He
knew that once the inspector had promised him to look into
his case, he would surely do it. The Yoruba was a tribe well
known for their social love and kindness to themselves and
even to foreigners sometimes. This had let other native
indigenous people from the country to accuse them of
tribalism and nepotism.
Two days passed silently without any comment from the
inspector when he came to do his normal check up. But on the
third day, he gave order to the officers on the duty to release
Babatunde on humanitarian grounds but he must find a
relative to sign his papers of release.
“That politician can’t keep this man here. If he thinks this
man is a suspect or responsible for a theft, why can’t he put
him in court? The suspect has been here for the past seven
days, and the complainant has not been here. They cannot let
innocent people suffer like that because of their money,” said
the inspector.
Babatunde was brought out of the cells to be released. But
who is going to sign his papers, when he has no relative in that
town?

41.
Joel Savage
35
“Do you have any relative here?” asked the policeman
who is about to release him.
“I don’t know any one here with the exception of the
mother of a girl I have a child with,” said Babatunde.
“Do you know where she lives?” asked the policeman.
“Yes I do.” Babatunde sat behind his motor bike, and he
sped towards Adua’s mother’s house. When they arrived, the
woman wasn’t at home. She is still at office. They went to her
office and saw her there.
“Good evening, Madam, do you know this man?” asked
the policeman.
“Yes, I do,” Adua’s mother replied
“In what way do you know him?” Asked the policeman
“Well, he has a child with my daughter,” said Adua’s
mother.
“This man has been in the cells over a week and today has
been released. But he needs a relative to sign his papers for
him,” said the policeman, pulling out two typed papers from
his file.
“Please, I’m sorry, I can’t sign these papers. His boss sent
him there, so I think he is the same person who has to sign
them for him to be released,” said the woman. Babatunde’s
girlfriend’s mother refused to sign the papers, so he was taken
back to the police station. At the office, the officer told
Inspector Akinbola what the woman said. Babatunde was then
told to go home.
It was a sunny afternoon. The breeze coming from the
lake carried the scent of fresh fish. Below the hill from the
police station, one could see clearly the beautiful water
stretching along the beach with activities of ashore fishermen
and traders. There wasn’t any sign of coming rain but as soon
as Babatunde was released, a miracle took place.
Suddenly the bright sky became cloudy, followed by
ramblings of thunder. There was a heavy torrential rain which
soaked him from head to toe as he walked to join the ferry to
cross to the town where his girlfriend lived.
Babatunde thought the significance of that sudden rain
meant blessing and freedom from God. Yes! He has been
liberated from the clutches of darkness, wickedness, suffering,
and death. Adua wept bitterly when he saw the condition of

42.
Road of Agony
36
her son’s father. Babatunde was lean and stinking like a dead
rat. She helped him to remove his trousers and shirt and took
him to the bathroom to shower. She then set the table for his
meal.
Adua knew that her boyfriend was locked up, but there
was nothing she could do to help him out. Her pillow was
soaked with tears every night, praying and hoping her
boyfriend would come home soon. She was aware of the
existing problem between the mother and her over Babatunde.
Prior to his arrest, he was having his share of problems by
trying to be a member of Adua’s family. The more he tried to
win the family’s love, the more he was rejected by Adua’s
family. Her girlfriend’s mother doesn’t like him. This is not a
secret.
He kept telling his girlfriend all the time about this
problem. But the two were so strong in love that nothing at all
could separate them at that moment. The family did not like
him due to two facts. Firstly, he was a foreigner and secondly,
his profession that period as a driver made matter worse. For,
no mother was interested to see her daughter especially with a
bit education to be married to a driver.
In a sick society that had modified both their lives
physically and mentally, drivers were considered dropouts
from school who had no future. The issue of poverty in Africa
was a thing every family wanted to avoid, especially low
income workers. Every mother and father wanted his or
daughter to marry a lawyer, an engineer, a pilot, doctor, etc.
But the question is, if drivers and cleaners were not necessary
or less important in the society, who would drive the doctors
to work and clean his or her desk for them to enjoy a clean and
healthy environment?
In Europe and other advanced countries, such
discrimination doesn’t exist. It is very common to see a mason
married to a lawyer, a plumber married to a doctor or a bus
driver married to a pilot. It is the love that rules, not pro-
fession or the amount of money one earns. His girlfriend’s
mother was very angry when she heard that her daughter has
conceived. In one of her statements of anger, she retorted that
“Educated people who have been to Europe to work or study,

