Tales of a Keke Passenger From Opolo to Ekeki by Victor Oroyi – Episode 3 | This Complaining Passenger

Tales of a Keke Passenger From Opolo to Ekeki by Victor Oroyi - Episode 3 | This Complaining Passenger

Tales of a Keke Passenger From Opolo to Ekeki by Victor Oroyi – Episode 3 | This Complaining Passenger

This is episode 3 of  online short story series Tales of a Keke Passenger from Opolo to Ekeki written by Victor Oroyi titled This Complaining Passenger.  Have a great read.

Yenagoa, is a cosmopolitan city and serves as the political headquarters of Bayelsa Sate since its creation in 1996. As a city, it has become a place where various ethnic groups in Nigeria now converge for different purposes and plays a major role during political activities.  Now, that is the reflection on this drive, when  two passengers joined the keke and a lady I earlier pictured along the ride.

A late start for me today, the Mbiama-Yenagoa Road appeared scanty with less human traffic this Tuesday at about an hour to noon. Not in an hurry to get to the office, I decided to take my time to find a good and healthy keke.

I had a miracle N500 note. I did not want to waste my time nor the rider or passengers so the first keke that stopped voluntarily, I said, Ekeki, showing him the note, you get change, I asked. The rider nods in the negative without any verbal exchange and rides off. I didn’t mind his attitude as I stepped backwards to find another one.

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Immediately, another stops and I asked same question; the rider opens at the right side of his pigeon hole before he raises his head to look at one of the passenger at the back who said, na 1k dey my hand.

The rider looks at him with a frown, turns to me and said Oga, no change. At this point, holding the keke by its rod, I let it off to find another.

About three other keke drivers passed without me flagging them down. A rider slows down towards my direction after overtaking another but I didn’t care to look at him as he already had three passengers at the back. He drove off since I did not make any attempt to come to his direction.

No rush, no hurry, and I am patient to find a good ride this time. At this time of the day, the passenger is ‘king’ and is allowed to make choices. Keke riders are looking for any available passenger due to low human traffic at this time.

After a few minutes, I flagged down one that stops about 7 steps away from me, just as I take steps towards it, another keke stops in front of me, I ignore it and move quickly to the one, I had stopped.

So, after asking the question, ‘Ekeki… you get change‘, the rider nods his head in the affirmative, I enter. I am the only passenger, the ride was quite lonely, just like the previous episode, not till something caught my attention at Ebis junction, located between Biogbolo and Yenezue-gene communities.

Ebis junction is quite popular junction in Biogbolo Community. For me, it provides the best Amala spot in town. It houses the former JTF headquarters and the Ayakpo Group of Schools.

I saw someone on top of a small truck called Dyna washing it with an inscription Dyna for Sale. Looking closer, I saw the person with the long natural strings of woven wool hair dropping down the head, I wondered if this is a guy wearing a woman hairdo?

No. I thought wrong, the person is a female, she is standing on the roof top of the driver’s area of Dyna and giving it a thorough wash just before Ebis junction.

Indeed, Nigerians are hustlers and if you don’t relent, you will find what to eat. Your gender is not an excuse for failure. I am extremely grateful to have met women in Yenagoa with great success stories in their chosen path of endeavor even in male-dominating space.

However, I found myself suddenly thinking, when will Bayelsa State produce the first female deputy governor owing to a statement from Governor Douye Diri speaking to his counterpart from Rivers State, Sim Fubara, when the latter paid him a New Year visit in Sampou.

Rivers State has produced two female deputy governors successively; let that political climate also affect Bayelsa politics after his renewed tenure of four years in 2028. Just like this lady on roof top of the Dyna, let the Bayelsa women climb to the highest political office at least the office of the deputy governor. I don’t know, if the lady I saw is Bayelsan but she gave me the picture that the Bayelsa woman needs to climb up the political ladder.

The first set of passengers, entered at Erepa junction. One of them just keeps complaining from his entry until we get to Ekeki, where I alighted. His complains ranges from the price of goods in the market, the attitude of his fellow workmen, to his Oga and finally his phone.

Their variance of the pidgin English is different; trying to figure out which part of Nigeria they are from. There are different variance of Pidgin English in Nigeria. I thought, they were middle-belt people precisely from Kogi State, because they sound like my friend from Kogi. They call him Kogi in the area.

After lamenting about John, who always comes around whenever he has customers in the shop, he went on lamenting about the pricing and bargaining for jobs during competitive bidding and then how his Oga treats him whenever they go out for job and his bad phone. He code switched to his native dialect of Efik or could it be Ibibio. They are South-South people, reflecting the cosmopolitan status of Yenagoa.

Indeed, the actions of people gets to us and affects our relationship with them; and learning to treat each other right will help build strong lasting relationships. Avoiding toxicity in our relationships will promote healthy competition at our business places.

Mental health comes in different forms just as my co-passenger is today, he is truly disturbed with the attitude of people around him. In Nigeria, even across the best world economics, the times are not smooth sail, therefore at our micro level, we should learn to accommodate ourselves and provide support rather than bringing pain and sorrow to others.

With the lady at the roof top of Dyna, gender is not an excuse to reach greater heights, and we should learn to treat each other right for a healthy mind in order to achieve success in our business environment.

Hope you enjoyed this episode 3 of the online short story series Tales of a Keke Passenger from Opolo to Ekeki written by Victor Oroyi titled This Complaining Passenger.  See you in the next episode.

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