A LETTER TO HEAVEN

FOR A FRIEND WHO LIVES THERE NOW

HASSAN OGUNBAMBI [1983-2006]

Aburo mi! What’s good? It’s been a while! I feel strange writing you this letter after such along time. It’s not like I haven’t been meaning to reach you but didn’t know the means. I feel writing you the conventional letter is the only way. Hey don’t even call me old school because I doubt you know the magnitude of advancement in technology we have experienced these past few years. Your phone number isn’t going through and I’m sure yahoo would have long closed your projectsxl@yahoo.com email address. I still have same phone number and email address you know, so I’m sure if you could, you would have reached me too. I understand anyway. I’m not angry besides you havent been in touch with anyone I know of.

How is it going at your end? We are very fine here. I have enough to tell you but don’t know where to start. I know you would want the entire gist so I will try. It’s been a long time but I don’t feel that way. It seems like yesterday. So you’ve got a lot of catching up to do, so if it’s too long, it’s your fault oh!

We have all graduated! You too would have if you didn’t leave bro! Most of us have done our Youth service while others are still at it. I served in Abeokuta! You for come see you guy teach now! It’s not easy being a teacher. But you know now, I be bad guys! Sorry rhap nguys! Rhap ihe a! [Smiles]. Do you remember that our line? Do you still use it?

Mikky is now in Lagos. He served here and I think he might stay back. You know he has always been a Lagos boy at heart. Not with the way he had all Lagos people as friends. Lucky, Uche and I still dey Lag! You know we got love for the city mhen except say Lucky still dey go that side often. Daniel is serving in Ughelli. I spoke to him last night even. He has improved his Warri pidgin and is picking up some Urhobo too. The guy still dey support Liverpool. I don tire for am. Chinedu is now in Abuja. Him don turn big boy! Dey run things with the President. And Ijeamaka too! Don’t tell me you don’t remember her. IJ Baby! Chinedu’s cousin! She too be Abuja babe. Linda and Tina are fine with their fine selves. You remember that painting Tina gave Mikky that she tagged us on the drawings. I go still show that girl. Haven’t seen Emmanuel since we left school. SJ dey too! You know Ikwerre people dont travel out of PH. so him still dey there. if him go, who go take care of him land? Nnamdi still dey hold PH down. Mackgee is now a Yankee boy! Blackhalo dey too! I haven’t seen the Naruto head for sometime now.

Guess who is in Naija? Minnie! She is on a visit to continue her adventure. She wants to see the rest of the country. The east and north. We hung out with her at the beach recently. Oga do you still remember that our Badagry experience? It was mad fun.

Tammy is serving in Imo state. I still remember that day we were travelling to Lagos through Owerri in our first year. You and Lucky yabbed me into almost abandoning my state. Meanwhile you should go to Owerri now. You go bow now. You know how we felt when we got to Lagos that day after staying in that ‘then’ boring PH for a long time. Yeli and Stella are now Doctors. Your Ogechi is now studying in the Caribbean. You had something for her then or so! I am not sure which way it was. She couldn’t come to our room for a long time after you left.

And now the best part – I know it will interest you the most. Bisi is now a lawyer. I can imagine the smile on your face. Come on wipe it off before I slap it off for you! Yeye boy. Ehm come oh, I still remember that valentine wey you go town go give one mystery girl valentine gift. I just dey remember, I no talk anything oh! I’m still hoping you will tell us who she is one day. I no understand why you code that one sha!

We didn’t lose our groove. Everyone had serious party on their birthday. Then we hard these parties called SHINDIG. But the icing was the Graduation party. Egbon mi it was crazy. When I look back to that Matric party we had at Nellyville and how you ended up, I wonder what would have happened if you were at the Graduation. It was well organized, strictly by invitation to keep the riff raffs away, in a brand new house at a secret location with plenty of food and drink. Chidi’s mum owns the house. You know chidi now? AIESEC and pink car Chidi. I almost forgot about the three musketeers. Really don’t have much gist about them. Haven’t seen Onyinye in a while now! You remember that theory for Ogochukwu? If you don’t remember that one, just forget it. I no fit shout jare! I don’t know who else you will share this letter with out of excitement. I guess Shirley too is doing well.

