Must Read: Wasted Years: The Ordeal Of A Pastor

Episode 7 years ago

Must Read: Wasted Years: The Ordeal Of A Pastor

“Micheal, what have you gotten yourself into now?” Mum asked in a teary voice, “despite all our admonitions, you have successfully tarnished the good name of your father, am ashamed of you micheal, people are pointing at me wherever I went as mother of cultist who couldn’t take care of her child, Micheal, this is too much for us, what have we done to you that made you to revenge by doing this, do you even know that your father has disowned you?.

She said and wailed loudly as I stared at her blankly shifting around in pain
“Madam, please you’re disturbing other patients with your wailings”. A thin nurse with a funny intonation said rudely
I bit my lip as I am thinking about the thought of spending the next twelve years in confinement, my freedom of movement restricted, to associate restricted and the worst of it all spending those times amidst those hardened criminal who subjected new inmates to sufferings, I remembered all what I’ve to do after my service year, those four years wasted with nothing to show for it, the thought of my father disowning me also made me regretted joining a cult group. Cynthia also visited me crying hysterically during her visit, i felt a great pain knowing that I’ve lose that angelic girl already, but tears refused to come again cos I’ve shed a lot already,
“Hatchia” I sneezed with blood coming out of my nostril making the nurse to quickly stuffed some wools in my nose, and then give me an injection which made me to sleep almost immediately
The doctor told the police later in the night that I will be spending about a month and some weeks in the hospital before I will be fit to leave
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My mum hold me crying on my chest, I felt the pain also but managed to keep a dry face,
‘hey boy, let’s go we’ve got no time to waste’ the prison officer beckoned to me as I moved toward the van taking me to the prison, the doctor try to pacify Mum as the car drove off.

I sat down silently thinking about my fate when the officer announced that we are already there, I came down using the clutch given to me at the hospital, I was fit as the regular pains have gone, butit’s like my right leg was badly affected As I can’t walk with it, I sat down in the reception where I was given a pair of a light blue uniform, then I was moved into cell, I navigated around the room and saw about thirty men in the small room,I was happy that the inmates of the cell were old and some weak cos it saved me from the welcome torturing the rough criminals usually dished to new comers as am hearing screaming from new inmates in other cells,a bald headed man that should be around sixty years was the cell president,he summoned me in a husky voice
‘hey,universityboy,oya come here’ I was undaunted as I moved toward him,
‘what is your name and wetin carry you come here’ he bellowed in pidgin
I narrated everything to him as he listened attentively shaking his bald head at interval,
‘so you know as we dey do here,oya pay your entry fee to him” he said pointing to a short dark guy standing sitting on another lanky guy.i brought out one thousand naira notes and gave it to him,he hailed me and show it to others who in turn joined the hailing,he point to flat mattress,with a foul odour emanating from it

“fineboy,oya go and take that ‘fine’ bed in the vip corner”

“Fine bed”.i sat down on it thinking on how am going to spend the next coming years amidst these peoples.

The sleeping position in the room was so stuffy that I could hardly lied down straight,infact some are sleeping in the sitting position .

“Make una stand upo,all of una sleepy head” a husky said accompany by the scratching of tin on the ground,I woke up with my eyes still heavy with sleep,I looked outside to the dark surroundings,IL
“oya IH move like this” a tribal faced warder said after opening the iron door,we moved out in a single file order,I heard the muslims praying in the prison mosque while we moved into the chapel where we worship till daybreak,though I refused to partook in any activities there.The hustle for water to bath was indeed a great war as all inmate have assembled in front of all the available taps in the yard,I spoke with a tough cellmate of mine who bring a bucket of water for me after much scampering and kicking,there is no proper bathroom for bathing,people are bathing on an open field without any shame of exposing their nakedness,Ireluctantly joinedthem albeit I’m still wearing my under pant,after the wash,a malnourished poo-like beans was served, am still wondering how I will live on this food for those years until when I saw the guys rushing it even want to collect mine.

I met some my guys,uche and others,we chat about things,ranging from our experiences in our cells,what will planned to do on regaining our freedom which I avoided cos it is too early for such talk, we kept on talking till a warder shouted at us to go back to our cells
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Days crawl into weeks to months and to years, it is now my fourth years in the prison, I was visited regularly by mum which is usually leads to purgation of hidden emotions,even father has visited twice in companyof my siblings.

All inmate are sitting around an elderly inmate who is a popular politician as he talks about his experiences and his politics antics when a warder entered the cell and ordered me to followed him

“you have a visitor” he said hurriedly and I followed him amidst hailings from my cellmate to bring something for them
I approached the visiting room to see a man carrying a baby with a woman,the woman facing another place so im unable to decipher who it is

“this is the person” the warder said making the woman turned to face me and alas it’s cynthia,,

“Micheal how are you doing,” she said as she embraced me

“micheal,long time o,how have you been,” the man said as he stretch his hand forward for an handshake

“this is femi,my husband’ Cynthia said slowly, “he’s also your long time friend that travelled abroad for his tertiary education,he recognised you when I showed him your pictures.” She concluded
I stared intently at femi to make sure its really him,he won a scholarship when we are in secondary school though I came second in the competition. I enslaved his hand with mine in a rib cracking handshake and talked about a lot of things till the warder I charged alerted us that our time his up.

They dropped things like clothes,beverage and money as they are going which the warders eyed hungrily,thety collected their shares and I took the rest to my cell.