Ajuwaya

The guy is still there oh

And those are still the symptoms

I don't even understand

Many years ago, in a very remote village

I came across a really

Strange... err... disease

The time and season of dread has come

When our visitor will arrive

And when she enters the village

Whether it be man, woman, child or aged.

You must not walk around at night.

Men, you are not to mate with any woman.

And even the woman should keep herself

For all of the days that she will be here

You all hear me.

When my mother was alive,

She told me...

She said her mother, the mother who birth her mother,

Who birth her mother, told her this story

That one woman was taken by four men into the forest

And they forcefully had sex with her.

When they were done with her,

then this large snake arrived. Seeing her a breath away from dead.

This snake possessed her and took her form.

Since then,

She has always come to our village.

And you know she sheds her skin,

For the whole of 66 days.

And when she wants to renew her beauty...

She needs the seeds of four men to renew her beauty

In truth,

She lets us go about our business in the morning and in the afternoon

But never go out at night.

We must not mention her name,

If you mention this one's name.

Death has arrived already.

This is a warning,

A very severe warning,

You hear?

Be afraid of her, even her shadow,

If as much as her shadow passes by you...

You are dead.

Omo mehn!

Ahah.

This place ehn!

Please gather the money, Lets pay up.

It is 500 naira each

I will give you 500 naira.

I am not even sure of where we are going now.

Baba, good day sir

Good day

Greetings

Please...

Please how far is the village from here?

The village you all are going to is almost 10 kilometers away.

Yeah, almost 10 kilometers.

You will go down this way.

You will get to a very large tree after about 5 kilometers,

Just past the tree, you take the right

Then, you will find a wooden plank across a rivulet.

You will go past this small bridge, before you get to the village you are heading for.

Ha! (exclaims) It is quite far... Thank you sir.

Here is your pay. 500 naira right?

Please lets get going, It is quite a distance

Where is my bag?

Driver, Wait!

Okay, okay

Okay so,

I got posted to a village with this weird bunch of corp members

He is a bush man, don't mind him

Was I the one that asked you to serve?

Do places like these even exist?

The long trek to Ejonla forced us to bond.

I guess.

There is no network coverage here at all.

Where do we go now?

Please, please. Is that where he said we should go through?

Lets try here, Its here.

Try What?

We cannot just try, we need to be sure.

The woman said we should go this way,

Get to a corner and go straight down... this looks like the bend.

Are you sure it is not the wrong direction? And then we would have to come back?

Brothers

Let's pray for leading

Can you listen? Excuse me!

For leading!

For leading

What leading? Lets keep going.

Leader nani

Let's pray for leading, my brothers

There is someone leading us already, won't you follow?

You won't pray for leading?

I'm not going to come back if this is not the way oh

Then you will stay there

There was myself,

Halima,

Osas,

Femi,

Emem

And Chidi

Together we were simply a crazy bunch

Femi and Osas struck it off almost immediately

What did she say?

Dont mind her when she sees my 'Johnny',

She will understand

So who is the Major General she keeps talking about?

She says he is one of her man friends that she sleeps with.

I knew it, this girl is a call girl... That is why she...

Brother!

Omo... (Teases him)

See these girls We will pick one girl each, once we get to the corpers lodge

You know the funny thing?

Those two guys are not smart. Especially the one with the cap.

He is only good at speaking English.

After we are done with the girls, then we will interchange later.

After interchanging, you know how it goes...

We would have so much fun - They'll be looking for my 'Johnny'

Guys

Guys

I think we should start going

Look

It's getting dark already

The earlier we get to the lodge the better

Are you serious? Already?

Please I'm tired. The back of my legs are still paining me

Look, I agree with him

I would not like to get to that village very late

Besides we don't know how we will meet the corpers lodge

Abasi! A whole me! Emem! Inside village.

Aah! I've suffered!

Guys, please can we go?

Guy please be patient. I am coming - I am coming

See, it's 6:10pm. The earlier we get to the whatever the better

Who is there?

Who is there?

We are.

Who are you?

Good Evening,

We are going to Ejonla.

Ejonla?

It is not Ejonla (meaning Big Story)

It is called Ejonla (meaning Big Snake!)

Ejonla?

Yes.

Like snakes?

Are there snakes there?

Noo! They worship a big snake there that's all.

You worship snakes?

Yes? What is wrong with that?

Ha! My apologies.

I wasn't sure what you meant, I only asked so you could clarify.

Femi, what is the girl saying?

So why were you taking our fruits without asking?

Our apologies please, we were just hungry.

Femi, answer nau. What's going on?

What's this babe saying?

Anyways, that where I am going right now. You can follow me, it's not far anymore.

I can show you the way, let's go.

My brother, what is going on?

Guys, can we just go? She said we should follow her

You understand Yoruba?

Don't watch this face , you know I grew up in Lagos

Come quick, let's go. Nightfall must not meet you outside,

Tonight is when the people start the snake festival.

Let's go quickly, come come.

Lady, hold on. Hold on please. The festival for the big snake starts tonight?

Can you guys slow down?

Yes.

Let's go, let's go! She says it's getting late

Let's go! - What's she saying?

Can you guys see what I was saying?

What's wrong with you? - Let's go!

Let's go

Femi talk. Is it because you are the only one that understands Yoruba?

Colins. Did you hear what she was saying?

The Yoruba was thick but let's just follow her all the same

Let's go first! Hold on... - What is the girl saying?

She said that the name of the village is not big story like I said before,

It actually means big snake

Ehn! - Blood of the Lamb!

And they celebrate the festival to worship the snake and it starts tonight. Tonight!

Of all nights? - If you are joking better stop it oh

Come come!

Guy, what is all this about?

Come come, wait my brother. Are you serious aboout this?

I cannot be more serious.

I'm very serious. I'm going to meet her so that I can get more information about it

Look, Femi, Femi come.

Come!

You just keep walking away

Come here! You just keep walking away

Thats what I said.

Wait, does that mean that snake will be moving around everywhere?

Guys see ehn,

If this is how it is going to be

My candid advice is that we should all just go back from here.

I did not die in Benin, so I cannot afford to die in the forest!

I have said my piece.

Okay so guy, you can be scared, yeah?