Things out of UI: #TOOUI - More 'Friends' - 2

 What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas?

UI character competition became vile. The University authorities reiterated that the students' education was character and learning. No day did anybody appoint me a Character Policewoman like some students assumed they were. I wouldn't believe what some students did to one another nor the temerity they assumed without recourse to consequence. One of such students was Ifeyinwa Orji, who was close friends with Femi. They both presented themselves as undergraduates students of Communication and Language Arts. 

I met with Ifeyinwa while I squatted with Ms Nwanyieze Aguwa at the White House of Queen Elizabeth Hall. She together with Femi (surname forgotten) was a direct entry undergraduate, that is they joined the University in my Year 2. I would later find out that her grandparents owned a house on Obohia Road, Aba, where I eventually took a letter to her mother - one of my errand beneficiaries. I could start a courier service for the messages I took to Aba from Ibadan and vice versa....

We often chatted and once or so I visited her in her room in the main building of Queen's Hall while someone put me up in the White House. This was in our Year 2. Eventually, when I moved to town, I invited her to move in with me so that we could share the rent and she agreed. I didn't invite her to come along with her boyfriend, which she did. I knew that men visited women in the halls of residence but visitation started at 4pm never earlier except on the weekend, that's Saturdays and Sundays. At this time, Femi and Ify (most students called her) were inseparable, they went nearly everywhere together. When she agreed to live with me, I wasn't in good terms with my roommate who had assumed the role of my boss. Or that of a bully. She carried on as if I were her maid of sorts, leaving the apartment especially the kitchen for me to pick up for her. I endured all with stoicism. Let me digress a little here and talk a little about Ms Emilia Ndali Uzoma.

Emilia Ndali Uzomah: Once, she had made a meal of rice and stew for dinner and invited me to eat. I refused but she and her roommate/squatter Clementina (Tina) encouraged me to eat. I thought nothing of it and got a bowl of rice from Ms Emilia Uzomah. I'm Igbo and Igbos make no bones of hospitality. I thanked her for her magnanimity but refused to eat of her meal afterwards. Ms Uzomah wasn't always nice to Ms Clementina (studying Theatre Arts at UI) so I thought that it was probably because she put her up and learnt my lesson. Ms Uzoma was struggling with her studies but she made time to go to Lagos always on the weekend. She could be gone for a week or more. I thought she stayed somewhere on campus but she denied. I didn't understand why anybody would come to school to be so absent. Sometimes she would make meals of palm nut soup and pounded yam (which I didn't eat) and leave the dirty dishes in the kitchen sink. I helped out once to do her dishes but instead of stopping the embarrassing act, Ms Uzomah continued her annoying habit, leaving the sink unusable. It was on such that I told her that I wouldn't tolerate any more of her bullying and she actually slapped me. I slapped her back and we fought in front of one of her female guests named Ada, a classmate of hers in the Faculty of Law. It was then that I knew that she thought little of me probably because I was young was a student of Igbo and not Law. I was going to study Law but couldn't get in. But that didn't any less of a human being of me. In fact, I studied harder than her. She enjoyed insulting me in front of other people including one of her boyfriends named Mr Charles (surname unknown). 

At that point, I was seeing one Chuks Ebite who was one of her coursemates. Then Mr Ebite had come calling on her but she wasn't around and we got chatting. He asked to be invited in and we got talking thereafter. I had no idea that they were in a relationship. He not she denied any relationship with him. There were other men with her especially Mr Charles but I didn't think that he was lying as he was never mentioned. There was Mr Junior (based abroad) whom she introduced to me as a suitor of hers even thought she had reservations because he was younger than her. Anyway, it wasn't my place to tell a woman how many men to see or sleep with me. Ms Emilia Uzomah hailed from Oguta, Imo State but often visited with her alleged sister and brother-in-law (the Head of Service) at Umuokahia village, Obingwa LGA. Ms Clementina moved into UI campus, to Awolowo Hall in her 400 Level, that's her final year. I had to attend a meeting (I belonged to a few student groups such as ANUNSA, UCJ, SOCAP, etc) once in Awolowo Hall and met her there. While Ms Uzomah and I tried to patch up our relations after the fight and even went together (to our landlady's son, a doctor with UCH) to talk about the increase in our rent (after Ms Ifeyinwa Orji had come and gone), we never really shared confidences anymore. It was fine by me. I think I was the one who apologized to her but I made sure that I never forgave such insolence from her. I never went peddling gossip about people. Except a person's life affected me in anyway, I never made it an issue to ask about them or discuss them with other people.

