MY DUTY TOUR MEMOIRS

  Kaduna the Golgotha The voice. It was very clear. It came drifting towards me, as always, wrapped in a subtle blaze of soft, luminous blue light. It was a mild, alluring sound as of a woodwind instrument. I had barely concluded my early morning contemplation when I heard a mild voice say: “It is time to move on. There are still many challenges ahead; so much yet to learn, and unlearn”.     The voice was emphatic. Very gentle. Quite soothing. Pleasant and reassuring as ever. It was a voice I grew up with. With joyful expectation, I went about the day’s business. But the eagerly awaited tutorial from the Inner Master, which I thought was what the inner voice conveyed to me, did not come. However, I was about closing for the day when Tarki, a very brilliant and intelligent officer who was my Staff Officer (Operations) came into my office. “Sir, there is a staff transfer list from the National Headquarters. You may like to go through it before you close for the ...

  Yola, My Nineveh. Continued… In that precious moment, I knew that nothing would ever go wrong with me. I therefore became so relaxed, without any worries whatsoever.          The bland, insipid voice of the bus conductor stirred me into physical reality as the conductor announced our arrival at the bus stop opposite the Road Safety office complex, Jimeta, Yola. This was after about sixteen long hours of a rough journey, disrupted several times by mechanical faults. As the bus slowed to a halt with a rumble, I remembered the words of Job:                       “But God knows the way that I take. When He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.”   Then began the process of my disembarkation—extrication from the bus. The bus-conductor had to shove and heave some load aside to create enough space to enable me squeeze mysel...

  Yola, My Nineveh         “To Nineveh; yes, to Nineveh through a most inconceivable means. Jonah must go to Nineveh. Who is he that would dare counter the decree of The Most High?” Was it a voice that I heard so clearly or was it a trick of the mind? Could my ears be playing the deceiver? Jonah the prophet was a man given to strong emotions—a wilful man who thought he could justify himself before God. After all my attempts to scuttle the moves to transfer me to Yola failed, I started my preparations to go to Yola. First, I made enquiries on how to get there —the routes and the major towns which I would pass through on my way. However, since I had not been to Yola before, I resolved to go there, first, by public transport. To my dismay, I learnt that there was no commercial transport that transits direct to Yola from Enugu in the day time. If one chooses to travel during the day, he would have to take the journey in phases, first, to Wukari in...