That yellow fine woman who was sitting near me, she did not talk all the whole time this trouble was going on. But immediately the other people started to say that we should go back, the woman shouted, “No o!” She was sitting on the seat at the back of the Mr. Kosoko man, and after she shouted no, the man turned round to look at her. He wanted to curse her but when he saw that she was very fine, he did not say anything again. But all the other people were shouting at her, they were saying that didn’t we pay extra sixty naira for the AC, that why is she causing confusion, that it is because of people like her that our country is bad.
There was one man that was wearing a black suit. He was sitting at the extreme back of the bus. The man was sweating like a Christmas goat. The man and the yellow fine woman started to have argument with each other.
“Why are you saying that we should not go back?” the black suit man was asking her.
“It is unfair! Can’t you see the hold up? By the time we go back and come back to enter this hold up again, time has gone!”
“But shouldn’t we stand up for our rights?”
“Look, oga, you’re talking English. Is it today that you want to fight for your right? Go and quarrel with police or even with politician, if you want your right. The AC that spoilt is not the driver’s fault!”
“I am not saying that the spoiled AC is the driver’s fault, but I will stand on my right. I have the right to demand that I get the service I paid for. Or at least a refund.”
“Sorry o, oga activist, since you don’t have anything better to do than to be fighting BRT driver. But me, I have people waiting for me at my shop, I can’t afford to be wasting time because of nonsense AC. If you like AC so much, why not go and buy your own motor and put AC inside?”
“Whether I have a car or not is none of your business. What I am saying is that all of us paid extra sixty naira for the AC, and so we have the right to demand it.”
“Oya, go and demand for it,” the yellow fine woman said. Then she raised her voice higher than everybody’s own. “Driver, don’t turn back o! Don’t listen to them. Carry go!”
I was looking at the Mr. Kosoko man when the yellow fine woman and the black suit man were quarrelling. After the woman shouted at the driver, the Mr. Kosoko man could not endure any more. He turned his face to be looking at me too, but he was talking to the yellow fine woman.
“Madam, why do you want to fight against all of us? Can’t you see that everybody wants to go back? Is it because of your own selfish reason that you want to prove obstruction to justice?”
The yellow fine woman faced him. “Yes, I am selfish, I agree! As if what you’re doing is not selfish too. Or you think it is everybody that wants to go back?”
“But you’re the only one who is against us. Everybody is saying that we should go back — you’re the only one who is causing opposition. You’re not more important than everybody o.”
“I’m not the only one! Other people are afraid to talk!” After she said this one, the yellow fine woman raised her voice so that it will reach all the other people inside the bus. “See this hold up, if we go back we will still come back to meet it here. And those BRT people will not even change the bus for us. They will just give us back our money and tell us to go and join queue again. If you agree with me that we should not go back, abeg raise your hand.”
Everybody inside the bus kept quiet and all of them were turning to look at each other. After small time, only two people raised their hand. One of them was the old mama who was sitting on the same seat with me. The other person was one bobo in brown-color T-shirt who was sitting on the same seat with the yellow fine woman. No other person raised their hand.
“You see,” said the Mr. Kosoko man, “you people are the minority. It is all of us against only three of you. Even if we are practicing democracy, we are still the winners. Driver, the people have spoken. If you don’t want trouble, take us back!”
“Don’t go back o, driver!” the yellow fine woman shouted. “Don’t mind them, it is you that is driving, just ignore all of them!”
So the quarrel started again and the yellow fine woman — to tell you the truth, that woman has sharp mouth — was facing everybody. Me, I was just enjoying myself. It is true that I wanted to talk, I wanted to tell the yellow fine woman that it is not only because of AC that we are fighting, that if we don’t stand up for our right then BRT bus will become like danfo too and they will be taking us for granted and treating us anyhow, but because of my smelling mouth problem, I could not say anything. Then the bus started to move again. Small time, we reached the end of the road where if the bus turns right then we are continuing the journey, but if it turns left then we are going back. The bus turned left.
“Yeepa!” the yellow fine woman shouted. She put her hand on top of her head and started to scatter her head scarf. “Driver, so you’re going back? Mo gbe o — you have killed me! Ah!”
After she shouted, the Mr. Kosoko man turned round to look at her. By now she had removed her hand from on top of her head and she was using it to be slapping her lap. The Mr. Kosoko man stretched his hand to hold her hand, and he was rubbing the back of her hand softly, so that she will not be angry. “Don’t worry dear, take it easy, it is all right,” he was telling her, “we will not waste any time, you will see. Let me give my phone — you can use it to call the people that are waiting for you.”
True-true, the Mr. Kosoko man gave her his phone, and the yellow fine woman did not complain again. Small time, the two of them were laughing like they knew each other before.
When we reached the BRT park, people started to stand up and rush out before the bus has even stopped. Me, I was thinking that, see this people, what are they rushing for — the BRT people will put all of us inside another bus that is the same size, so everybody will surely get a seat. Anyhow, because I did not rush with them, I was the last person to drop from the bus. The driver was standing beside the door. He was talking to everybody as they were coming down. When it was my turn to drop, he was saying to me, “I’m sorry for the trouble, sir, the AC was working before, don’t worry about your ticket, please don’t be angry.” Wonders shall never end. You see why I only enter BRT bus?
Why not I quickly describe the driver so that you will know the kind of person he is?
He is tall a bit and his face is rough, like he used to have chickenpox before. He is wearing the sky-blue-color shirt and dark-blue-color trouser that is the uniform of BRT staff, but his own is ironed well, not like some of them. From the way he is smiling I can see that his children will be jumping up and down and shouting “Daddy oyoyo!” anytime he comes back to his house from work. In short, he is a good man.
Anyhow, when I reached the new bus that the BRT people had brought for us, the door was blocked because people were struggling to enter. The conductor was standing inside and he was shouting, “Don’t rush o — there are forty-nine of you and all of you will get seats!” but nobody was hearing him, young man, old woman, small children even, all of them were just rushing like it was a competition. Me, I just waited till everybody entered, before I entered.
I couldn’t believe it — the seats were full up! The conductor walked round the whole bus checking for empty seat, but everything was full up. So he came back to where I was standing and started to harass me.