By Habeeb Olokooba
Concealed or obvious, there is a price for everything. But who would have conceived that I would procure dearly for choosing Jubril Aminu hostel?
Here is a bitter account of how I lost almost everything I had to daylight burglars.
Sequel to all the ‘shege’ last semester, I went to the hostel mini mart to refill my foodstuffs and get some necessities. Satisfied on the facade that these would last me till a few weeks after resumption, I retired to my room.
After two weeks, I was certain that all I bought would sustain me till reinforcement palliative is supplied from home. Wrong.
It was Wednesday, the first week of resumption of the second semester. D-Block, one of the blocks in the Jubril Aminu hostel, was witnessing the reluctant arrival of students who went home for holiday. For this and other reasons, the hostel was lonely. My roommate had earlier set out for his treatment at the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital that morning. Just me in the room, getting dressed for the ongoing students verification.
I left my hostel around 11:30 am on the said day. “shrrr” sounded the hostel tap. “These people are pumping water. They will not pump it when you need it, only for them to give you water when you are about to go. I will come back and cook later anyway.
I never knew the predestination had different plans all mapped for me. Well, I went for the verification and came back around 2 pm. Only to see my door broken. At first, I thought maybe my roommate was around and couldn’t find the key to the room. That’s why he broke into the room. However I met the shock of my life when I opened the door to see the room scattered. All our clothes are on the floor and many things? How ?
In the beginning, I couldn’t place what and what had been stolen. I checked where I kept my foodstuffs, everything gone. My roommate’s locker was burgled as well. They took a lot of valuables, something of which I might regret for life. But well I guess that’s the price for seeking a license in the hostel. No next time anyways.
This, however, is the tale of many hostel dwellers. I have a friend, who loses phones every semester to burglars. During the past holiday, a Yaro boy was caught with goods of a student whose room was burgled, his food, clothes and credentials were wafted away. However, he was able to get his credentials as well as a few clothes back. His foodstuffs remain a mystery. A promise by the security of the hostel to interfere and ensure the guy is compensated yields nothing.
Prior to my own incident, I used to have confidence in the security of my room. But how wrong was I? I never aver my mind to the fact that total strangers could bump into the hostel and do whatever they like without anyone checking them. Few days back, a friend caught an “agba Yaro” (aged Yaro boy) in his room at C-block, trying to steal their wares. He escaped through the window from the second floor of C-block. His ebullient landing alarmed the residents of the down floor. But their move for a chase was too late as he vanished into thin air.