Some of us would have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death over and over again before we get to the mountain top of our heart desires.” Said Nelson Mandela.
For me, the pursuit of a university degree brought me face-to-face with the reality of that valley.
I was a Yoruba man with no knowledge of the language or lifestyle of the northerners. But my desperation for a university degree and the limited admission spaces in the Southwest pushed me to Maiduguri.
I arrived Maiduguri in the wake of Boko Haram insurgency. My first trip to Maiduguri was by road. As the rainforest of the Southwest Nigeria paved the way for the Sahel Savannah soil of the North, the fear of the unknown began to grip me. I was going to a people of strange language and tongue; a people so firm in belief and rugged in disposition. But my confidence was that God was always involved. That was the greatest confidence I had. After a 23-hour all-night journey, I arrived Maiduguri. The climate was arid, the land was hot and there was heavy military presence.
One Thursday night, in my third year, I returned home around 9pm and I was so tired that I retired to bed immediately. At 12am, a loud and reverberating explosion woke me up. Scared, I leaped to my feet and turned to my roommate, “What was that?” He replied: “Explosion; and that was the fifth explosion tonight. There have been explosions since 11pm.”
Cold shivers ran through my spine. It is one thing to read of terrorism on the pages of newspaper or watch it on television. It is another thing to witness it live. I sat quietly at my reading table and listened patiently as sounds of gunshots collided with that of armoured tanks. I stayed awake till 4am when the sounds of gunshots and explosions subsided. Despite the all-night explosions, my exams scheduled for 8am that morning still held. Then, I learnt that insurgents’ attacks or explosions do not change any schedule. One is expected to adapt and survive.
My closest shave with death was when I travelled along Potiskum-Damaturu Highway on my way to Maiduguri in my second year. As usual, it was an all-night journey and at around 6.50am, our bus collided with a trailer fully loaded with cement. Heaven and earth stood at a standstill as we struggled for life. Though the accident was ghastly but the snare broke and I escaped.
The Maiduguri sandstorm, heat and cold are difficult experiences that shatter every prejudice and open a man up to a new reality entirely.
There are days hell overflows its boundaries and its excesses spill on the earth. March 14, 2014 was one of such days. I was taking breakfast at around 7.50am when the first Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) ever landed on the soils of the university. I turned to my other two room-mates and said, “That grenade landed right on this campus.” My second room-mate, Philip Jude screamed, “Taiwo, Idris, prepare!” We scrambled for our credentials, money and phones. As we stepped out of the house, another grenade landed about five buildings away from our house. We froze. My heart leapt. We immediately positioned ourselves at various corners around the house to know the direction of the terrorists’ advance before we know which direction to flee to. While we waited for a face-to-face encounter with Boko Haram, the Nigerian military fighter jets arrived and ended the tyranny of the insurgents.
Time and space would fail me to tell of the occasional and sudden mid-night explosions around the university community that were constant threats to the very life I live and many of my narrow escapes from death.
Despite all these tough times, I excelled in my studies and made an impact through my youth development programmes in secondary schools and orphanages in Maiduguri and other cities in Nigeria. I brought the university to limelight by representing her at conferences and workshops. I won laurels in essay writing, public speaking and through several of my social works. I was nominated for awards and granted offers and opportunities by various companies and organisations, both nationally and internationally. To crown it all, my final year project research in Medical Sciences was accepted for publication on merit by the International Organization of Scientific Research in its next journal.
It was not all rough as I had many exciting moments in Medical College and during fellowships and mentoring sessions with my mentees. All my northern friends were loyal to me. Many of them crossed the barriers of religion and tribe and stood by me, most especially Idris Suleiman, Philip Jude and Blessing Samuel. I learnt many things about these wonderful people from the northern part of the country. My intermediate comprehension of the Hausa language is a testament to my immersion in the culture of the people. My love for kunugeida remains matchless.
A few weeks ago, as I was walking out of Medical College as a graduate of Human Anatomy, I knew I had walked through the den of lions and I’d survived. It’s not natural; it’s simply supernatural. The cake was worth the candle.
Taiwo has just graduated from
Human Anatomy, UNIMAID