43.
Joel Savage
37
can’t even cope up with life, let alone a driver.” Babatunde
heard it and he was very sad indeed.
He could see that there was no happiness on her face any
time they met. He thought since Adua was her only daughter,
she wanted to give her the best education she could afford
probably, but it seemed Babatunde had ruined the future of
her daughter. Adua is a type of girl Babatunde thought could
take years to find. Not only was she beautiful, she was also an
intelligent person with a wonderful character. Her nice colour
like a half-caste girl, even though both parents were black,
exposed her identity as a true naturally beautiful African
woman. She hardly spoke, unless one asked her a question. In
the midst of problems when they started courting, she
promised him that she would fully stand by him and she did.
She once advised Babatunde to run away together to stay
somewhere without the knowledge of her family
But he told her that it was not a wise thing to do, since
her parents may think he had kidnapped her. In fact, he
explained to her that such a situation would rather cause more
problems.
Babatunde dearly loved Adua but it seemed there was a
gap gradually coming between them. He tried his best to close
that gap, but the sorrow in his heart over the way her mother
disliked him didn’t allow him to do it.

44.
38
The Separation
Three days after his release, he kissed his girlfriend and his
year-old child and bid them goodbye. As soon as he arrived in
Lagos, he resigned from his work. He hadn’t any place to live,
so he continued to stay in the company’s premises without his
boss’s knowledge, since he didn’t know that he has been
released. He was weak, feeble, and emaciated. But spiritually,
he knew that the Lord was with him and would help him
through those difficult moments of his life. He prayed daily,
without ceasing.
The light suddenly went off one evening. He lit a candle
and placed it on the table in the centre of the small single
room. He lay on his bed thinking of what the future had for
him. Within a short period, he had fallen asleep without
putting off the candle, not knowing the melted candle has
spread flames all over the table and some clothes hanging in
the room.
The room choked with heat and smoke woke him up
immediately in intense sweat with the room engulfed in fire.
He had no problem with his door. It opened and closed
regularly. But the very moment the room was in flames, the
door wouldn’t open when he tried it. In a serious situation
without knowing what to do, he gave the door a mighty kick,
and it opened instantly. He lifted the burning table and threw it

45.
Joel Savage
39
out of the room and quickly removed the burning clothes
outside too. He couldn’t sleep the whole night without
thinking of the incident. He could have died by inhaling of
combustion or simply being burnt to death.
When his boss heard that he had been released, he
withheld his salary. He lost all his benefit for the two-and-half
years service to the company. His boss has a bad reputation for
similar cases against his workers. Babatunde witnessed three
workers sacked during his service in the company. One of
them who was in his late fifties died a week after his dismissal.
In another incident, a well known bank in Lagos, took him to
court over monetary affair. Throughout the whole week,
posters were pasted on his office walls for his assets to be sold
on auction by court orders.
Mr Ekanem quickly talked to the man pasting the posters
on his walls that he would employ him and give him a good
salary if only he would quit his job. The young man, knowing
how wealthy Mr Ekanem was, quickly agreed to his proposals
and resigned to work for him. As soon as he paid the money
he owed the bank, he got the young man from the auction
company sacked. It wasn’t long too when the sudden death of
the transport manager was announced to him by his family.
Doctors couldn’t find the exact sickness that killed Mr.
Adebayo after he had been on admission at the hospital for
almost four weeks. Before his death, the handsome good-
looking man was emaciated to the thinnest creature. As a
former driver to the managing director, and later appointed as
a transport manger, he served the company for twenty-five
years. For his silver jubilee service in the company, he was
given a beetle Volkswagen car, as a long service present. But
when he died, Mr Ekanem went to the deceased family to
claim back the car, saying it belonged to the company.
When Babatunde finally left the premises of his former
employers, he went to live with Adjani, his junior brother, who
had also arrived in Lagos from Ghana a couple of months ago
and worked as a cook for three engineers from India. His stay
with his junior brother was a great family reunion. Babatunde
was always happy, and he and his brother discussed their
family’s developments, high prospects, and the need to further
their education. They were glancing through the evening

