Chapter 11

He hung up…I saw him go to the front of the stage…Toun looked at me surprised…

Timi started..

"Greatest Nigerian students!"

"great!" students replied

"greatest Gbo Gbo"

"Gbo Gbo", they replied

"greatest gba gba"

"Gba Gba" they replied

'Greatest shhhhhhhhhh"

"shhhhhhhhh"…

There was pin drop silence…then Timi started talking.

Most students wanted to hear what Timi had to say, they knew National, they knew Abayomi…they knew Timi was associated with a candidate, they wanted to hear what he had for them

"I am standing here not on behalf of myself but on behalf of people who really want change in this school. I am not going to sugar-coat any words or give promises, I will tell you about this people and why they deserve a chance to serve you."

With the silence in the hall, you could hear if two mosquitoes were straffing..

"what is the biggest problem we face as a student body?…some of you say security, others say hostels..etc..you are not far from it, but we think the biggest problem we face as a student body is the right to be a student of this great institution. We are all seated in this auditorium…but how many of us have completed the payment of our fees?. Many brilliant people among us have no idea if they would be allowed to write the examinations due to non-payment of fees, the economy of Nigeria is bad, our parents are doing their best…but some of them can't afford it because it is too expensive"

A couple of "yes"…"beeni"..could be heard.

"this is 2007, you are still being forced to buy books that are free online, this is 2007, the campus doesn't have a wireless network, even schools not as prestigious as this have that!"

Students started clapping

"If with the limited resources provided to you, you guys can still excel tremendously in your various fields, imagine if you had the required resources!"

Students were on their feet..clapping in unision

" imagine if you didn't have to worry about excessive school fees only about your studies and exams!"

"solidarity forever…." Hymns started in the background

"imagine if everybody was free to roam the streets of Ago-iwoye, ijebu-oru and ijebu-igbo anytime, because the school has its own police station, roaming the streets …providing security"..

I didn't know what Timi had smoked to the lecture hall…but he was on fire

"lemme tell you about somebody, when we were in 100L, during Chemistry practical exams, we had limited amount of Petri-dishes and conical-flasks…the department said there was nothing they could do about it until they got resources from the school, so the exams was to be post-poned.., an anonymous student went to Lagos that very afternoon and by the next day, brought this items for the chemistry-lab. This is not hear say…this student gave me the items to deliver myself"

Many students remembered the episode but when the items were brought in, they had imagined the school had rescued them. Ofcuz I remembered the episode…

"National and his colleagues held this mic some minutes ago to address you, what they didn't know was that this wonderful mic that we use today without saying "testing testing 123" like before was provided by a student anonymously, when the department started dragging their feet on getting a new one"

Astonishing looks spread across the hall

"though this person would like to remain anonymous…I refuse to let it remain so!"

The students started clamouring "Yes! Yes! Yes!"

"I present to you a girl, who has never waited for people to hand her things, but have instead provided things for people…for the hungry…she gave food…for the distressed she gave a listening ear…and for the dancers…if you were with us on Saturday she gave music!"

People started laughting..

"and most especially…her most important gift…was her love. She is running as the vice-president for Abayomi… I present to you Ms Tana Dike!"

The applause was so loud, i didn't hear on time that my name was being chanted…