Ifeyinwa Orji: I had asked for permission to bring Ms Orji to live with me from the female caretaker of the building. I didn't collect any money from her. She stayed with me but I found her often going to discuss with Ms Uzomah whenever she was around. I didn't stop her because I had intimated her on the strained relationship between her and me. I wasn't worried about her disloyalty as people could make friends with whomever they wanted. However, I noted that it wasn't going to be to my liking to continue to live with her. One fateful day, I had customarily left for UI campus to attend lectures and Ms Ifeyinwa Orji had done the same. I would return before noon to pick up something from the house to meet a rather disturbing sight. Ms Orji was dressed in just her blue wrapper tied on her chest and Mr Femi (a fair skinned Yoruba man) was in his white singlet lying in my bed. I didn't think that it was a responsible sight to have seen. Mr Femi (surname forgotten or Adigun, if I'm not mistaken) lived in Ibadan and I didn't know why they couldn't retire to his place of residence. There was a motel next door too, which wouldn't be their first thought, either. He later dressed up and eventually left. I asked Ms Orji what was going on and she said that he wasn't feeling well and needed a bed rest. I had thought it was the last straw. I told her that she was to seek alternative accommodation and asked her to stop bringing him around. Within this period, my boyfriend had stopped coming regularly unlike before. Ms Ifeyinwa continued her treachery. On one of such days, I was on the bed tidying up an assignment when she went to pick up a bucket of water, which she boiled with my boiling ring. The handle of the bucket gave way and the water poured on the ground and destroyed my books. I couldn't bring herself to apologize for the seeming accident. I became resolved in my decision that she was to leave. I had allowed her excesses as I never made any sexual overtures to her nor did I maltreat her. I allowed her use of my personal belongings like the boiling ring, my bed or my reading table. I didn't ask her to give her Ibadan-based boyfriend a free chalet paid by me or a free sick bay. I could do with my money what I wanted. It really bothered me why the couple wouldn't live together or use their own space. Mr Femi wasn't a poor student, I didn't wish him so. For all I knew, there were several Ibadan-based students who still rented accommodation at Agbowo, Barika or Orogun. Nobody had to tell me how to be sane. Maybe I wasn't tough enough or was really stupid in pinching pennies, thinking that I was saving to stage the drama that I was developing at the time called Havana Blues (in which I had adopted the pseudonym Ijeoma Nwanyichi). Nwanyichi was a (pet) name from my maternal grandmother and wasn't quite common an Igbo name. If she went into school to see my boyfriend or friend with benefits of nearly two years, Chuks Ebite, at Independence Hall, nobody intimated the possible treachery to me . Such a traitor. Why did some people come to school? To cause trouble for unsuspecting members of the school community? There were many such ill-advised and ill-fitting persons in the University of Ibadan community. Demons and traitors!

Ms Orji, who's allegedly from Anambra State, I learnt on the grapevine was able to find alternative accommodation but still had issues with her hosts over there. It was only on that basis that I felt relieved that I had asked her to leave. I wouldn't have been happy with myself otherwise even though I was really happy that I had endured enough of my own insolence to myself. I didn't get the orientation that make roommates bed mates, whether or not they shared a room. I didn't bunk to f#ck. I made friends with everybody but I was more than happy to choose with whom I played in the hay. Haba. Must I attend a school of permissiveness and indulgence to show 'appreciation' for every human interaction? Ms Orji, to her credit, never complained to me nor did I learn my sins from anybody. But I knew it must have something with me not being 'nice', whatever what would mean, my people. Mr Femi and I graduated UI same year, but I believe that Ms Orji had hitches and probably concluded her studies afterwards. I didn't ask anybody about her. I hope it had nothing to do with me because I never reported her supposed villainy to anybody of consequence except to a few class mates of mine who wondered why she was staying with another schoolmate of ours. I came ready with my side of the story.