46.
Road of Agony
40
newspapers when they came across an advertisement by a
company looking for a salesman.
The next day, he and his junior brother set off to see if he
could get the job. Walking towards Isolo express road, one of
the busiest roads in Lagos, connecting Ikorodu road, a mini
bus passed by them. In the bus were three people, the driver in
civilian clothes and two armed soldiers at the rear. They were
watching the two brothers as the vehicle slowly moved along.
Babatunde quickly saw them that they were focusing their
attention on him and his brother, but Adjani didn’t notice it.
“Did you see the small bus that just passed by us? The
three men inside were watching us,” Babatunde asked his
brother.
“No, I didn’t see them,” replied Adjani.
Suddenly, they saw that the bus they were talking about
was reversing. When the bus reached the exact spot where the
brothers were, it came to a halt. One of the armed soldiers got
down, walked to meet the brothers, and asked them of where
they were going. “We are brothers who are just looking for a
job,” said Babatunde.
Without any reason, the soldier gave a command to the
brothers to enter the bus. In fear and confusion, Babatunde
resisted and told his brother that they should flee the scene.
The brothers then took to their heels while the soldier ran
after them. Few metres ahead of the direction they fled, the
brothers saw another soldier standing with man in plainclothes
near a huge advert board. Babatunde thought they could help,
therefore they ran straight to them. It was really a bad decision
they made. They were escaping from Sodom, a burning city, to
Gomorrah, also waiting to be destroyed. Unknown to them,
the soldier they thought could help them was also a criminal.
Behind the advert board, he was robbing the man in the
civilian clothes. The soldier’s hand was firmly in the man’s
pocket trying to steal his money, whilst the man was struggling
with him to escape when the two exhausted brothers ran to
meet the crime he was committing.
The brothers’ sudden intervention paved the way for the
man the soldier wanted to steal his money from his pocket to
escape. As he fled for his life, some of the money in his pocket

47.
Joel Savage
41
fell. He didn’t waste any time to take them. He left them and
escaped.
The two brothers had saved a man being robbed by a
soldier to escape but they were now in trouble. When the
soldier noticed that the man he was robbing his money had
escaped, he went mad and poured his anger and frustration on
the brothers. Meanwhile the other soldier who was also
running after them came to meet the brothers under
interrogation from the mad soldier. “What is the matter with
you?” he roared with a certain notable accent.
“On our way looking for a job, we were confronted by
this soldier. He asked us to enter the bus packed over there.
We were afraid so we ran away,” said Babatunde.
“So you are running away when the law enforcement
officer told you to enter the bus. You mean you have no
respect for him at all?” asked the furious soldier. Babatunde
was about to explain to him when like a flash of lightening a
dirty slap descended across his face. The impact of the slap
pushed him backwards. He was ordered to come forward and
he did. Again he was about to say something when he was
given another severe slap. This time, he fully surrendered to
the soldier to do whatever he wanted without a word.
During that time, Adjani, who was very perplexed, stood
quietly beside his senior brother, without saying a word. The
angry soldier finally handed them over to the armed soldier
who was pursuing the two brothers and he escorted them into
the bus. When they took off, they enquired from the brothers
if they had any money on them.
‘Actually, we were looking for a job when this happened,”
said Babatunde.
The soldier ransacked the brothers’ pockets, but nothing
was found. Some few coins dropped into the bus. Since that
was not what they were looking for, they refused to take them.
Babatunde picked his coins back into his pocket. After about
ten minutes drive, the soldier asked his companions what they
must do with the brothers.
“Let them go, said one of them.”
The bus then came to a halt and the brothers were set
free.

48.
Road of Agony
42
After their ordeal, the brothers didn’t go to look for the
job any longer but went straight home.
How could soldiers or police officers who were supposed
to protect innocent citizens and foreigners rather put on
uniforms to rob and victimised them? The effect of the slaps
he had from the angry soldier produced thick marks across his
face. It was a senseless beating that he didn’t deserve because
he hadn’t done anything wrong. “It’s good this happened to
me but not you,” said Babatunde to his junior brother, for he
really cared much about him.