Down to some serious stuff now. What happened that day now? Do like to hear it from you, though guys have told me what they know. But I can do with some firsthand information. Why I’m asking? The truth is that it still hurts to know that you are gone forever.

You! Lion King? The brave one? Egbon! Die? Hey I still have doubts about it. I just don’t believe it. You are too strong for death.

Do you know your mum called me that morning? You were still alive then but your phone was off so I couldn’t get to you. Now I wish I spoke to you that day, even if for the last time. I’m sure she would have loved to hear your voice too! She called me because she was worried about your certificate verification. I told her I will have you call her later. She didn’t know that I was still in Lagos. When I called her at night to tell her what has happened to you, she fainted. That was the most difficult phone call I have ever made. I was shaking like a jelly fish. Just didn’t know how to give her the news. I rushed to PH the next morning. I refused to cry all this time because I hoped these boys were playing pranks. As soon as I arrived PH, I insisted on seeing you immediately. When I saw you at the morgue, I screamed and cried like a child. I thought you would just stand up and say ‘catch ya!’ and we all will laugh and go home. But you didn’t. It was crazy. You were wearing that crazy jean you tore on the knees with your black singlet. Your hair was skinned as usual. The lion kings’ trades mark. Infact I didn’t know why I was crying because I was still insisting that it was a joke taken too far like Baba Iyabo will say. Mikky and co. tried to stop me. I just thought they were crazy. They were in pain too. But then I asked them if they realized you were gone forever? I hated them then because they couldn’t look me in the face or answer my many questions. They kept saying ‘Stanley its okay’ but never looked me in the eye to say it. What was okay I asked again. For you to die at your prime? I thought they had lost touch with reality. I just didn’t realize they were in the same boat as me, and someone needed to remain sane for all of us.

When Bro Yomi arrived in the evening, we picked him from the airport and headed to the morgue again. Tears flowed freely again. I doubt Bro Yomi will like you to hear this but he too cried. We couldn’t sleep that night. You were so everywhere in the room. It was scary. Egbon mi! You didn’t want to leave us right? The lion king! At a point I thought you would just carry out that our stupid threat to burn the room down to get our attention. Its funny remembering those days when never lacked jokes or something to laugh about. Some people were not happy about our laughter but we no send them now. You almost took that away from us. That was the only time we cried in that room. We tried to do the things we used to do before though it was hard.

Your church really helped to make things easy. They appreciated your work in the Youth Ministry. The police tried to make things difficult [they wanted bribe before the police report would be released for us to get a death certificate], but we eventually got it all settled. Do you know it was Chachangi Airline that flew you to Lagos? You should have seen your guys crying when we went to pack your things in the room. I cried from Rumuosi to Nellyville. It got worst when we got to the airport. A lot of people were there to say goodbye to you. I tried to say goodbye too but couldn’t, tears didn’t let me, couldn’t find the words, I was too shattered to thick clearly. I hope you not angry about that. I wanted to be at your grave side in Lagos but couldn’t make it. Chinedu was forming hard man, but cried more than all of us that night. Don’t tell him this oh! I don’t want to seem to be snitching abeg. Infact all of them cried.

Egbon! I was frustrated. I started asking God a lot of questions. I just didn’t understand why you He took you in your final year after all the UNIPORT suffering. I doubted He was up there but knowing that you are with Him answers my doubts. My imagination was running wild, I imagined if you hadn’t gone out that evening or why He even didn’t stop you from going out. I wondered why the road was not bad or why that learner drove a car on that road on that day. Are you surprised? The boy was a learner. That day was just a wrong day. He was a learner, driving on a high speed, talking on the phone and overtaking another car at the same time. I heard you somersaulted and rolled over the car. Is it true? What kind of speed was he on that will tumble the lion king? Na wa oh! I kind of believe it, knowing you as a strong man! Lion king! That’s the only way you can give up on the spot. I refused to set eyes on the driver at the police station. Trust me! You know I kill for fun! Laughing? You don’t believe me? You dey fall my hand oh! I still don’t understand why they didn’t take you to the hospital. I heard on the way to the hospital, someone decided you were dead and they turned to the morgue. Without a doctors confirmation? Those illiterate students.