Ozioma Okereke: I shared a room with Ms Ozioma Okereke in our final year but she had a campus room in Queen Elizabeth Hall where she lived with Mrs Ejiofo Amaka, of the same Linguistics & African Languages. Ms Okereke and I weren't close friends even though we often exchanged pleasantries on the UI campus whenever we crossed paths. After the rent increment at Fadeyi Street, which I didn't think was in my best interest to pay, I searched for alternative accommodation at Agbowo and Bodija. I was determined not to return to residence at Idia Hall even though I paid the mandatory accommodation fee of N90. It wasn't in my best interest to revisit the hostilities of hostel life at Idia Hall. I would have been tempted with Queen's Hall as an option. In asking around, I discovered that Ms Okereke how had hitherto lived off campus wanted to live on campus her final year, or 400 level, I asked her if I could rent her space. She intimated to me her intention to reserve her off campus residence even though she would be moving into the campus that school year. We later agreed to share the rent and that meant that she had use of the room even when I wasn't around. I paid half of the rent, which she gave to Baba, our Muslim landlord. For the most part, all was well except that I found my master script of Havana Blues missing from the room afterwards. I informed her of my loss and her reply was that she didn't know anything about it. To the best of my knowledge, she was the only person who had legal right to the room and had a spare key. I was about staging the play in January, 2004.

However, the most embarrassing experience with Ms Okereke was the incident with one of her close associates named Obioma. Like with Mr Chukwuemeka Ebite and Ms Ndali Uzomah, I wasn't snatching. The men just like to do and clean mouth. Of course, no money was ever exchanged but the experience just showed how low in character Nigerian people were. Obioma was an Igbo man (I was made to believe) who frequented the building visiting with another Igbo man who lived in the building. The place Ms Okereke made home was a small room that was situated right before the main door to the communal housing environment. The only window in the room opened to the Landlady's shop where she often quarreled with her children nearly every morning. I saw Oba o. Our room wasn't behind the main door and provided opportunity to gain entrance into it without knocking on the main door that guarded the other about eight or so rooms. It was most suited for a man or a security detail. I thought it was a reckless place for a woman to reside but it provided a place of residence at the time. It was relatively cheap and provided me more 'pocket money.' Silly idea, though.

Obioma came calling on a man who worked with the IITA at Moniya, or so I was I told but lived at Agbowo with his young family. However, on some occasions I had returned from school to find Ms Okereke and Mr Obioma (surname unknown) who was an alumnus of the University of Jos, Plateau State on my mattress playing. It reminded me of the scene with Mr Solomon Kanu at Fadeyi Street. Whatever were Igbo men looking for in the jean trousers of Igbo women in Ibadan? Mr Obioma was making passes at her but she wasn't always responsive to him. He was good looking and fair in complexion. I thought he was fine but I would later despise him for his hypocrisy. I often left the room afterwards leaving the duo behind. On one occasion, I later asked Ms Okereke why she was reluctant to listen to his entreaties and she replied that he wasn't her type of man. Ms Okereke almost always slept in Queen's Hall. I couldn't recall any night that she slept over at Kajola Street, Agbowo while I was around. However, she told me on a few occasions when I travelled to Lagos State that she passed the night at Agbowo, whether she was alone or with a company I didn't find out. This was 2003/2004. Once, Mr Obioma, who I was told was sourcing visa to travel abroad for medical treatment, came looking for Ms Okereke in her absence. I informed him that she was in Queen's Hall but he asked to come in. I can't recall if I gave him a drink of water or not. His friend from IITA had moved to Moniya some weeks or months earlier. In the darkness of Agbowo, our conversation went off the record and I lost my mind. We decided that we had acted inappropriately even though Ms Okereke had assured me that there was no love lost between them. A few days later, Ms Okereke and I met on campus and she asked me about the incident at Agbowo. Who had gone preaching to the birds? Mr Obioma had come to Queen's Hall to report Ms Okereke to her roommate and class mate Mrs Ejiofo Amaka (according to Ms Okereke) that while he had been on Ms Okereke to give in to his love pleas I was happy to accept his passes. I was disgusted with myself. God forbid. I had imagined him serious about his entreaties to me. I didn't run after him and never knew his residence to this day. But it was no reason to have let him win with me. I wasn't running a brothel but I had hoped that it was going to be a serious relationship with him. I should have played hard to get with that loud mouth. What was so special with Ms Okereke or her sanctimonious attitude? I wished that she had entertained her jerk of a man at Queen's Hall without bring him to my room. I was of course disappointed that Ms Okereke who made out with him in our bedroom was talking the 'holier than thou' sermon. I bit the bullet and apologized to her, promising her that I wouldn't speak to the mouse again. I didn't ever have occasion to speak to the loud mouth, Mr Obioma, to ask him what was the occasion of his ejaculation. I was miffed that it was another opportunity for me to be low in character and have people tattle on me like children. Lesson learnt. I never got my Havana Blues manuscript back and never got to know who had possession of it. The hide and seek continued... the quest for the most prolific single lady/undergraduate with the best character at the University of Ibadan.

....to be continued.