A fictional representation of Leadership Crisis in Nigeria

3. A Boring Landscape 

From the junction right there at Oghenyen Road, Idumhebor, his eyes were momentatily riveted by a view of the Baneke Central Market. It was nested on several acres across from Mission Road. He also saw behind the market structures, the palace and its colonnades he remembered were thought to be the tallest of any palace in Bendel state. But the streets were almost empty of people. Baneke was shapeless and colourless.

He had already noticed this flatness during his travel. He remembered now as he looked at the empty streets. Most of the towns and villages he had traversed were scantily populated. But Baneke was the worst of all now. He hadn't found people except in the school he passed along the way. Only a few Ogogoro sellers and their clients in dingy shacks were to be seen along the streets. Yes, in some dilapidated houses that appeared to be colonial structures, he saw some people too. Those houses were reminiscent of the strong sturdy houses of the British in the years gone by.

What has happened to Baneke? he thought as he looked on in the town before his eyes. Baneke was full of old houses and ruins. There was no sign of electricity. And bushes had claimed much of the roads.

Ekoyata knew that he had not been to Baneke before. This was his first visit to the birthplace of his father in his twenty-eight years of life. Still, he knew that his hometown was supposed to be an old social landscape, a modern ancient city, judging from history. At the time when nearly twelve thousand African polities were amalgamated into about fifty colonies and protectorates about a century before, Baneke was slotted a district headquarters favour in one division. It was later recognized among the first towns of the elites in the country. Historical accounts said that Baneke was already developed even before the independence in nineteen sixty, as the colonial government already built many houses there, as well as schools, a stadium, a dispensary, and even delineated a GRA. Saint Benedict Primary School was founded in nineteen zero six.

That was the glowing memory Ekoyata had of Baneke as he prepared for the trip to his hometown. But now, as he stood in front of the ramshackle clay house belonging to his father in the town, he only realised that the historical accounts crafted about Baneke was a heavy dose of disappointment.

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