I have since reconciled it all with God. Ferdy was there to pray for/with us. He gave us words of encouragement and insisted we say how we felt, to express our anger. He told us it was okay to cry. He advised us to have a service of song that it will help us in getting over it. He helped organize it and officiated. I guess he realized that we were in denial. And we had the service of song at Nellyville for you bro!

A lot of people said lovely things about you. What I took away from it was that they misunderstood you most of the time. Egbon you were too much for them jare! Sophiscated is the word! Ijeoma Aniebo said great things about you. Didn’t know you two were such close friends. She had words of advice for everyone that day. Lucky and Chinedu took the bible readings. Mikky and I talked about the friendship we all shared. I told them about how we all met in year one. My God memories are flooding back now. I would rather not recount it, don’t want to get mushy and you will start yabbing me. Though I messed up that day as I told the story, tears welled in my eyes after I stopped myself several times from crying. Let’s just forget that day abeg; I’m already getting close to tears as I write this even.

I went to see your mum afterwards. It was another crazy day. It was your twin brother that opened the door and I almost ran away. Thought I’d seen a ghost, forgot you guys were very identical. Don’t blame me; I always think that twins are like me and Chijioke. We hugged and I entered the house. Mumsy wanted to start crying again but left for the kitchen. Hussien couldn’t stand the whole thing so he went upstairs. Your dad wanted to ask questions, you know, if there was any detail of what happened that I might want to tell him about. I couldn’t talk or even stand the situation so I left. Haven’t gone back since then though I have been on the estate a couple of times. Do you think I should go and see them? I don’t want to reopen healed wound for them.

So do you still draw? How far with your fashion designing and drawings? I had wanted to keep your drawing book but felt Hussien would like to have it. I was thinking you could still hook up that shirt for me! Make I no worry you jare. Don’t know how busy your schedule is. We all took one thing from you as souvenir to always remember you. I initially took your drawing book but gave it to Hussien and then took some of your pictures, Lucky took your Beautiful Nubia CD. I can’t remember what Mikky and Chinedu took again. Maybe you should ask them about it.

The lion king himself! I miss you oh! We all remember you all the time, we always wonder what you will do whenever we hang out. Since you were such a hand full, we were never sure. You were unpredictable so we clung to the memories of you that we have.

We all miss you! You are forever on our mind, forever remembered, forever loved, forever on our hearts. I will tell everyone that I wrote to you. I’m not telling them now because they will turn me into their errand boy to you. Please reply if you can, it will be interesting to know what’s up with you.

Take care of yourself okay

Sun re ore mi! [Sleep well my friend], Sleep tight sha!
God be with you till we meet again.

One love!

Hassan Ogunbambi died in a senseless accident along Aluu road, very close to UDSS Uniport. He was a final year student of Environmental Engineering at the University of Port Harcourt. He was my roommate in Year One and later lived with Lucky and I until his death.

A Conversation Between Two Arsenal Fans

I'm tired of Wenger! please is it confirmed now that he has signed Arshavin? If he doesnt sign Arsha, then he has to go.

Go where? Thank God its not your decision to make. if them allow you, you go climb on top maggi cube oh! u wan make them sack am abi? the much i can confirm is that Arsha flew to london to meet with Wenger and probably do medical test too. Goals.com says he has signed but i dont trust them. it will become clearer by tomorrow morning. there is a great deal of confusion on the internet about it right now.

what do you mean thank God its not my decision its to make? are you not sick of the disappointments?

that one na JAMB question you dey ask, but its not his fault that Arshavin havent signed yet!

its his fault! he is more stubborn that a thousand he-goats put together

where is that coming from? what has come over you? you are beginning to have Chelsea fans mentality. lack of patience. its all about winning without just thinking that there are others in the competition who want to win too. once their team is down, they want the manager sacked or they will switch their support elsewhere. i have absolute trust in Wengers management. the team is going through a tough season. they will get back to form soon. its not Wengers fault i insist.

Seems like you are enjoying being 5th on the table with no trophy in 4 years and no prospect of one anytime soon. try it with any serious club and he's a gonar!

Any serious club like chelsea right?

Have i mentioned chelsea here since?

Nope but e be like say na there your heart dey now! i have been hearing some grumblings from them about sacking Scolari. since this their sacking madness started with the self-acclaimed 'special one', what have they acheived? instead the club is in disarray. those clubs you call serious are not the serious ones infact. the important thing here is that Wenger has the boards support and thank God its not a one man business. Arshavin's deal is confirmed now! i hope that this Arsha will solve your problem, calm you down and get you off Wenger's back.

