Chapter 2: Chapter 2. New Country.
I experienced joy mixed with shock immediately I got off the ride and stepped foot– officially– on another country.
'Yes, Benin is better than Nigeria' I said to myself, looking around. At least I saw electricity without the noisy sounds of generators.
"You go to Togo?" a man asked. He had a funny accent, his hair curly like that of an Arabian. I was happy that maybe it's only us that were black in Africa.
I felt like a kid who bought a new school uniform and smiled at the beauty around me. Benin was very neat like they expected to have me there. I checked my phone and my sim was still active, I called my mom and told her of the development. She was happy and gave her blessings. For that moment it wouldn't be honest to say I was not Missing home.
When Ndidi left the bags with me to change the Naira to CFA, the drivers approached me asking for our route and begging me to talk to Ndidi to pick their cars.
After a few minutes, my cousin was done and he bargained prices with each of them till we got fourteen thousand CFA to Togo including police and immigration settling.
We got into the car and two Igbo men were already sitting down to move with us. I watched my phone as the service provider changed from MTN Nigeria to MTN Tigo. Two screen clocks appeared, one showing Nigerian time and the other, my new country's time. It was an amazing experience coupled with the cool breeze and beauty of Benin at night; the beautiful signposts which were boldly written in French, the smooth road and well-organized gentle securities.
I slept off and only woke when the car parked to settle immigration officials as we were now in another country, Togo.
I closed my eyes back to sleep minutes later after realizing I was still safe. I can't write about what Togo looks like cause I got into the country with closed eyes.
A few hours later we got to Natchamba which was the border between Togo and Ghana.
It was an amazing experience for me as I got down and stretched myself. It was night, yet very busy and market women were sleeping on their goods, my cousin then excused himself to go change Naira and the remaining CFA to Ghana Cedis.
"Onwere ego eji na akpa gi?³", Ndidi asked while I searched myself and released the five thousand naira meant for miscellaneous.
Crossing the Ghana border was difficult and we were charged eighty Ghana cedis per head. Ndidi paid and a few minutes later, a big truck came forward and Picked 10 people, of which we were among. I felt like life was happening to me too fast.
"What if life was not happening to you, it was happening for you?"
-Tony Robbins.
We got in and were crossing to the Aflao border. It was a smooth drive until we got to a stop and were asked to carry our bags to cross the border gate slowly. The driver and an immigration official spoke from a distance and finally, he– the driver– offered him something I bet was money and he– the officer– pocketed it. He told us not to make noise while crossing and we obeyed.
Another truck was waiting for us and we got in immediately.
A few minutes into the new drive, I was enjoying the cool breeze when a group of men jumped out of the bush and flagged the truck down. I thought it was another checkpoint for the army, but just then, two heavy strokes of the cane landed on my back. The rest of us were being flogged mercilessly as we jumped out from the truck and had guns pointed at us, by the immigration officers.
We were made to lie on the floor and flogged, including the truck driver.
"Kwasia⁴, so you people are the ones getting into the country while borders are closed baa?" an officer said angrily while the others were flogging and stomping on us.
They had us stand, made us do frog jumps, hopping in one spot as they got a bigger cane and resumed flogging us.
My best day had suddenly turned into a miserable day. I'd never been treated that way all my life, I cried as I saw a clearer picture of what slaves shipped out of their countries faced. I was not a slave, but we were all slaves in hands of the Ghanaian immigration officers at that moment.
All pleas fell on deaf ears as they enjoyed the torture and pain we were made to go through. After two hours of pain, the Commander asked us to be allowed to sit then he came forward to address us.
"Gentlemen, I presume you all are Nigerians." He said looking at us and was about to continue when someone interrupted him.
"No Oga⁵, me and my brother Albujei from Niger." A short man said pointing to his brother sitting next to Ndidi.
"Okay, Nigeriens move over here while Nigerians this side." The Commander said pointing towards different directions.
"Ghana border has been closed due to the election and you people are coming into the country. Well, we will take you to headquarters so you'll be deported back to your countries but you can avert by paying 500 Ghana cedis to continue and it's non-negotiable."
We all started begging and asking for a reduction but they've already decided. I came to later realized it's the Ghanaian man's lifestyle, a Ghanaian man's stock is non-negotiable. Ndidi offered to pay 400 Ghana cedis per head but his offer was rejected and they pushed us into their Hilux van and drove us to the Ghanaian immigration headquarters in Aflao.
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