5. Day 2 in AFMS

5. Day 2 in AFMS
Here was I, second day in my new home, the events of the next few months would confirm the saying ‘khaki no be leather’, but on this second day, I obviously was still oblivious of the enormous-ity of what I was getting myself into, we woke up and were asked to get ready for breakfast, as I stepped out of the room going for breakfast, right there on the corridor there was a guy walking towards me, I kept walking straight and expected him to move slightly and I would also move slightly to give way for each other as it is in the normal world, how wrong was I, he stopped infront of me when I refused to get off the corridor completely, and before I could say ‘jack robinson’, he picked me up by jacking up my shirt from the front, he was quite tall and he lifted me up to his face level, slammed my back on the wall and said to me “look at me very well, I am the second son of the devil’, he dropped me from that height and I slid down the wall to the ground, he walked away without saying anything else, I thought to myself ‘oh my God, I have just seen the second son of the devil’.

Not yet sure what to make of the last episode I stepped out of the hostel and saw a young man with red lips, very cool, looking like an older brother, he was standing infront of a group of boys, I think they were JS2 boys, I just passed infront of them and kept going, he looked extremely shocked I would do that, he asked me to “backward roll myself back”, I just stared at him, he suspected I didn’t know what backward roll meant and he said, “hunch yourself back you bastard”, now he didn’t sound or look like an older brother anymore, I was shivering, not knowing what to do or what to expect, I kept staring, standing there confused, he then knew I didn’t know the meaning of hunch either, he then asked one of the boys who were there to show me how to hunch, I then saw hunch is actually frog-jumping, well, I hunched myself back, my first hunches in AFMS, sooner than later I got to know the gentle, peaceful, big brother looking young man was Muche, the famous Muche who would go on to be one of my worst nightmares in JS1, and I learnt later that my offence that day was that I ‘crossed his parade’, when your senior is having a parade you don’t dare pass infront, moreso when it is a parade of your seniors because that is double job, he asked the JS2 boys to plant for being useless, imagine a JS1 boy is crossing your path, and he doesn’t even know how to hunch or backward roll, meaning the JS2 boys weren’t harassing us well enough, I did not see what happened to them thereafter, but I can just imagine it. The hunching back couldn’t have taken more than 10 to 15 hunches, but my legs hurt so bad after it I almost couldn’t stand up.

After breakfast we were in our room when Dike Chinedu came in, the JS3 provost that Dotun Adetoro handed me over to, he was still dressed smartly like yesterday and was obviously still working down school as more JS1 boys arrived, he told me my mum was waiting for me down school, I got myself prepared and stepped out of my room, made sure to clean any signs of tears off my face, went down school wearing the best smile I could muster, convinced my mum the school was a wonderful place, told her I had seen Deji yesternight and he even gave me guava juice, I made sure she didn’t look at my head to see the contours, the soldiers down school made it easier because they made sure the meeting was very brief, and within 5minutes they were already ordering me back up school, apparently she was only allowed to see me because she stubbornly refused to leave until they gave in to her, she must have been relieved to see me happy, she didn’t break down in tears again, she was now ready to go back home, her son was doing fine. I hugged her and dashed back up-school, knowing fully well now to avoid the pavements, walk to other side when somebody who didn’t look like a JS1 boy was coming around, I seemed to have learnt real fast, but hey, who wouldn’t after such an unforgettable first day and the ‘great’ start to the second day.

The irony of the first few days in AFMS was that the JS3 provosts seemed to be your best friends, they tried to protect you from the ‘knock’ hungry JS2 boys reminding them it was period of ‘grace’, and they were always ready to answer any questions you had, even though they didn’t smile, or laugh, they were helpful and would answer your questions not minding the fact you didn’t use ‘sir’ or you stood on the same corridor with them, they were very approachable during those first few days. Unfortunately that friendship lasted less than 1 week; we soon got to learn the JS3 provosts were actually our worst enemies, when it was time to start teaching us how to shine boots, starch khakis, serve job etc, the JS3 provosts started showing their real colours. For me in JS1, the most memorable JS3 provost names were Ermosele Okolo, Dike Chinedu, Adams Diwa, Dunmade Abimbola, John Adoga and Musa Sagada, these names are here particularly because I happened to have many encounters with them, I am sure some of my course mates will have a strong memory of a different set of provosts, and of course not forgetting Adams Kayode, who was not a provost but was just as much a menace as the provosts, if not worse, and his very good friend, Tunde Oyewale.