Our legs were almost touching our heads, panting is an
understatement, as we found our way back to the bus. Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!
Filled the air and those that came with their bible clutched it on their chest
with passion. We could not wait for the bus to Move, our Teachers did not
understand as they were far behind when the incident occurred. There was relief
in our hearts as the bus kicked, and moved away from the monolith.
We have heard news about it, read about it and even spoken
about. Hence, an excursion to Abuja without a visit will not have been
complete. My school, Citadel International College, organised a 3 –Day
Excursion to Abuja and I was privileged to be part of those that paid for the
trip. We had been in Abuja for about a day, with visits to so many interesting
sites like the Abuja zoo, Wonderland etc, but with much anticipation in our
hearts, we wanted to see the popular Zuma
Rock. On that day, clad in our White Ceremonial wear, we embarked on a
Journey to the popular Monolith A day before; we had seen the Aso Rock, from
whence the name of the presidential Villa was gotten. So we thought seeing
large pieces of rocks were just normal activities.
During the journey, some of our classmates that have been to
Abuja before, had informed us about some superstitious stories associated with
the site of the Rock, but this only “GINGERED” us to want to get there
faster. Unique among the stories was that the Rock cries and has human
features. Common knowledge was that Zuma
Rock was in Abuja, but we had almost left Abuja itself before we got to the
site.
From afar, we could see a Nigerian Flag on the top of the
mountain, approaching the boundary between Abuja and Niger State; the bus came
to a halt. The school had not taken permission to take us close and around the cultural
heritage, hence we were told to just look around. But the excitement in our
hearts as students in SS1 could not be confined to seeing such a monument of
nature from afar, we wanted to get closer. First of all one of the information,
disseminated in the bus had been confirmed, the rock had human features when
looked at. It had a place for the Nose, eyes and mouth...but the excitement
blinded our hearts from the remaining aspect of the stories, only for the veil
to be removed later, you can guess what happened when the veil was removed...
Without permission, we
entered into a property (Land: government owned), with a view to getting close
to the Rock, we hurriedly marched on the paths as the grasses and shrubs gave
way. Some of my classmates refused to come down from the bus, others came down,
but stayed with the bus (It was parked by the roadside). Later, we discovered
that probably that was the right thing to do. As we got closer to the Monolith,
we met an Old man, who stopped us and asked us what we were doing around the
place and who gave us permission to come in. We explained that we came for
sightseeing and that we were students of a secondary school. As we waited to
listen, some others continued the expedition... the old man then instructed
that we leave the place immediately! All pleas fell on deaf ears, as we moved
forward to tell those in front what had happened, we looked back and we did not
see the man again. Ye! Wetin happen? Where the man enter?... those questions
raised in our minds and the veil dropped- those information that we were told
started replaying, we did not wait for them to finish loading when the race
began. I ran my life out, all that was in my mind was that let me just get to
the bus... we forgot the idea of wanting to go close; we were satisfied with
the one we had seen. Fear gripped us and relief was the atmospheric condition
as the bus left the place, that was when I knew that some of my class mates had
bibles and could pray. Though to some this might be funny, but to some, it
wasn’t oh! Some of us began to form, why una run sef?(pidgin). We had seen
people disappear in films, but this was too real to be false.
That night our lodge was very quiet, because we expected the
consequences of our adventure to catch up with us; but fortunately for us,
nothing happened. None of us wanted a replay, so another visit was not part of
our agenda. We continued on our excursion trip and made it back to school on
the third day. The excursion ended, but the thought and experience never left
our hearts.
Its been long, so some details might not be the same or enlarged: abeg na the beauty of the work of art oh. Kudos to members of the 09/10 session that went to Abuja Excursion.