49.
43
Behind the Steering Wheel Again
As the economy of Nigeria was gradually going down on its
knees, getting a job was a problem. Thus, the easiest job for a
foreigner was driving for those who were looking for drivers
with much experience. Driving in Lagos needed much patience
and experience. Since most of the drivers were illiterates, they
drive dangerously reckless. Babatunde had no choice but to go
into driving once again. He was very lucky to get a job at an
engineering firm. He drove the assistant managing director of
the firm for about six weeks and then the man transferred him
from the office to drive his wife. That was when Babatunde
started reaping problems he had not sowed from the man’s
wife.
Mrs. Alagomeji was a business woman. She had two big
shops in the city. As a typical Yoruba woman married to an
engineer, her pride of travelling abroad many times and her
wealth ruled her character. She had no damn respect for any
one with the exception of her husband and members of her
family According to a co-worker of the firm, Mrs Alagomeji
had changed more than five drivers. Every driver she engaged
to drive her disappeared within few weeks of employment. She
was actually finding it diffcult to get a driver who could
tolerate her nonsense, that was the reason her husband
removed Babatunde from the office to drive her.

50.
Road of Agony
44
She once picked up a quarrel with one of her drivers right
in the middle of the city. The driver who couldn’t take any
more of her nonsense abandoned her in the car and walked
away. He was never seen again. Since she could drive, she
drove herself back home. There was once a misunderstanding
between her and Babatunde she was very angry that she
stepped out of the car and joined a taxi home. The following
day, her husband called Babatunde to explain what happened.
When he had finished speaking, Mr Alagomeji told him that he
should know that the woman was his wife, so whatever
happened and whatever the case may be, he would support his
wife. “So please, take it easy with her,” he concluded.
Babatunde listened to his boss and gave his wife every due
respect. But her bad character caused more conflicts between
her and her drivers. If one wanted a good relationship with his
driver, then he or she must repect the driver; unfortunately,
drivers got no respect from Mrs. Alagomeji. What one gives is
exactly what you will get. Babatunde drove her to the bank one
day. After her transactions, she sat comfortably behind the car
and Babatunde drove from the banks premises to the
immediate junction.
At the junction, he watched both sides of the road and
there were no coming vehicle coming from any direction. He
watched again. It was safe, so he quickly moved to join the
main road. These were common rules of safety every
experience driver followed. As soon as he joined the main
road, a van doing about eighty miles per hour in an area of
forty-five miles per hour suddenly caught up with him. The
speed was too much that, to avoid running into Babatunde’s
car, the driver swerved his van, which resulted in it climbing of
the pavement and crashed into two stationary vehicles.
Behind him, Mrs. Alagomeji screamed and asked him to
stop because he had caused an accident.
“What do you mean by ‘I had caused an accident’?” Asked
Babatunde. Then argument ensued behind the vehicle bewteen
Mrs. Alagomji and him. Unexpectedly, a man standing nearby
who had witnessed the whole incident came closer to Mrs.
Alagomeji and asked her “Why do you have to shout on your
driver to stop? Do you think it was his fault? Is this an express
road for such a terrible speed?” The witness’s questions

51.
Joel Savage
45
embarrassed her so much that she finally told Babatunde to
move the car. In the midst of the crowd watching the accident
scene, he drove away before the police arrived.
It was that very day Babatunde made a decision to quit the
job but thinking of all the difficulties he had been through, he
decided to hold on firmly to his job. Economic reasons and
hardships had forced hundreds of Africans to emigrate from
their countries to neighbouring Nigeria. Due to the huge
number of immigrants, foreigners lost their respect in the eyes
of most Nigerians. The citizens considered foreigners as
thieves and criminals, despite the fact that most of the thieves
and armed robbers caught in any of the states were purely
Nigerians. Also in Ghana, some years back, there was nothing
like armed robbery. Then suddenly it surfaced. The shocking
fact was every armed robber caught appeared to be a Nigerian.
Despite all this, all foreigners are considered thieves in
Lagos. It was the same perception the family of Mr. Alagomeji,
especially his wife, gave Babatunde, even though he had
worked for them for months without any theft record. The sad
part of it all was when she gave her dresses to Babatunde to
take them to the laundry for dry cleaning. A week later, when
he went for collection, he made a big mistake by not cross-
checking to see if the number of the dresses were exactly the
same as he took along.
He foolishly walked away to give the dresses to his boss’s
wife. It was when he gave the dresses to her before he was
made aware that two were missing. He went back to the
laundry to make enquiries but he was told that he didn’t leave
anything behind.
This is ridiculous, he thought, since he didn’t drop anything
when he went for them. At that point Babatunde knew that
the dresses were stolen by the laundry staff themselves, but
how could he explain to his boss’s wife to believe and accept
this explanation when all foreigners were considered as “Ole”
(thieves)? Finally, it was concluded that he had stolen the
dresses to his girlfriend. According to Mrs. Alagomeji, since
she bought those dresses in London and Babatunde can’t
afford to buy them, he was enticed to steal them.
She was very sure of her accusation because at that time,
her friend whose shop assistant was a foreigner, too, had been

