LOLA OR NO ONE (1)
Photo by Seth Ebenezer Tetteh on Unsplash
“Lola or nobody! Lola or no one! Vote Lola for SUG president!!
These voices came from the campaign group standing outside the female hostel. I peered through the window; I could see several guys, very few girls and a fleet of cars. When I meant cars; I meant CARS.
My goodness! Various models of Lexus, BMW, Hilux, and the likes. I wasn’t surprised because several students in my school were wealthy.
I didn’t say “they had money”, I meant “W-E-A-L-T-H-Y.” A lot of them were swimming in money.
“Who are those ones again ooo!” Rebecca my roommate barked. She lay on her bed, her head facing the ceiling. She was this kind of lazy person who always complained or felt embittered whenever she moved a muscle or was stressed a bit.
The noise was getting too much. The SUG elections were in two days, and up until then we would never rest because Lola and other campaign groups would keep coming to the female hostel three times a day to remind us that it was ‘their candidate or nobody’. You needed to see the zeal which all of them campaigned with. As usual, they all thought they would win the elections.
“It’s Lola and her people” I replied; still peering through the glass.
Then she hissed and turned to the other side of her bed. She searched for her AirPods and put them on. I watched as she adjusted the music volume to probably the highest decibel. That was Rebecca for you; a raz lady, never tolerating nonsense and always straightforward. She didn’t like Lola, she had never liked Lola. I didn’t, I don’t think anyone did. But I knew Lola, I knew so much about her.
Her supporters outside consisted mainly of men, men and more men. One would think they were her brothers or relatives but no, when it came to Men; we all knew who Lola was. She was always a pawn on their chessboard and would do anything to eat their money. That was how notorious she was.
“All those her sugar daddies want her to win abi?” Kehinde shouted from where she lay.
We all burst into laughter. She was a clown and we all expected her to say something funny regarding the current situation; like she would always do.
“Normally naw, after dancing to their tune, what do you expect” another girl replied
“I can boldly say that one of those men is pushing her to go for this post”
“Of course naw!”
“Exactly! Because how did Lola of all people, dream of being the SUG president of this kind of university?”
“I feel sorry for her tho, I hope she wins”
“And if she doesn’t win nko?” Kehinde asked again, and another round of laughter erupted.
No one had thought of what would happen if Lola didn’t win the elections after being carried around and supported by several wealthy men.
“If she doesn’t win, then she’ll have to pay them for wasting their time and fuel for a lost cause.”
Rebeca voiced out to the surprise of everyone. We didn’t know she had removed the AirPods and was listening to us. We all giggled and shook our heads in sympathy for Lola.
“How will she pay?” Another girl asked. Her name was Ngozi.
“Ngozi are you daft? Don’t you know how girls pay, these days?”
“I don’t know” she replied timidly.
“It’s not her fault, she’s a 100 Level student, you girls should explain to her” Kehinde tried defending Ngozi. But we knew she was only being sarcastic.
“If Lola doesn’t win, she’ll have to pay by sleeping with all of them” Another girl replied, looking towards Ngozi.
“Ah! Abomination! Abomination! God forbid! I cast and bind!” Ngozi shouted.
We wondered what had come over her.
“My friend shut up your mouth. By next year, timid people like you will become so wild. Wilder than all of us here” Rebecca shouted from where she lay.
Ngozi only stared helplessly and angrily at Rebecca, but what could she do?
Everyone laughed at the little drama; that was one thing I loved about my hostel. Drama.
We were brought back to reality by the shouts of the campaign group outside. A guy with a microphone addressed a crowd of female students, then he brought out several bundles of hard currency, unsealed them and started spraying them into the air.
So many female students rushed to pick them. Some collided into each other, others fought, there was a stampede, it was just another scene on its own.
Ngozi and so many freshers in my hostel quickly dressed up and ran outside. It was their first time seeing a live campaign involving money. They couldn’t have been less excited.
But we didn’t go. I, Kehinde, Rebecca and several other girls who were in higher classes. Some of us watched through the window, while people like Rebecca went back to sleep.
We knew that those sprayed currencies weren’t acquired with clean hands. We had heard so many stories about campus guys getting involved in rituals and several other evil things just to make money.
“Lola or Nobody! Lola or No one! Vote Lola for SUG president!. This time around, it wasn’t only Lola’s campaign team that shouted. Every other person who had succeeded in picking the currency joined in the chant. I saw Ngozi shouting happily. She chanted happily with her friends as they raised their hands in the air. I only kept quiet and stared.
After a long while, the crowd reduced. The campaign cars began to disappear one after the other. So many of them reversed carelessly, raising so much dust.
A great amount of the dust particles flew into our hostel, and then all my roommates rushed to the window angrily to abuse them.
“Stupid men!”
“Do you want to kill us because you have cars?!!”
“Lola won’t win this election!”
“To hell with you all and Lola!”
“Lola or someone! Lola or someone! Kehinde shouted angrily, and we all laughed heartily.
—————————————————————-
I knew Lola when I was 13. I knew where she lived. We both came from the same community to the city to further our education at the university, closest to us.
We had attended the same secondary school where her dad was appointed as the school principal; the highest official of the school.
