9jaflaver Manager Shares His Final Moment At NYSC Yikpata, Kwara State Camp (Batch B Stream II 2019)

Currently Typing This At The Mami Market. To be continued tomorrow. Please bear the typing error

Yea it’s kinda every moment a graduate in Nigeria will look forward to.

I have not made any preparations for the 21 days camping period because of my busy schedule. It’s was all about rush hour to get to the camp before 20th of August 2019.

I asked questions concerning Kwara state which I have never visited before but all I could get from the “non-kwara-visitors” was that Kwara is close to Abuja-Just 4 Hours Journey. I was kinda relaxed from the information I got from people so I decided to take a Bus-Road trip to Kwara.

I got everything ready for the journey and hit the motor park. Ghen Ghen….. Something came up my mind…. Why not check Google map…… I did……. To my surprise I saw 12hrs 11min….. I refreshed the browser from the Abuja motor park location and it showed same. Wow. I dashed my head outside the Sharon bus which I boarded….. Set my eyes on the conductor and asked him how many hours…. He said 5hrs. I was kinda relieved.

The bus left the park after 2hrs waiting period by 1300hrs GMT (1pm)… The driver was a talkative.. The passengers were all active and friendly. I asked the passenger close to me… YOU KNOW WHEN WE GO REACH KWARA?…….. With a smile, he said 9pm… Haaa. Are you joking?…. He said no.. I asked the lady behind me. She knows the area very well… MA PLEASE, HOW MANY HOURS? She said I should not bother getting to Kwara Today especially the NYSC Yikpata Camp. I should just look for where to sleep immediately the bus gets to ilorin… “For my mind I Don die….” haa… So I will not get to Kwara today? Deep down, I said to my self>>>>>>I will get to the Camp no matter what it takes and also enjoy the road trip.. I cannot go and kill myself.

I did not try to Google about the camp because I don’t want what will break my heart aside from the distance trip news I have heard. I bought bread by the road side incase when the driver entered a filling station along the express to refuel the bus. I was conscious of the battery power of my mobile phone.. Activated the flight mode. I will only activate whenever I wished to make a call or respond to a message from the Office.

We made a stop at Lokoja where we could have a food and convinience break. I did the needful at the eatery and dashed back to the bus to avoid story that touch.

To cut the story short, here is the map-talk from Abuja – Ekiti (Note Ekiti is not the final stop) Abuja to Lokoja was 2hrs…..Lokoja to KABBA was close to 4hrs 30min…….. KABBA to Ekiti was close to 3hrs. In total journey hour from Abuja to Ekiti was 10hrs. Most of the stop was Police and military post check points which turned to joke inside the bus. For every 30mins, we encounter a check point which turn out to be Anything For the Boys which we had to even drop and look for change… If you know you know….. On the road trip, I met the good, bad and ugly potholes in Nigeria. Dust, rain and shine…. Haaa. I could not close my eyes for a minute during the road trip.. I just wanted to see the sight of the beautiful city of Ilorin.. I read about the city and the people. Haa but since I will be getting there late, I guess there is no need to tour the city.

Close to a roundabout at Ekiti, the driver hit the brake pad. He ordered us out from the bus. There was mumbling from the passengers… “I know say Dem go transfer us to another motor car” “na so Dem dey do”…. For me, I did not care much. I already had made up my mind that I will get to the camp irrespective of any hurdle I face… Faith in God is always the best. The car we were moved to was a clean Opel… Anyway the driver was nice and when I asked him about NYSC camp Yikpata, he said he has no idea of the place. Haaaaaa. If a driver don’t know about Yikpata-Kwara, who else will know. It was dark Already and he was on top speed. The head lamp of the car was our only guard and the driver on the wheel. I had no fear because I have been through the darkest hour of journeys before.

Still in the car I made enquiries about the camp but it seems no one knows the place. I tried to talk to the driver concerning private charter to Yikpata at a cost but he refused the offer. He only insisted on knowing only Ilorin. I kept my hope high. “I Gat to reach dis camp ooo”.

Few people made their final drop on the way. I wished I was the one departing the car. The journey was tiring and all I had to do was manage. The driver made a stop and ordered us to drop. We did “(two people remaining)”. He transfered us to a rickety cab that will drop us at the Maraba Bus Stop Ilorin. We joined the other passenger waiting already in the cab. I asked the driver if he knew Yikpata, he said NO… Haaaa a. Then where is this place? – my thought… The journey continued for over 2hrs 30min… We met more than 10 check point and personal interrogation by the police at about 2200GMT (10pm) at arrival time to Maraba Bus Stop.

I was finally transferred to another Cab which “Jam-packed” us like stock fish, collected double the fare to Yikpata. Three of the passengers were prospective Corp members. Haaaa a. Finally, I met them…. We discussed our travel ordeal and it was all a bad experience expecially the distance and transfer from one bus-cab to another. One of the Corp member said the journey was 30min… But before then I had used Google map on the cap to geo locate the distance between Maraba Bus Stop to yikpata and got a 1hr 30min drive evidence. He was hushed by the other passengers who said its 2hrs.

The journey began with a very dim head light from the cab. The driver managed to see clearly. The road was not that bad but some dangerous pot hole was on it. The driver did his best but the cab dashed into one pot hole which caused some damages on it. Anyway he continued but the smoke coming out from the bonet made us stop. “He did not stop per say but the police check point o“. After explaination-stories-tip, he let us go. We looked outside the window to find any sign of NYSC but non at sight for over 1hr 30 min.

Finally, we arrived camp and the driver dropped us at the gate at about 1:30am. We identified our luggage and headed straight to the gate where we were stopped and searched by the security men. Questions like are you with drugs? Do you have a dangerous object with you? Are you feeling sick?…. We were ushered in by the friendly policemen at the gate.

The next phase of 21 days in Camp began. A man with a torch requested for our ID which we provided. He gave us two slip of paper, it was dark, I couldn’t see anything… I just wanted to sit at least… The next is pick a bed fast fast…… Pick a bed…. Don’t pick two….. Just one…….. Place it here………. Hey I said don’t pick two………. You stay down….. Check the paper….. I wrote down…… Hey don’t let me make it hard for you… Will you pick just one????.

We obeyed the hostel supervisors instruction and proceeded to our assigned bed space (bunk-cubicle-whatever). I laid my bed spread and hid the bucket I bought at Maraba Ilorin under the bunk. I used my bag as head support to avoid story that touches. Deep down my heart, I was not expecting to see water-toilet-bathroom when I wake because at Maraba-Ilorin Park I Googled about Yikpata camp and saw some bad news about the camping environment. I was ready to bear….. Moreover we be omo9ja so we can bear.

Boom!!!!!! Double up double up….. Jump up jump up… Sound of whistle and trumpet in the air… Haaaa. I just blinked and it’s 4am…. I don’t really get oooo… Checked under the bunk and I couldn’t find my bucket. Haaaa. What is all this na… The Corp member I arrived with saw my mood and asked me what the problem was. I told him I couldn’t find my bucket and he said we could share his. In a flash, someone dropped my bucket under the bed. I held his hands and he pleaded he just needed it for his morning shower. I told him we could share instead of taking it without my notice. He insisted it will be his last touching my bucket.

The sound of jump up and threat continued from the soldiers. The hostel was close to empty. I had to rush out to the parade ground ( I don’t know there yet).. I dashed out because the threat was unbearable and can kill a man with high blood pressure. I No Wan chop punishment for soldiers hand

TO BE CONTINUED TOMOROW BEFORE THE PASS OUT PARADE

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