But you know that chelsea...

Hold the thought first! did you say no prospect? guy abeg no vex me! where has your love and faith in this club gone to. the team has potential and i believe in them. try relax for Wenger abeg!

I hate that word potential when nothing is done by those who have it like your country Nigeriaokay no vex, replace it with any word you like and dont mention Arsenal along side Nigeria. meanwhile have you been watching the African Youth Championship in Rwanda?

Nope and i dont plan to! lets not get distracted from what we are talking about here

Arsenal? wetin be your beef with Arsenal these days self?

Lets call a spade a spade! Arsenal sucks this season. Wenger should never have let Hleb and Flamini leave. The team lacks cohesion and winning spirit. Thats the reality.

While calling a spade whatever you like, i think you should stop brooding over spilt milk. Hleb and Flamini are gone okay! move on bro! and its not Wengers style to hold on to players that feel like leaving. that much you know.

See your mouth! you dey think at all? why him no let Adebayor go Barca? letting him go wouldnt have caused as much damage as the absence of Flamini and Hleb are causing us now!

I agree with you on Adebayor. I wouldnt have missed him at all, like i'm missing hleb and Flamini. but let me remind you that this team you are accusing of lacking winning spirit have squared up successfully against Man U, Chelsea and Liverpool

Na them be the trophy? If you square up to them and cant make it to the top of the table and next seasons champions league, its then useless. They need that spirit both for the big and small teams.

I dont dispute some of your points but what do you want? to draw blood? or to stop supporting Arsenal? you know its not an option for you. you need to lift up your spirit and theirs too. the team needs everyones support not criticism.

dont get me wrong. i still love Arsenal but sometimes Wenger makes some really dumb and annoying decisions that cost us the whole season and leave us in despair.

oh boy! talk about despair. me i don weak! one of my guys tell me say if him wan heart attack, him go support arsenal. the ode say him no go visit me for hospital if i suffer from one. but guy this season, the team don fall my hand well well! them don mortgage all my bragging right! so i understand how you feel. i just dey try encourage myself.

A Man U fan looked at me one day and said that we should surrender cos our gun is not loaded this season. whatever he meant by that.

dont mind him. we are not failures. its only when we give up that we become failures. like Wenger said at the West Ham pre-match briefing 'our title dreams are still alive'

A great man said that 'failure is instructive. The person who really thinks, learns quite as much from his failures as from his successes' we will come out of this stronger if Wenger opens the door to some changes especially his signing policy. bring in some experienced players as well as young talents as usual. The combination is what has kept Man U going.

Man U? abeg leave them. i trust Wenger will make some changes soon. lets just hold our breath. abeg i need to run, make we meet for the Cardiff match if the snow will allow them to play it. No wahala.

Later mhen!

PS: I started writing this on monday night [2nd of Feb] after a conversation with a friend and thats where i got the idea from. i'm trying to improve my creative writing skills and I feel I can start from something I love

Since i wrote this Arsenal have signed Arshavin but awaitng FA's confirmation.

Please feel free to criticise it. It will help me improve.

FA has since confirmed the Arshavin deal. Lets pray that something happens

Arsenal - The Mad Way I Feel About Them

I know this will be music to some people’s ears but the truth is that this is not the best of time for Arsenal. The season is not over yet but it might be the worst in the history of modern Arsenal. Watching my beloved team play on Wednesday against Everton, I was pained and disappointed. I kept wondering what has gone wrong. It was just not the Arsenal style. The Arsenal I love and support is always fun to watch even when they are down. Their clinical passes, the finesse, the elegance and stylishness of their play are one of the best in the world. They have come to be known to play the most entertaining football in the premiership if not in the world. That’s why Arsenal haters never miss an Arsenal match. There were rumors then that Jose Mourinho’s problem with Abrahamovich was the billionaires desire to have his Chelsea play like Arsenal. It’s unconfirmed please oh! But on Wednesday, I wouldn’t have wished Arsenal’s performance on any team - not even the floundering Chelsea.