52.
Road of Agony
46
arrested for embezzlement and was serving a prison sentence.
When Babatunde couldn’t handle the accusation any longer, he
developed mental frustration. To make matter worse, the
Alagomeji family lost confidence in him, while he was still
fighting to recover as a victim of a situation. There is no need
to continue working for someone who do not trust or like you.
Therefore Babatunde quit his job without giving them any
notice.
While he was having problems with the Alagomeji family
before he stopped working, his brother, Adjani, was also
having his share of problems at where he was working as a
cook for three Indian engineers living in the same flat. For the
past four months, he hadn’t received his salary. He received
information that he was going to be paid soon; unfortunately,
it was only one month’s payment. According to the Indians,
the company they were working for was facing financial
problems. This had adversely affected them, too. But Ajani
didn’t care. He needs his money. He thought three months
salary in arrears and empty promises were enough. He went on
a day’s strike. That morning, the three Indians, when ready to
go to work, found no breakfast on the dining table. Two of
them got angry and ordered Adjani to leave the house.
“How can I leave your house without my money? You
have to pay me first,” said Adjani.
As they were talking to Adjani, Mr Chakroparti, the eldest
among them, saw Babatunde in the house and asked Adjani
who he was. “He is my senior brother,” said Adjani.
“How many times have I told you that visitors are not
allowed in this house?” asked Mr Chakroparti.
“He is my senior brother, I said. If you didn’t hear it
clearly, then I’m repeating,” said Adjani.
Mr Chakroparti, burning with anger, moved towards
Adjani, but Mr. Chopra held him back.
No one knew his intention, but it seemed like he was
ready to test his arms to see if he was still like his youthful
days.
Mr Chakroparti looked at Babatunde’s face and told him
to leave the house.
“Wait a minute,” Adjani told his brother. He walked to his
boss and said, “Let me tell you something. In your country, if a

53.
Joel Savage
47
brother can’t visit his brother, in mine, we do. My brother has
the right to visit me anytime, you stingy men of three who
share a bottle of beer.”
Mr. Chakroparti watched Adjani’s face for a while and
departed into his room. One would never ever understand the
concept behind the way most Indians treat foreigners,
especially blacks. Even though there are black Indians, the
Indians discriminate a lot against Africans.
There was one called Mr. Mattew, who Babatunde helped
for three weeks when he was a driver at the engineering firm.
He cooked his meals. But the stingy man measurd his rice with
a small Vaseline bottle because he didn’t want to share his
meal with anyone. Once, he saw Babatunde tasting his rice to
see if it’s well cooked, and he was angry. As a matter of fact,
Babatunde wasn’t interested in his food. He was not a
vegetarian. Mr. Mattew lived on vegetables and often ate his
rice with fermented yogurt. That’s not the type of dish
Babatunde liked.

54.
48
Living in the Slum
Neighbourhood
Adjani finally left his job and the house his employers provided
him when he thought they were wasting his time. This affected
Babatunde, too, since he had been spending the night at his
brother’s place. There was no available good place immediately
for the brothers to live when Adjani left his job, so they moved
deeper to join other Africans living at the slum make-shift
houses at Ebute-Metta. Ebute-Metta was better than Ijora,
another place in Lagos, where a lot of illegal immigrants were
living and where the two brothers chose to live.
Unlike Ijora, the make-shift houses were built on marshy
stagnant mosquito breeding pools.
In the past, hardly could any citizen go for those types of
houses, but due to accommodation problems, the two brothers
settled together with other foreigners and Nigerians. Viewed
from outside, the scattered unplanned wooden structures
looked very ugly, but inside them were full of surprises. There
were beautiful decorated walls, hanging posters of great
musicians and footballers, television sets, video recorders, and
stereo players. From the wooden ghettos come booming
sound of all kinds of music including high-life and reggae.

