Getting Stronger III

PUNCH LINE: so I stumbled on this quote this week and thought to share;

“Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.”






A huge apology to everyone for delaying this post for this long, let’s owe it to network, busy schedule and any other thing I can blame it on. E ma binu (don’t be angry)


Okay, so, after the last post, I actually discovered that some of those girls I admired had been wearing our ‘selection’ also, unbelievable! I had no idea that ‘certain’ people visited our ‘joint’ until the confessions started rolling in just last week, haba! and you kept an innocent girl hiding from the world, na wa o.

Now, back to my story! Like I said, those hot chicks scatted with 3 of my shirts each and they kept telling of how beautiful they were. They told me they were ready to give me money anytime I was going home so I could get some for them, that’s how I became a business woman but that one is story for another day, let’s talk about ‘oga at the top’ and his reaction to the new ‘me’.

It was during the Christmas break I went home. As I was starting to feel more confident with myself, I didn’t see any need to go to his place to tell him I was around, if he called, he would know. I got home and started feeling on top of the world. Everyone noticed the change but I could not explain it to them, who would understand that it was ‘okirika’ clothes that got me excited? I was so into myself, so confident and actually started feeling beautiful while rocking my ‘favourite selection’ of clothes. You wouldn’t believe what my confidence level led me into doing, selling stock fish!

Okay, the story is, my sweet sweet mother being a retired civil servant, needed to do something to at least make some money. She decided to go into the sales of our popular ‘okporoko’ (stock fish). She would buy in bulk, tie into smaller pieces and sell. I got home and we decided to re-brand the packaging by naming it ‘Big Mama Stockfish’, sealing it and selling. I, who happened to be newly rebranded, felt bold enough to take up the challenge of selling this delicious fish (by the way, if you know okporoko, you will know how badly it stinks). I woke up that Monday morning, wore my ever available and gorgeous bend-down selects ( oh yes, I can boldly call the name now), proudly carried my Bagco bag with loads of stockfish in it, and off I went to United Bank of Africa in Ikeja to sell. I stepped in, smiled brightly, walked up to the customer care and asked to see the manager. This was how the conversation ensued:

"I want to see the manager"

“Why do you want to see him“

“Errm (okay, so I stuttered a little) I have a business proposition for him”

“Where from?”

“I’m a student of Obafemi Awolowo University and ‘we’ have a product we think you all might be interested in.”

“Hmmm, OAU, I finished from there, Great Ife! (I tell you, beyond being a school, OAU is a door opener *winks*) Can I see, since you said ‘you all’?” (the man was a little too nosy sha)

“No problem, as long as the security can allow me bring it in”

He told the security man to allow me bring in my ‘goods’ and I did. The whole bank immediately started smelling of our famous product; thank God it was almost the close of the day.

I immediately brought them out, explained how hygienic it was as it had been sealed. Further explained how it was all fish as opposed to the bones we usually found in the market. To cut the long story short, my stock fish didn’t get to the manager, the customer care officers and tellers bought them all! Now let’s not go into how much I was told to sell them and how much I eventually sold them, some of ‘them’ bankers I sold to might stumble on this blog and I might get arrested. Oh, I was supposed to be talking about ‘oga at the top’.

Okay, so I eventually got a call from a very angry ‘oga at the top’. He was so mad at me. How dare I return home and not come to ‘mark attendance’ in his house? I didn’t even call to let him know I was around, he heard from someone else. Okay, I must admit, I got kinda scared and that was why I ‘jogged’ down to his house the following day, having told my sis I was going to church or something *covering face*. I got to his house and started apologizing. I was back to the very beginning. I don’t know how he does it, but that guy has his way of always making me feel inadequate no matter how far I had gone. He said he was so angry at me and since I had decided to prove stubborn, he had given one of those hot University 'chickens' a chance in his life. Can you imagine! Has this guy forgotten I was now a university chic myself? And was he actually telling me he was cheating on me with one of ‘them’ hot chicks I was actually giving clothes to wear? Oh hell! I got so pissed, folded my arms, hissed and walked out. He kept screaming:

“Lolade (that’s my first name by the way), come back here, come back here now! If you don’t come back now, forget about me”

I turned back and surprised myself when I said:

“Good riddance to bad rubbish”

Where did I even learn the word and did I just say that to ‘oga’? I wanted to turn back and apologize, but when I saw the surprised look on his face, I was actually happy. That was the best emotion I had ever gotten from him. That guy had done a lot to me, some I cannot say on this platform. But that day, the 20th of December 2010, I gained my freedom.

As they say, the journey to freedom is ‘a journey’ indeed. That was the beginning of the journey for me.

Where I was then and where I am now, a lot has happened to challenge the core of my existence but I am glad for where I am today. The journey hasn’t ended, I’m still me, I’m still alive and I’m still here. Wait till my next post, and then you’ll understand what I’m talking about.

So, to the things I did this week, actually, the things some of my students did. Enjoy…