Like Every coal city brought up will say ”Abu’m Nwa 042”. So i am saying too, Nothing has changed. Abu’m nwa 042.
This post is about the saturday morning workout in Okpara Square Enugu.
The first time i passed through Michael Okpara square in the morning on my way to port harcourt, i was shocked at the number of people around the square, i wasn’t surprised because i was unaware of what the square is used for, Like government functions or cultural and music events that is being held that the square, neither am i unaware of the Saturday morning workout that takes place at the square. i was particularly surprised at the number of people that attends the morning exercise. As i headed to port harcourt i kept telling myself that there was no way all those people i saw there came for the exercise, perhaps there was something else going on there that i wasn’t aware of, i thought to myself. Well, the only way to confirm my doubt is to do a little research. When i got to port harcourt i googled some words like ” Keep Fit Coal City” coal city keep fit club, Enugu ercerside team, saturday workout in Enugu and others but not much information can explained the number of people i was that the square. I did some more digging, but this time, i used facebook, and what i saw really stunned me. How could i have missed this all these while? I thought this was a one time thing when i first saw the video of the morning workout, never its was a weeking things, How can can i miss this fun filled exercise. although my work takes me in and out of the city almost all the time but i will surely make out time to attend the exercise when i come back.
I spent almost one month and two weeks in port harcourt and when i eventually came back, i waited patiently for Saturday to come but on Friday evening, i got a call to come to owerri for a meeting so i spent all night packing my things because i will be heading back to Abuja from there, but despite that, i still looked forward to attending the morning exercise. After arranging my things, i slept off and woke up to a very heavy rain around 4:30am, but as excited as i was about the exercise there was no way i could have left the house under that heavy rain and beside, what if i had gone and didn’t see anybody? I wasn’t going to do the exercise all alone so i had to relax. At about 7:30am the rain had already reduced, i contemplated on going but still wasn’t sure if i should but when i asked my sister about my younger brother she told me he had gone to okpara square around 6am. i was surprised he left the house under the rain and i was told the rain doesn’t stop them from going so i headed out at once, although it was still raining but but it wasn’t that heavy anymore. On getting to the square, i couldn’t believe my eyes, even with the heavy downpour, everywhere was still filled up.
At the southern section of the square, i saw a lot of people, especially kids sketting and some ridding their bicycle, going forwards, i meet some people doing all sorts of exercise, yoga and the likes of it.
At the lion roundabout, just at the northern section of the square close to the lion house, i saw a group of guys and girls too, playing football or soccer as it is called in some country.
As i work around the square taking pictures and admiring everything going on around there it still seemed as if something was missing, as i wandered around, i decided to enter inside the forest at the square. As i strolled around the forest i heard some soul uplifting sound, i wonder where it was coming from because it was still faint, as i moved out of the forest, i saw this large cloud singing and playing the ogene music, i quickly joined them but it seemed they were already rounding up, as they retired at the square getting ready to leave, another set of group was coming down from the other section of the square with there own music also about to round up, so i stood by the side watching them.
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As i watched, i kept smiling, anybody who had seem me must have been wondering what i was smiling about, Aside from everything i witnessed that made my soul feel at ease, i was mostly smiling because of the conversation people where having, not that i was interested in what they were talking about but the slang made me realized how much i have missed the city. It’s not as if i don’t visit the city once or twice in three month but its not the same as when i was based in the city, sometimes i don’t even get to hangout with my friends when i come back and this great community, i could have been a part of it. Seeing how happy everyone is and the way they interacted with each other made it seem as if they all know each other but am sure that’s not the case because people who attended the exercise came from different part of the city, Like, Independence Layout, GRA, New Haven, Asata, MaryLand, New Layout, Trans Ekulu, Agbani Road, Even Places Like Coal Camp, Abakpa, Emene, Garriki, Obiagu and now, people even come from outside the state just to take part in the exercise. Although i wasn’t able to partake in the exercise it seemed as if i did and i looked forward to actually partake in the exercise when next i come back. It’s been a year plus now but the opportunity haven’t presented itself but have been following some people who shares some information about the exercise on social media and that’s way i decided to put down these. Unfortunately i lost my phone in owerri just as i was about to leave the city so was the picture i took. Most of the images on this post are credited to perfectceo@stapico.com
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Don’t Forget to join the team whenever you are in the city. Enjoy this soul uplifting ogene sound from the team.