The previous principal had retired because of his age. We loved him because he was always happy to see us. He welcomed every student as if we were his kids. He loved his job and we loved him for loving his job and loving us. That fateful morning when he announced to the school that he would be retiring, everyone was silent; staff and students. It was on his final day in office that we kids ran to hug him. We wept because we would greatly miss him.
Initially, Lola was arrogant and proud, but when her dad was appointed as principal, it became worse. We were in the penultimate class of the Junior-Secondary-School when he was appointed.
In our final class of Junior secondary school (JSS3), the owner of the school who had appointed Lola’s Dad as principal, travelled out of the country; he had relocated with his family. So directly and indirectly, Lola’s dad was the owner of the school. That was when calamity set in.
Just as I had expected, we began to hear rumours about the new principal; that he was a selfish individual, only after money and self.
He wanted all the good things for himself and his family.
As such, he employed a lot of his relatives including his wife and her people, and every other person whom he felt he could help with employment; qualified and unqualified.
In no distant time, everything about the school was centred around LOLA and her family.
She never read her books, she never did her assignments, she was always an hour late to class but she always came First position in class. She was always given the award of the best student in her class.
But we never saw her reading, I never saw her reading. As kids, we all knew what was happening behind doors and when we told our parents they would tell all of us the same thing. “Read your books and study hard, then you will come first position in class”
Lola would insult her teachers because her dad was the principal and she would still play the victim card before him so that the teachers would apologise to her.
She also became selective; deciding who would become her friend or not. Soon, she became the talk of the whole school; a celebrity, a season she always wished for; recognition and attention.
It was when we were about to write our final exams in Junior-Secondary-School that I found out that Lola was a thief. A money thief.
She was all after money; never satisfied with the ones her parents gave her; despite how wealthy they had suddenly become (by feasting on our termly school fees). No! She wanted more, just like her father.
One day I came into the empty classroom during break period and saw her searching my bag. Earlier that morning, I’d kept part of my school fees in my bag, hoping to make payments at the Bursary Unit after school.
“Lola, what are you doing?” I asked
She paused, then turned to look at me.
Surprisingly, she hissed and continued with what she was doing. She found the bundle of notes in my bag, then she picked it up and walked away. Gracious!
After going behind the class to cry, I went straight to the principal's office; it was best to report Lola to her dad, since I didn’t know how to fight or scold anyone because I was a reserved girl; an introvert.
As I approached the building, I saw her coming out of the office with her dad. She wore a sullen look. She had been crying too. Crocodile tears. Serious Crocodile tears.
“Daddy, she accused me of taking her money and then she slapped me” Lola said to her dad, pointing at me.
I stood still for a moment trying to understand what was happening, and before I knew it, the principal bundled me into his office and flogged the hell out of me.
He warned me never to lay hands on his daughter again. Before I could speak and explain what had actually happened he sent me out of his office, and that’s how Lola took my money from me, in broad daylight.
I knew that my parents wouldn’t believe me; telling them wouldn’t make a difference because it was no more a school, it was an institution designed only for Lola and her family.
I cooked up a lie for my parents; I told Dad that the money was stolen, though it was the last thing he wanted to hear from me in such a tight economy.
And even if he had to flog me mercilessly that night and give me an injury on my left eye, I was very much okay with that, instead of letting him come to school to scold Lola or even the principal.
If he ever stepped foot inside the school, I knew I would never graduate, because Lola’s dad was the principal and I never ever wanted to enter into his trap or that of his daughter.
Besides, I still had a long way to go. I was still in Junior secondary school, and I would continue with Senior secondary school in the same school where Lola and her family reigned.
But I finally finished; I completed my studies at Lola’s School.
——————————————————————
When Lola lost her dad, she didn’t act like she did. We had just finished taking our JAMB exam and were preparing to enter the university.
It was the only university that was closest to the village where we lived. It was located in the city, and I was among the few lucky ones who had enough resources to still continue with education as at then.
Of course, Lola had money to continue with school therefore I wasn’t surprised when I heard that someone else wrote her JAMB and POST UTME exams for her.
Lola’s dad died due to a prolonged illness which we never got to know till today. We never heard of any burial, nothing. He just vanished, never to be seen again forever.
But she didn’t seem perturbed. She was only after her looks, partying and having fun and hanging out with every guy in the community, who she thought had money.
—————————————————————-
I never heard about her again until we saw each other at the university.
My encounter with her again was as terrible as my previous knowledge of her.
I don’t know why, but I solely wished I had a car, at that moment.
I was walking by the side of the road while a car approached in the opposite direction. It was Lola, being driven by a guy.
The car windows were wound down and the vehicle wasn’t moving fast, so we both had enough seconds to glance at each other and recognise ourselves and our past. She hadn’t changed; the scar below her right eye was still there, and her pointed nose on a light-skinned face, still confirmed the fact that she was the Lola that I knew.
I felt uneasy; I didn’t want to see her and didn’t know what to say, but it was too late. We kept staring at each other until I raised my hands and waved.
“Hello Lola” I said.
The guy who drove her, stopped and asked Lola.
“Do you know her”
Lola shook her head. Then he wound up the windows and sped off.
I shook my head in shame and disappointment; she hadn’t changed at all.
That’s why I wished I had a car, so that I would be so focused on driving, that I wouldn’t see her car pass by, at all.
We never saw each other again till our fourth year in school, that was when she was contesting for SUG president.
(Continued in part 2)
…Click on the Link below to read part 2 ....
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