“Welcome to Garoua ”, Thank you for flying with us! Please, for the sake of COVID-19 Protocol, we will be filing out-one-by-one, seat-by-seat till we get the last passenger disembarked from the plane”, the pilot’s voice could be heard from the cockpit and that was it for me. I was sitting at the tail of the plane. I was at the very end of the aircraft. The time was 4.15 pm local time in Cameroon and Nigeria time. That means I had only 45 minutes to get myself to the stadium, just on time, to catch Nigeria vs Egypt, Group D opener at the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) scheduled for 5 pm. 45 minutes to go through the airport health office, go through immigration and get a taxi to the stadium. That is going to take more than a miracle. How could that be done? Why in the first place was I arriving on Super Eagles match day? Wait!
“First Time in Cameroon, Disturbing Cameroon” is a direct inspiration from the song “First Time in America, Disturbing America ”, which has already gathered a lot of streams on social media.
As I went through 45 minutes of “heaven” (rather than the opposite) to navigate from the plane to the stadium to catch up with Nigeria vs Egypt game, the song kept playing in my head as that was the only song that came out of the stereo in the bus that conveyed me from the airport as if on auto replay and the moment I sat on my seat at the Stade Roumdé Adjia, long before Nigeria took the lead against Egypt by a canon of a goal from Kelechi Iheanacho, I made up my mind that my next write up here was going to reflect the song. There couldn’t have been any other way around it.
So, back to the 45 minutes of heaven…
It was the much-advertised flight that was leaving Abuja on match day for anybody interested in watching the match in Cameroon and returning to Nigeria after the game. Yes, that one, pay half a million naira, take off from Abuja, Nigeria, watch the match LIVE in Garoua, Cameroon and return to Abuja after the match, as was advertised. God bless Nigeria, the flight was filled to the brim. Captains of industry, business moguls, politicians, there were also regular Nigerians on board. I was one of them.
But I was not coming back, no scratch. I would eventually return to Nigeria but not with that very flight. I was going to cover the AFCON, I wasn’t going for just one match. So I made it onboard the plane, under a different package.
The 45 minutes of “heaven”
So this time, my turn came and finally, I bounced off the flight. I ran inwards, towards the arrival hall as I didn’t bother to wait or move closer to the luggage ramp because all I had was a backpack. Then I was halted.
“s’il vous plaît monsieur, vous devez d’abord passer un test COVID-19 rapide” (please sir, you must first take a rapid COVID-19 test). Of course, I knew beforehand I was going to be subjected to a test. At that point, if they had included Syphilis, Malaria, HIV, in the list, I was going to submit easily and willingly, my whole focus was on getting to the stadium, as early as humanly possible.
The test was indeed rapid. Five minutes and I was having my negative result in my hands. So, I proceeded straight to the Immigration department. Right there in the queue, I was filling the carte d’entree (entry card) and in no time, it was my turn. Remember I didn’t have to wait for my bag or bags to come out of the aeroplane, I travelled as light as possible with only a backpack. I am that sort of traveller.
“j’ai tout rempli”, I raised my voice a little as I told the lady attending to me at the Immigrants that I have filled all the forms.
“Oh, you speak French”?She politely replied, also wanting to let me know that she also speaks English. Meanwhile, Cameroon is a bi-lingual country, English and French but the French are in the majority. English o, French o, I am at home. Please add Spanish and Portuguese, I am a complete package, I will tell you more about it on another day.
I got out of the airport and voila!, protocol officers from the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) were already waiting for us at the car park. They had come by bus to take us all to the stadium. “Here is your match ticket”, I was handed one as I boarded the bus. NFF, una thank you o. In no time, we were at the stadium. The stadium is just about a 5-minute drive from the airport, “quel chance” (what luck)? A glance at my wristwatch and it was 5.15 pm, I only missed the first fifteen minutes. I had just won the lottery. I sat down on my allotted seat and did all I could to cheer the Eagles to victory in my little capacity by screaming in excitement and applauding every good move by the boys. At last, we won and the celebrations soon began. Nobody remembered the stress we went through, waking up very early on that Tuesday morning, getting to the airport at 10.00 am for a noon flight which was shifted to 1.30 pm and later 3 pm, the Naija way!
I am still in Cameroon as you read this. I told you earlier that I was here to cover the tournament, regardless of the performance of the Super Eagles. Nobody gave them a chance of going far, well, not many is the right word. I am here though, I am going to be the last man standing, probably the last Nigerian to leave Cameroon. I have now been to Douala, Yaounde from my starting point in Garoua. I have been disturbing Cameroon. I have been disturbing Cameroon, I wish I could tell you in detail, but I guess some of you already know.
See you in Nigeria.
Follow the writer on Twitter and Instagram @woleopatola.
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