‘I am going home.’ He hopped over to me, one leg in his trousers. He held my arm tightly. ‘You don’t take me seriously, do you? Something is wrong. I know it. Let’s go. Come with me, please.’ He sounded desperate. I began to dress without a word; we had been room-mates and close friends for three semesters, and I had never seen Bola this way before. He had his silly moments, his pranks, but never like this. If he goes home and sees that all is well with his parents and sisters he’ll calm down, I thought. Besides, his father was a doctor; he’d give him tranquillizers, or something, for his nerves. When we finished dressing we made for the gates, passing students arguing in the centre of the road, some already brandishing placards. Slogans and handbills fluttered in the air to fall like dead leaves on the tarred road. Bola was already out of the gates, running. I hurried to catch up with him. We didn’t wait for the bus – we took the first taxi that came.

‘Ikeja,’ Bola said and entered. I sat beside him. The bags were thick under his rheumy eyes, and I could hear his teeth chattering.

‘Everything will be fine, you’ll see,’ I said, patting his arm, trying to force a smile. I couldn’t. I stared out of the window at the walls and billboards flying past by the roadside, most of them defaced with anti-military slogans: ‘IBB MUST GO!’; ‘NO MORE SOJA!’

More than once our taxi was forced to hug the kerb as siren-blaring military jeeps passed at top speed, gun-toting soldiers hanging recklessly from the rails in the open back.

The Akinyeles lived in Tolani Estate, a Federal Government housing project, in Ikeja. As we approached the house, we saw a red Honda parked in the driveway. Mr Akinyele’s car was a white Peugeot 505.

‘I wonder whose car that is,’ Bola whispered. Then we heard the cries. Women crying. That was when Bola’s legs failed him. He sat down abruptly on the concrete ledge circling the verandah. He was sweating freely now; when he looked at me I saw deep terror in his eyes. I sat beside him and put my arm round his shoulders. He was shivering. At last he rallied his courage and stood up. We went in.