Mbaitoli is dying and Ihedioha is staring at the clouds. Mbaitoli receives 200 million monthly from Abuja. The poor folks in Orodo won’t ordinarily ask questions. But the most important roads in Mbaitoli are crumbling. And it’s taking a hard toll on their miserable lives.

A new Inspector General comes. He reels out new codes. He announces  the illegality of fixed police checkpoints.

The vice president came and came again. I watched him fly in helicopters. Whenever he came I  heaved a sigh and hoped. But this must be how cities die.

The vice president came and came again. I watched him fly in helicopters. Whenever he came I heaved a sigh and hoped. But this must be how cities die. Perhaps, like human beings.

Long ago, during the Maurice Iwu days, I once went to my village to vote. On election morning, I  went to the polling unit beside my family house. I met a bemused presiding officer and two other officials. Some people clustered around them.

Rivers once had a great   football team. The Sharks of Port harcourt was a household name. Sharks had bite. Adokiye Amiesimaka , the chief justice ,   was as sharp as   a tooth can be, on the wings. Sharks played in the deep waters of national football. They   played in the elite division. They were FA Cup finalists three times, most notably in 1979. They won the WAFU cup in 2010.

Wole Soyinka birthed an agency that took pride in being different. That agency has grown , absorbed all the evils in its father’s house, and gone wayward.

It happens everywhere in Nigeria. And all the time.You reach the airport. And you have to use the toilet. You reach the toilet. And there are some young men loitering there. They welcome you with effusive greetings. The sort of greetings you know you may have to pay for in Nigeria. They  hang around with rolls of tissue paper in their hands. You think nothing of their gaze that lingered on you. You jump into the toilet. There is no tissue paper there.

It happens everywhere in Nigeria. And all the time. You reach the airport. And you have to use the toilet. You reach the toilet.

Mbaitoli is dying and Ihedioha is staring at the clouds.  Mbaitoli receives 200 million monthly from Abuja. The poor folks in Orodo won’t ordinarily ask questions. But the most important roads in Mbaitoli are crumbling.  And it’s taking a  hard toll on their miserable lives.