Part 31

‘’I believe it would be inappropriate to start this meeting without bringing to your awareness the case of the pipeline constructed along madam Jolie’s ancestral farmland.’’

Part 30

The Sage of the Ossiomo Rivers     Chapter 2

The Sage was out early, on the day the negotiating team was to meet the government officials about the new right of way on the farmlands of the said village. The government officials consisted of a team of six officials from the state government appointed by the Federal ministry of Petroleum Resources. Fortunately Iyagbaye had also arrived early bringing along files of signed petitions and pictures of farmlands destroyed by pipelines construction and oil spillages across fields. Even though it was a ready leverage for negotiation the Sage believed it would be a distraction rather than an advantage to show the government officials the signed petition and the pictures. As it turned out the petition was signed by a few of the royal emissaries of the villages, with most of the signatories  being thumb prints. The Sage expected that the government officials were well aware of the state of the pipelines constructed along the farmlands, so instead he relied on appeal.

Part 29

‘’If I am not mistaken, I think this journey may not be as anticipated. It should have been two days ago. I should have arrived a little earlier. Perhaps that would make it easier for me to catch her before she leaves.’’

Part 28

When they got inland, Soldier Gani took the decision to first of all visit the village square of the said village. The previous day they were in the next village a little over twelve hours keeping watch from the early hours of morning to evening dusk. Ibinabo settled for paying a little over the usual fee. she appreciated how hard the men of the ferries worked . she reckoned, that Efehi would make for a good companion, so she asked if she was heading for the same part of village as she was. As it turned they were both heading the same way, so they set out together. At first she thought it prudent not to talk about the reason she was journeying to this village. But Ibinabo eventually gave in to her fears about the person she was going to see. Eventually she was forced to explain her reasons for the journey to that village that day.

Part 27

At the other side of the river, there were a lot fewer tradesmen and tradeswomen looking to be ferried across. The soldiers moved one after the other out of the longboat onto the river bank’s jetty and made a small orderly formation before they set off-marching into the mid-morning sun.

At the river bank, a little after the soldiers had marched off, were the two of them haggling over exactly how much Dagogo should take from them. Dagogo was angered, because the soldiers had only paid half the usual fare. Soldier Gani had suggested they pay the fare in full, but the other military men had loathed parting with their money. For all they cared, it was Dagogo’s duty to ferry them across. This was unusual, usually the military men honoured the custom whenever they waited to be ferried across.

Part 26

‘’So why are you travelling to the next village today?,’’ Ibinabo asked.

The maiden refused to offer a response. She refused to answer the question. It was like she wanted to say something entirely different instead of answering the question. So she said instead, ‘’If I don’t travel to this village in a week, it is long enough to be impatient about it.’’