The bugging: “Mo gbagi o ja e”

The palm wine incident came to a head when, despite several entreaties to late Arc. Sola Olugbesan (Solee), the editor of the GCI in-house magazine, the magazine went ahead to ‘bug’ me, using annotated cartoons to enrich the narratives. You should have seen the caricature of me sprinting.. .so comical, even, I was amused. The ‘bugging’ was captioned “Mo gbagi oja e.’

The cartoon showed that I had received the baton and was scurring to safety. At this time, the whole matter was squarely on my ‘head.’ Needless to state that the “Mo gbagi oja e.’ phrase gained popularity among the boys, especially my mates and I always had to explain the true story over and over to those who cared to listen. I suspect that no one believed my story.

Did I hear you ask if ‘palmying’ resumed? Of course it did, after a while, because I was at the receiving end for an offence which I did not commit, but don’t crucify me.

I know many other boys who were regular visitors to Dele village, “Aba Dele”to enjoy Nigeria’s local gin (ogogoro aka, 404). Can one compare mere palm wine (palmy) with raw liqueur of over 70 % alcohol? Boy! Those guys were really tough! Despite all those escapades we got serious with our book work and passed our examinations in flying colours.