The Ilorin Shock Episode 2

Episode Two: Tongue Wars

Slowly, we began to blend into where we found ourselves.

But blending didn’t mean fitting in.

We were children from Oyo State, and back home, we used to see people from Ilorin come to our area to sell iru. We would laugh at their accent, mimic the way they spoke Yoruba, and feel somehow superior like our Yoruba was the “original version.”

Now life had flipped the script.

I was in their land.

And from the first few conversations, they noticed.

“You’re not saying real Yoruba,” one boy said, staring at my mouth like something was wrong with it.

I burst into laughter.

Real Yoruba?

If only he knew.

Inside my head, I was thinking, But you people are the ones bending the language like rubber. Still, instead of fighting, we turned it into a joke. They mocked my accent, I mocked theirs. We laughed, teased, and before I knew it, enemies were becoming friends.

That was how fast children adapt pain today, laughter tomorrow.

Then came my first day at school.

I woke up early, excited. I brought out one of my new clothes from Oyo State clean, fresh, untouched by Ilorin dust. As I dressed up, I felt proud. No matter where I was, I still carried a piece of home with me.

On the way, some boys stopped me.

“Is that new cloth?” one asked.

Without thinking, I replied confidently,

“Yes na aso tuntun.”

They froze.

Then suddenly

😂😂😂

Laughter exploded.

“Aso tuntun?!”

“Ah ah! See this one!”

“Who says it like that?”

They laughed so hard I almost felt embarrassed… almost.

But deep inside, I was laughing too.

Your accent is funny to me as well, I said in my mind.

We walked to school together, still teasing one another, correcting pronunciations, exaggerating words, turning language into a game. By the time we reached the school gate, the laughter had already broken the wall between us.

School itself was another shock.

New teachers.

Different rules.

Different tone.

But surprisingly… I enjoyed it.

I answered questions.

I made friends.

I laughed more than I expected.

For a moment, I forgot the fear of the compound, the pain of being left behind, the silence after my dad drove away.

For a moment, Ilorin felt… manageable.

But as the final bell rang and we walked back home, reality slowly returned. The sun was hotter. The compound louder. And that strange feeling in my chest came back to sit quietly.

School was easy.

Life outside school?

That was a different lesson entirely.

And I was about to learn it the hard way.

continue reading Episode 3