TENANTS TALES: Let petrol not put asunder!
We survived the elections as a group of tenants with strong opposing views. But this fuel hike may finally turn us on each other!
Remi, a ‘senior single’ rents the servants quarters of the main house, a seven-bedroom mansion in Lekki, which has been converted into three apartments. Chidi, a banker lives on the top floor with his wife and two children. Segun, a ‘businessman’ stays in one of the ground floor flats with his brother. He is married but his family lives in Canada. I rented the third flat —a nice 1-bedroom apartment.
We all used to get on pretty well considering our different backgrounds. For instance, the building had come serviced with a diesel guzzling generator but we, as a group persuaded the landlord to allow us to use different petrol generators and inverters instead of ‘worshipping’ the antiquated diesel generator with our hard-earned money. Chidi has come up with the ‘worshipping’ tag as he said that the generator consumed more than tithes we pay to church! So, Remi got an inverter, Chike purchased and installed a large petrol generator, I got a smaller fairly used petrol generator from my parents but Segun who was typically away did not bother to get any form of alternative supply.
Then Peter Obi happened to us. Remi and I were proudly ‘Obidient’ while Segun and surprisingly Chike, were ardent supporters on now President Bola Tinubu. Chike’s wife was also Obidient but not as strident, taking into cognisance, her husband’s stance. Before politics, all was cordial in the house. If there was no power, we would congregate in Chike’s house (whether he was in or not) in the evenings to watch television and enjoy his air-conditioner, which the generator could power.
During the day, it was the turn of whoever was home to enjoy Remi’s inverter which could supply power directly from the solar panels without affecting her precious expensive batteries. When it was getting towards early evening and the inverter was not as effective, I would power my ‘I better pass my neighbour’ generator and Chike’s children will come to my flat to watch television and play video games. I worked from home, and I was their baby sitter when they came back from school.
This did not change despite the heated arguments of the political season. Like other Nigerians the side of the political fence one sat on, dictated your allies and enemies. On few occasions, Remi, stopped speaking to both Segun and Chike. At other times, she would not speak with me if I was not totally in favour of all Peter Obi said. At times thing would get ‘tribal’ between Chike and myself which was funny as I was a Yoruba man supporting an Igbo candidate and he was an Igbo man supporting a Yoruba candidate. All this went on and got to a heightened state during the elections proper but somehowit did not affect the ‘balance of power’ – that is the way we shared power from our respective alternative power generating devices.
“So fuel subsidy is gone.” The pronouncement of the removal of fuel subsidy by President Bola Tinubu, did not immediately cause issues among us, other than more arguments. This time Segun and I were in support of the removal, Chike wanted the policy to come after palliatives were introduced and Remi, arch-enemy of President Tinubu was flatly against the move. But the ‘power’ plays began when the enormity of the increase hit. First to react was Chike. He started reducing the hours he ran his generator. That was no problem, we would ‘manage’ with him. So one night, I switched off my small generator and joined Segun to go to Chike’s flat as there was no power from the grid. We met Remi at his door knocking. After some moments of knocking, Chike’s son opened the door by just a crack so we could see only his face. He was obviously embarrassed.
“My parents are not at home.”
This was surprising as we were always let into the flat as long as the generator was on. Also, it was quite clear that Chikewas in as we heard his voice. Segun wanted to start protesting but Yemi stopped him. She then said something offensive in Yoruba language in a loud voice. Chike then replied in igbo. We did not understand the meaning but we caught the abuse in the sentence. The next day, with what we call ‘bone face’ he greeted only with grunts and went off to the office.
I strolled to Remi’s apartment with my laptop to start working. When I knocked, speaking through the door, she asked me to go to Aso Rock to use their inverter there. I got the point. I waited until late afternoon and then put on my small generator to do some work. As usual Chike’s two boys strolled in to do their homework and play video games.
What am I to do now?
This post is culled from Castle Lifestyle Magazine. Read here.