It was just not Arsenal’s day. Hold on! It’s not just a Wednesday matter. It’s been a huge problem this season. I will sum up their performance so far this season as INCONSISTENT. How can a team lose to Stoke City, beat Manchester United, lose to Hull City, beat Chelsea and draw with Liverpool, all in one season. If this is not inconsistency, I wonder what it is. Square up to the big teams and fall to minute teams! Wow! But my biggest disappointment so far is our trialing behind Aston Villa on the league table. After the Everton’s match, as we made our way home, a corper colleague of mine in Abeokuta argued that Arsenal will not participate in next seasons Champions League. He even wanted me to bet my Feb allowance on it but I just didn’t want to take his money. But seriously I couldn’t argue with him at that moment because there was no way I could afford to after that performance. The night was a disaster and I wanted to be left alone.

I have never been impressed by Adebayor and all the hype about him. I consider him a fluke. He is overrated. I still think he should have been sold to Barcelona at the turn of the season. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, try and watch him against Everton. His play is locally referred to as ‘anywhere belle face’. He returned every pass back to sender as if he was sacred to face the Everton post. He was a huge disappointment or do I say he was true to type. I have no word for Bendtner! Van Persie has got fire in his legs. His last minute equalizer was spectacular. He and Fabregas are still my best. Fabs absence is greatly missed.

It is my decision never to criticize Manager Arsene Wenger. I trust his judgement and he is good at what he does. Forget what the haters think and I know quite a few of them. But I seriously think the team needs to be beefed up. If this talk with Arshavin’s Zenit is not progressing, he should move on to other players. I trust him to spot the young Arsenal type of player. But more than that he should also bring in some experienced players too. It is at times like this that people that can’t even unbuckle his sandals will begin to question his style, insult and call him names. People like Blast, Cj, Kish and that Ebuka boy of BBN who I doubt watches any of Arsenal matches or watches football at all except to write trash on Thisday on Sunday and ask dumb questions afterwards. Make him no worry I go catch one day.

It is also at times like this that ‘they’ – una know una self – will begin to urge me to decamp – like say I be Nigerian politician – either for free or at a cost to ‘their’ club. When I consider their offers, my decision has always been to remain with the devil I know. Aside that some of my family will laugh their hearts out if I take their offer – Cj, Bro Emeka and Bro Steve, my friends will have my head for dinner if not shindig – Kish, Blast, Louis, Chinedu*2, etc. But trust me they don’t count on this. I will leave if I have found any reason at all but there is none. I have recently been reading Robert Schuller’s tough times never last, but tough people do – and this is the third time I’m reading it – and he calls what I have got staying power. It’s this staying power that has kept me with Arsenal despite the challenges of the past two years.

Above this staying power is the lack of alternative. If I leave arsenal, who would I then support? There is no alternative, absolutely none! There are just two teams in the premiership - Arsenal and others. They are all the same as far as I’m concerned –from Man U to West Brom. I have respect for Man U oh! But I really don’t understand their relationship with the F.A. If they are not appealing a red card or getting some very partial officiating, they are getting some questionable penalty or having their opponents given a bizarre red card. It’s just difficult to come to terms with but I will leave it to Liverpool’s Benitez to take care of. Chelsea’s own is just to win even if the whole 90minutes is just drab and dry. No moment of excitement. It got so bad that some fans in England had to protest that they want also to be entertained – not these loud mouths here in Nigeria. As long as Drogba flukes in a goal, they are happy. I watch them when I want to sleep. They induce sleep for me – very boring. And it’s been worst this season. As for Liverpool, they are better ignored – no vex Danikeys no disrespect intended – so that they will never walk alone. Arsenal will always lead them by the hand.

But seriously, I still think that the league will go to the wire, its still very open and any one of the big four can still win it. When the chips are down, Aston Villa will find their level and go where they belong. Tottenham has put up this kind of challenge before. Arsenal laughed last at the end.

An English man said three generations of his family have supported Arsenal and for him supporting Arsenal is like true Christian marriage with its good and bad times, without room for divorce. That’s how it is for me. I know some people would have left if they go through half of what arsenal fans have endured. You will find them plenty in Chelsea. Watch out, they will soon be heading to Manchester City. “Anywhere money face” supporters. I choose to remain with arsenal through thick and thin while acknowledging that some changes need to be made in the team. We shall overcome

Arsenal for life