55.
Joel Savage
49
Africans, especially Ghanaians and Sierra Leoneans, are
well known for their love of reggae, the music allegedly
carrying a prophetical message, the truth and the light. Reggae
Music originated from Jamaica. That little island in the
Carribean has produced great artists such as Jimmy Cliff,
Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh, Don Carlos, Eric Donaldson,
Desmond Dekker, Joseph Hill, and Culture and host of others.
Adjani, a reggae lover, believed that a prophet in the field of
reggae music had passed away unnoticed and that was Robert
Nester Marley (Bob).
There was a joke that a Ghanaian who was travelling to
Europe picked up all his favourite reggae cassettes, but at the
airport, he realised he had forgotten his passport. Around the
reggae-booming ghettos, all kinds of African foods were for
sale: Kenkey and Banku with okro soup, fried red plantain with
beans, yam, fufu, and other African meals. With all these native
foods available in a foreign land, most of the Ghanaians and
other nationals feel at home.
However, they at times become victims to some of the
duty policemen, who, when one unfortunately walked into
their net, exploited them. When one was accused of any
wrongdoing while these off-duty policemen were around,
hardly would one be taken to the police station. One would be
threatened to “settle” oneself, meaning to pay bribe for one’s
freedom. However, sometimes when you fell into the hands of
the merciless ones and you had no money to pay for your
freedom, they would take you to the police station and put a
charge on you as a wanderer or illegal immigrant.
For example, one midnight, Adjani went out to urinate at
the backyard of the house, since the urinal place was situated
far from the wooden structures serving as sleeping place.
Within a second, he became a victim of two policemen. Adjani
was arrested and taken away without the knowledge of his
senior brother. A woman who sold a locally prepared alcohol
in the neighbourhood saw when the policemen were taking
him away. She therefore screamed in the middle of the night to
call Babatunde. He quickly took some money and raced
outside to “settle” for his brother’s freedom.
Late September 1985, Babatunde decided to fly from
Nigeria to Europe from his hard saved money. At the Tafawa

56.
Road of Agony
50
Balewa Square to buy his air ticket, he sat down for a while and
then changed his mind not to travel. Thinking of all the
hardship and suffering he had gone through, he was scared to
leave his junior brother behind. Instead, he preferred for
Adjani to go first, then he would follow later. One couldn’t
describe the love and affection he had for his junior brother.
For most of the time in his prayers, he would ask God to pro-
tect his brother and if at all anything would happen to Adjani,
that catastrophe should happen to him, Babatunde, instead,
because he knew that he could survive any ordeal better than
his brother. After purchasing his ticket, both of them went to
Eko, the congested trade centre in the heart of Lagos, to buy
some few things he needed for the journey, including a winter
jacket to stand the cold.
In the first week of October, Adjani successfully flew to
Europe, through the famous Murtala Mohammed Airport in
Lagos. After his departure, Babatunde came home to pray for
his brother’s safety and gave thanks to the almighty God, who
made it possible. Adjani’s departure to Europe was a break
through as one of the family’s top priorities. When almost six
weeks he hadn’t heard from him, he became a little worried.
He wasn’t thinking of any misfortune but he thought six weeks
was enough to read from his brother.
Then at the seventh week, unexpectedly came a letter with
two beautiful photographs of his brother, taken on the snow.
The background of the pictures showed that Adjani was
completely in a new world but part of his letter carried a sad
tone. According to him, the shoes were not good enough to
stand the cold, so he suffered frost bite. The cold was too
severe that he had to be treated at the hospital. It was like all
his toes were dead, making him not feel anything at all when
walking.
One would never ever know about the harsh conditions
of Europe until one was there. Actually, he needed a strong
winter boots for the journey, but these were not sold in Africa.
Just few months after his departure, some laws in Nigeria
concerning foreign travel were changed by the Federal
Government, which would have affected Adjani if he had not
travelled out of that country earlier. The Nigerian government
passed a decree that all foreigners living in Nigeria who wanted