“I look forward to that, sir”, replied Okeke. And out of a sudden someone was talking very loud on the phone. Definitely, he must be a Nigerian with such a loud voice and heavy accent. Okeke heard him mention the name of Bombo on the phone and he went closer to this man pretending to sip his champagne while listening to the conversation.
“Yes Bimbo. We just watched one movie called “The Stick”. There is a lot of noise here. I’ll get back to you when I get back to my hotel room”, he finally told her.
“Hello, I’m Okeke”, he approached the man
“I’m Babatunde; I’m from Lagos”, he told Okeke
“So you know Bimbo?”, Okeke did not hesitate to ask him
“Oh yes. We are in the same Movie association”, Babatunde replied.
“And you?”, I met her in Paris during the Nollywood festival.
“Nice to meet you”, he greeted him as they were becoming more friendly.
“Nice to meet you too”, Okeke answered warmly but he was full of rage because Bimbo preferred to call Babatunde instead of him. Does it mean that he was not in her priority list or doesn’t matter much to her?
“Where are you lodging?”, asked Babatunde
“Standby Hotel”, Okeke replied
“Holy Moses we are in the same hotel” he shouted and some Germans looked at their direction. But Babatunde didn’t care about them.
“And your room number” he continued
“Room 604”, Okeke replied.
“It’s just close to my room. I’m in room 606. We shal meet tomorrow moning during breakefast”, Babatunde told him.
“That sounds good”, replied Okeke. They exchanged their complimentary cards and joined the crowd to enjoy the cocktail.
But there is more to the Nollywood Award festival in Frankfurt. Okeke was surprised to observe that music was the biggest junk of the Festival. For this event, the organizers invited a capricious Nigerian pop star from Lagos who missed his flight twice and held Patty and his team on ransom of a huge amount of money. He threatened not to come unless they have finished payment. Even when they have finished paying the huge amount, the greedy musician and his manager continued to ask for more money which does not include hotel, feed and the limousine ride. All charges on the head of the organizers. Patty and his team were worn out morally and physically during the different negotiations to appease the musician and his manager. Finally, the musician called King Daddy landed at the Frankfurt airport for the show which was going to take place in the night after the Nollywood Awards. Patty’s team was very excited and the news reached the Nigerian community in Frankfurt that King Daddy was now in the city flesh and blood.
“I told them that King Daddy will be around”, Patty told Okeke as people were paying for their tickets for two double events that night. Babatunde entered in the hall with Okeke and both of them were offered a VIP table.
“Big man, big trouble”, Babatunde told okeke loudly because the music was blasting out of the speakers and the Dj for the night was not making any effort the control the sound. People were talking at the top of their voices and even the servers had to come closer to your eyes to take your order.
“Yes ooo”, answered Okeke. He saw Patty coming to their direction in the company of three ladies. One of them was wearing red glasses, red clothes and shoes. Her dark skin and afro hair did not just fit with her Award attire. Her friends left were equally eccentric like her. It was a weird night with strange souls in different flesh trying to satisfy the call of the flesh.
Three “man no be wood for you”, Patty whispered in the ears of Okeke.
“Oh la la la, Patty, Patty”, Okeke praised him
“Guy man go do thin chap chap. U na get money to spend?” Okeke and Babatunde frowned because as a Nigerian proverb goes: “The soup wey sweet na money killem” The server was just at the corner to serve their table.
“I’m Derby Nana”, the lady with red glasses introduced herself to the men. “I’m from Berlin and you?”
“I’m Okeke. I live in Paris. I’m a journalist”
“I’m Babatunde. I came all the way from Lagos for this event”
“I’m Joy Sweetie”, the second lady introduced herself and gave Okeke and Babatunde her complimentary card. “I live in London”
I’m Mary Roadman”, I live in London too.
The server asked them what they would have for the night. The girls asked for champagne and hot drinks. Derby asked for some meat and African delicacies making the bill for a VIP table very exorbitant for any of the men if they were asked to pay for the drinks and food. The server quickly gave her bill in a small tray and Derby took her bag and brought out a bundle of Euros and paid the six hundred and fifty euros.
