Read Story: The University Village – Season 1 Episode 1

The street was lone and void of people who normally tour the route to their various destinations. This was quite unusual considering the influx of students and indigens who frequents the ever busy stadium road, which serves as a pathway to other areas of the town.

Femi thought to himself. Suddenly, he saw a human figure from afar approaching towards his direction, and without the use of rocket science, his modus operandi interpreted her to be a female. The closer she walked towards him, he was able to get a clearer view of her physique. The beautiful young lady was walking majestically with a well calculated step, notwithstanding the restless wind which stroke her hair from side to side. Her beauty had totally captured his attention, Femi felt butterflies in his stomach. A thousand thought crossed through his mind in a split second, he resolved to making an attempt towards knowing her as a brilliant idea popped into his head.

Coincidentally, the lady kept staring at him as she walked closer as though they had known each other from time past, and just few inches before she walked passed him, Femi swerved into her pathway startling her, she was obviously taken by surprise.

They both halted, gazing at each other frantically into the eyes without uttering a word. Suddenly, she attempted moving aside until she was interrupted again as Femi kept blocking every of her move. This routine lasted for a while before she succumbed to his game while giving him an inquisitive stare.

It was a beautiful morning. The atmospheric condition was relatively cold prior to an heavy downpour that fell a day before.

After several tossing and turning, Femi had finally woken up from sleep, he stared at the wall-clock located at the centre corner of his room and the time reads 11:35am. He heaved a sigh of relief, and had a flashback as he began reminiscing about his stressful journey to school the previous day.

Femi had boarded a public transportation bus from check-point in Okene at 5pm. The vehicle later developed mechanical problem along the Adogo-Ajaokuta Road as it began to overheat. The driver who was the first to observe heat protruding from the engine of the vehicle had informed the passengers as he parked along the side of the Road. He made to open the engine cover and after several trials and errors, he discovered that the fan belt of the vehicle had become cut. He looked around him from where he could sought for help, just then he realized that they were stucked in the middle of nowhere. The highway was surrounded with bushes on both sides. There was nobody on sight, no houses and most importantly, no mechanic workshop nearby. Then, it dawned on him that they were gonna be around for a while. The driver went back to inform his passengers about the development, telling them he would need to locate the nearest village, in orded to inquire where he could find a mechanic workshop from where he intended to buy a new fan-belt. This didn’t go down well with the passengers as most of them made some inflammatory remarks, considering that actual time and when they would eventually arrive at their destinations. The driver, however, pleaded with them not to be upset and asked for volunteers who would accompany him as they embark on that ultimate search.

Atleast four men attached to the vigilante group had reprimanded them on their way, pointing torchlight to their faces, which brought their journey to a sudden halt.

“Hold it right there, and step down!” One of the men fired.

The okada man obeyed, and parked his bike, he walked towards them while Femi and the mysterious lady followed him slowly at his back.
“Where una dey come from by this time?” He enquired with a straight face.

“Sir, I’m just performing my duty as a bikeman.” The okada man blurted, but before he could speak further, a thunderous slap landed on his face. The sound of the slap sent cold shiver passing through the veins of the lady, as she almost urinated on herself. Femi was shocked, but as a man, he decided to keep cool.

“You no answer my question, you com dey blow grammer for me.. Na you go school pass abi?” The vigilante fired back without expecting a response.

“Agba oo… Agba!!, Abeg I be una pikin, make una no vex, na these two people say make I carry dem from unity square.” He said pointing to Femi and the lady while holding his face using his other hand. The okada man must’ve wooed them with the little igala dialet he had spoken, because immediately he said that, they practically let him be, and then focused on Femi and his counterpart.
“Oya make una two come here!”

Another of the vigilante men said with a tone of command. “Wetin be time now?” He added asking none of them in particular.

Femi looked at his wristwatch to check the idea of time, and it was after the hour of ten. It’s a norm in the town for people not to be caught wandering or lurking about at night, otherwise, the person(s) may either be apprehended by the vigilante or another group of security forces dubbed “Enter Bus.”

This is as a result of incessant criminal activities and burglary being perpetuated by unsuspecting hoodlums, especially at a region, called the back of NTA. Femi then told them that himself and the Lady were travelling together, before their vehicle got spoilt on the way, still, his lamentations fell on deaf ears.

Femi was a 200L student, studying sociology and anthropology, in the prestigious kogi state university. He was good-looking, tall, dark in completion, with a well built body coupled with a nice facial beard.
At about 12:00pm, his mind transported back to reality. A gleaming sunlight suddenly illuminated his room prompting him to blink his eyelid in reaction to the beaming sun. Femi lived alone in a self-contain apartment, he decided not to have a roommate for confidential reasons. He had a queen-sized mattras on the southern flank of his room, a portable reading table and chair, a trolley, a mini-generator, an L.G home-theater, and a blue rug which was also the same colour of the room. He was quite comfortable staying alone but something was missing, he didn’t have a stable girlfriend, as he preferred ‘sampling’ eventhough he never considered himself a player. In his words, he was yet to meet that particular girl who would turn him into a loverboy.
It was a season of new things; a new year, a new beginning, a new academic session and a need for new restitutions. On new-year eve, Femi was at home with his family members.
His parents and siblings were preparing for church where they intended to break into the new year, but Femi choosed to remain at home. He had never liked attending church with his family, simply because his parents attended a small church which was monopolized mainly by elderly people.

They soon bundled into the family Sienna car and left him at home. After a while, he started feeling guilty when his conscience began to judge him.

Femi had to search for his long forsaken bible from wherever he might have kept it, he later found the bible inside his luggage. He waited fervently for the blink of the new year, so that by then, he must’ve escaped most of the church programmes, since his initial plan was only to break into the new year in any bible believing church.

The nigerian university environment is a perfect place where clusters of people from different facet of life are found on a daily basics. If you’re probably wondering what a fake birthday means, this concept is almost self explanatory, except for the fact that it’s done out of frivolity and obsession with social madness. If you’re still confused, then your guess is as good as mine.

Bishop was a final year student, also in the department of sociology. Himself and Femi were age-mate despite their class distinction. He was basically fortunate to be admitted into higher institution the same year he finished from high school. Bishop could be very annoying and cocky at times, with little or no courtesy to his attitude. Perhaps, a bad habit he failed to change from time immemorial which seemed to be working perfectly well for him. In a perfect world, he would either bend or break the rules, and still get things done the other way round. Indeed, he was one hell of a crazy nigga…

About two hours later, preparations had kicked off for the bash which was scheduled to hold in the evening for obvious reasons. Bishop called one of his girlfriend, well, maybe not his girlfriend but side-chick and informed her about the indoor birthday party, and also told her to come along with her friends. There is something fascinating about Bishop, which is; his speaking prowess and ability to woo girls even in the most ridiculous circumstance and he hardly gets rejected or humiliated. Maybe he was always lucky, or maybe it’s just the strigent trait of a player which he was, or maybe it’s the combination of both.
The both of them departed to Bishop’s hood where the party was to hold, in no time, the place was well arranged as part of preliminary measure to ensure that the room was in good taste. The first factor to consider was electricity, and due to the epileptic power supply, Bishop bought petrol enough to full his fuel tank, but after emptying the entire content into the engine, the generator which had minor problems refused to start, they collectively ignited the cabrator continuously but to no avail. The generator needed some servicing, but that would delay time, so they opted to make use of Femi’s generator instead.