Mercy at Lake Gherio

Photo credit: bay sports

Federal Government Girls College Yola was one of the best federal government owned colleges in the North. After a short stay at the City Girls College Enugu, Beatrice agreed with her older daughters that Ezioma and Nkiru should go to a federal school.

After the assessments were done, Nkiru though the younger one was the first to enrol in the school while Ezioma joined in the following term.

They always had a lot of stories to tell whenever they returned from school. They learnt to say the Muslim prayer before meal because they were made to pray both the Christian and Muslim ways.

At fourteen, Nkiru was already a big kid and she also hated to dress her age. When she was invited to the interview in the school, she wore big sister Nkechi's two piece dress to FGGC Yola. It was a late entrance process and so she had to be interviewed by the principal herself. 

Nkiru and big sis Nkechi were both embarrassed when the principal arrived putting on exactly the same dress that Nkiru wore. 

That coincidence ended the interview and the admission would have been lost but for an unusual encounter with someone who had the power to intervene. This person who was based in Yola went on to become a guardian to both Nkiru and Ezioma. 

My sisters became quite popular in the school especially with Ezioma being one of the lead singers in the school's band. 

The tales they told of their time in school made me look forward to when I would go off to FGGC Yola to make my own memories but that never happened as Beatrice wouldn't take that risk again.

They learnt to eat fra d'nunu, tuwo shinkafi and other Hausa delicacies. Nkiru even learnt how to speak passable Hausa and they were the first in the family to have friends from other tribes. 

Their various excursions especially the musical excursions to other federal schools always got me day dreaming. Their trip to FGC Wukari where big brother KC was also studying was my favourite because they got to meet the fine boys of FGC Wukari who 'toasted' them. The new friends they made in Wukari became KC's school fathers and my brother's life became a lot easier.

The excursion to the Lake Gherio was quite eventful. I believe it changed a lot of things in FGGC Yola and also sent signals to other federal schools to minimize the exposure of students while at school.

It was a science class excursion and I still do not know why the students who had siblings were paired with their siblings for the excursion.  

Ezioma and Nkiru always spoke of their classmate who could see things before they happened and another who could either speak to or turn to snakes (Nagin on my mind). That was the part of the school I did not like; the scary stories. 

They had stories of students who were possessed by the devil and later confessed of unthinkable crimes. They also told me of "madam koikoi" which was believed to be the spirit of a dead woman who roamed female hostels of boarding schools at night looking for her daughter. 

On that day, when they got to the lake, Huseina Bayola who was believed to see things told Nkiru not to get on the canoe ride because she envisaged doom. She also asked her own sister Fati not to go, the two girls obeyed her and told the Science teacher that they would remain at the shores.

Ezioma was not even in that particular class; her own class would get their turn but not just yet. Nkiru had to sneak her into the gwongworo (truck) that conveyed class A to the lake to pick water lilies; I recently asked Ezioma why she took that decision and she said that she wanted to be ahead of her own class. More like she wanted the adventure. 

When they got there, Ezioma was the first to hop in the canoe before she would be discovered and when she did she observed a hole but the paddler told her that it meant nothing. In that canoe there were five of them.

Ezioma Eke, Ronke Fagba, Fadimatu Adamu  Linda and Caroline Gideon both sisters set out on that journey to the part of the lake where they would find enough water lilies to pick.

There were in the middle of the lake when water started to come in through that hole. The girls got scared and informed the paddler but he ignored them. 

When the water gushed in the more, he said something to them in Hausa language which translated to "you girls will die for nothing" after which he jumped into the lake and began to swim away.

My sister and the other four girls were left to fight for their lives. All five of them could not even swim in a bath tub.

They began to scream for help in the face of imminent danger and in a little while more, they sank with the canoe.

Ezioma said that her life flashed before when she sank deeper but she kept her eyes open enough to notice that the bottom of that lake was as dark as hell and she knew she was indeed in another world. 

She noticed that there were a lot of tiny fishes that bit at different parts of her body and while in there she remembered to pray. 

She prayed like mother taught her, and  asked God not to let her die in that manner. She said that as she prayed it came to her mind that big sisters Ebere and Nkechi who were very good swimmers would flap their legs in the swimming pool.  She began to flap her leg as her survival instinct kicked in and as she did, she began to go up and when her head was out of the water she screamed for help. 

At this time, Nkiru and the other two who refused to get on the canoe had noticed what was going and they called out to the villagers for help.

Nkiru said it looked like something from an action movie as almost everyone around including children as young as four years old began to dive into the water.

To be continued....