When the old tells tales

These days, I have done much travelling within the east of Nigeria, particularly in Akwa-Ibom state. My journey take me through the roads of Eket to the terrain of Mkpat Enin where some Akwa-Ibom great men walked through to get to school and to get to where they are now.  Here I am in a […]

These days, I have done much travelling within the east of Nigeria, particularly in Akwa-Ibom state. My journey take me through the roads of Eket to the terrain of Mkpat Enin where some Akwa-Ibom great men walked through to get to school and to get to where they are now.  Here I am in a Toyota Hilux Pick-up truck driving through bushes within one of Akwa-Ibom own; perhaps you could call ‘veteran’ drivers. Of course our Hilux is impressive.

This is the moment when I get to learn more about driving during the civil war. According to Emmanuel, who looks very much in his early 50s, during the civil war, he was driving a LandRover Defender for the state government. One of the challenges was having petrol to get from one point to another. So, the easiest solution, according to Emmanuel was to use hot drinks, some times called kai-kai, for fuelling. It still proved to be highly combustible for operating engines and helped the drivers at that time to move people from one point to another. At a point, according to Emmanuel, it was the only way whenever supply of fuel was cut off to the far eastern region. During this time, only a few could drive from Akwa-Ibom to Enugu such as Dr Samson Ebong, who was serving as a medical doctor to the eastern region. He in particular, was driving a VW beetle during the war.

Today, Emmanuel stillsdrives for the state government particularly in the Hovernment House and has served many dignitaries including one time gubernatorial candidate Mr Frank Okon. He is still very agile in his driving with much discipline and reliability as one who can deliver safely as others have yearned for his service. So when the old tales are told, it might just be a good thing to listen.