Abegunrin Gideon
2 min readJan 23, 2023

Good name

Living close to Iworoko Ekiti could be an extreme sport most of the time, as electricity was such a luxury for people back then. We had an electric supply a few times and had to rely on generators often, and it can be so discomforting because of the noise, the smoke, and the cost of running a generator for hours. This was my plight as a student, and for six years at the university, I relied on a generator to power my devices. Most hostels in my schools were closely knitted and socially connected, and at the sound of the generator, people from far and near would come and charge, play FIFA, watch movies, and listen to music.

No one is entirely good, and the chiefest of men have flaws. But people can attest to the genuineness of my heart in being a liberal and responsible guy. If you are coming to my room, you must be entertained. That was the very essence of my life back then, but something unexpected happened one day. I couldn’t get fuel to run my generator, and in the company of some housemate, we took an extension box to charge elsewhere. We were not allowed in, so we had to charge outside the room, and we plugged our phones and left. Some ladies, too, plugged theirs, and to everyone’s surprise, before we came back, some people had made away with some expensive phones, and they left low-budget phones.

The ladies whose phones got stolen started ranting about how we have to account for their stolen phones, and it wasn’t a funny scene. When it was leading to a heated exchange, I picked up my cheap phone and left for my hostel. A few moments afterwards, some boys numbering about seven came in symbolic elements that defined who/what they were. They had boots on, berets, and some side bags, even though we didn’t know what was inside. Ladies are emotional, and by intimacy, they had ties with them and called them to come and probably harass us about the stolen phones.

Unperturbed about what happened, I was in my room, and the boys knocked; I answered and greeted them, and the next thing they said was, chairman, we no know say na you. They left and went their ways. This didn’t just happen like that. I was known to be a responsible gentleman in the area, but some things can’t be attributed to me. That’s the value of a good name. The girls were disappointed because the boys they called came and couldn’t lift a finger. Though the season we are in is one of deceit, lies, and other expressions of decadence, you are the values you uphold, and having a good name, will one day speak for you.