EUPHORIA AT BENUE LINKS MAIN TERMINUS MAKURDI

One hot and sunny Saturday afternoon, I was at Benue Links Terminus in Wurukum, Makurdi to receive some luggage sent to me via a Benue Links bus driver coming from far away overseas town of Anyiin. Incidentally, the vehicle did not get to the park throughout the length of hours I waited in the park. The driver’s telephone line was at a point no longer reachable and so I decided to take refuge from the unfriendly sun in front of one of the offices all fumy and distraught.

At the end of the day, I left the park without receiving the said luggage but I went home greatly elated and with an overwhelming sense of accomplishment.

Just inside the porch of one of the office buildings in the yard, I noticed someone had left some leaves of ‘The Nation’ newspaper on which he or she had sat to prevent the dirty veranda surface from staining his or her clothes. I looked round but couldn’t see anyone who looked like the possible owner of the papers. Hawkers of various items ranging from the popular cold pure water to recharge card sellers, itinerant fast food vendors, handkerchief, boxer shorts and towel sellers, wheelbarrow pushers, idle drivers, intending travellers and their relatives who had come to see their loved ones off and were busy chatting their hearts away without the slightest interest or intention of sitting down. So, I carefully adjusted the pages of the newspaper and used them as part of my seat.

A couple of minutes later, I felt a touch on my right shoulder and a voice asked me to get up from the papers. I looked up, shifting attention from my Huawei android from which I was engrossed in checking emails or facebook updates. Almost simultaneously, I stretched out my right hand to him for a shake, I mean a warm shake. Rather an unusual gesture in Africa from a younger person to an elderly one. He reluctantly took my hand and made for his papers while I braced for a warm hug.

At this point, I could vividly see he was curiously bewildered. “I’m sorry I can’t recognise you…” was what I thought I heard him say as I frantically searched around, he also joined me in the search for a piece of paper. We got one on the ground; I dusted and inscribed ‘You can’t recognise your facebook friend, Terseer Sam Baki?’ on it. Before I could dot the letter ‘i’ on my surname, he stepped back with an exclamation of pleasant surprise, wide open arms, ready for a real hug this time. He complained of how I looked different not just from my facebook profile picture but also from the way I looked when we first met inside BSU Bookshop last year. He has a way of always telling me that I looked more matured on facebook than in real life and I have a way of letting him get away with this remark. Always!

Pleasantries over, we got talking on a wide range of issues but mostly on writing; writerhood, authorial, publishing, distribution and every other thing in between like the annoying attitude of some folks who feel quite normal in authoritatively demanding for ‘complimentary copies’ of books they don’t even appreciate nor ever go beyond merely reading the front cover pages.

Even as a writer myself, I have so much admiration and respect for this man. As a matter of fact, I respect him more than most of our people who build mansions everywhere and chase us out of highways with their sirens and convoys full of heavily armed security men. Here is a man, a humble man who has done so much for humanity; intellectually. A man, who according to my rating is not just a celebrity but a super star with not less than seventeen published books to his name and well over sixty thousand copies of his works in circulation nationwide and may be beyond.

Hon. Wende Akasi whose pen name is W. Akasi is a Benue born author whose name has entered the Guinness World Records for his writing. His books are read at post primary schools and tertiary institutions of learning.

1. Akasi speaks fluently and writes flawlessly both in English and Tiv languages. I fell in love with him long before I met him. Several things have endeared him to me. For instance, the magnitude of contributions he has made towards ensuring that an endangered Tiv language does not go extinct, the way and manner he goes about publishing and reprinting or reproducing the various editions of his highly sought after books, his dogged resolve not to resort to living on alms as many others would do using their disabilities as excuses. I really look forward to finding out from him the story behind his hearing-impaired condition. I know it must be a deep one.
2. Akasi who is the founder of EDUCATION RESOURCE, RESEARCH AND DOCUMENTATION has written and published seventeen books to his name as I earlier mentioned but the ones I have either seen or read are, Ankwagh Va Sha Swem (first Tiv novel to enter the Guinness World Records), Tar Tiv Gba, Uma Man Aeren A Botwev Ndur Or U Kan, Mhii Man Mzehemen U Mdzough U Tiv, Statistics of Kings in Tiv Kingdom, English And Tiv For New learners among a host of several others. He also has several unpublished, credible and worthy manuscripts.

I dare say that this is one illustrious man that deserves encouragement from all of us especially from the Benue State Government, corporate bodies and individuals for his immeasurable contributions to the teaching, learning, advancement of the seriously endangered Tiv language, the Benue book project, knowledge and historical facts preservation and entertainment. This exceptional, honest and hardworking man deserves to be celebrated while he is still alive. He needs encouragement in order for him to continue to contribute maximally to the growth and development of the Tiv creative and literary economy and indeed Tivland, Benue and Nigeria in general.

1. Akasi can be reached via email on: akasiwende@yahoo.com and phone number 08151519144 (SMS only).

© Terseer Sam Baki.

Makurdi.

Feb. 2017.