Eight thousand naira for Semo & Egusi, dumped by a Mexican and other stories..

Recording and then the wind messed up things

The past few days has been one of fun and anguish all mixed in one bowl of Russian cold and wind.

I’ve managed to explore the areas around my hotel so right now I know where to go to get what I need. I managed to also show some folks where they can do their shopping and get the nearest thing to jollof rice which is our stable meal for now.

A very wise Nigerian in St. Petersburg decided to start cooking for Nigerians which I thought was a good gesture but here is the catch.

A plate of semovita and egusi soup costs the equivalent of N8,000.

No, I’m not joking. 8 taaasannd!!!.

Breakfast with Akin Bolarinwa

Not that I blame him. See, our Naira no get value at all. Not one bit. When others dey go Adidas and Nike shops dey buy stuff, I just dey dey calculate how many days remain to go house and how my account balance looks like.

Can I also tell y’all that my dollar account is empty?

After the press briefing with Aisha Falode

My Mexican babe abandoned me (I reckon she’s ran off to go watch El -Tri’s second game) and so I was back to square one. No ‘yawo’ partner even though Jane Nweze of Solid FM and Morakinyo Abodurin of the Nation Newspapers have filled in the gap.

We had a press briefing with NFF Media chieftains where we were briefed on the journey so far and it was also an opportunity to ask questions.

Let me say it here- I was appalled by the type of questions that were asked by some of my colleagues. I put my hand over my mouth in amazement while I noticed veteran sports journo Kayode Tijani struggling to contain his anger.

With Kayode Tijani after the press briefing. Uncle was still fuming

We no try at all.

I met up with some club chairmen who had come on from Nigeria. I met Enyimba’s Jude Anyadofu and Plateau United’s Pius Henwan. Chief Anyansi Felix was also around as well as Harry Iwuala of the League Management Company.

Wednesday saw me record a few videos and then rolled out to town to hang out with fans from other countries. I later got an invite by Sammy Adesoji and Mr Isaac (A Nigerian who lives in Myanmar) for a get-together.

With Morakinyo Abodurin

I was about heading out there when I got a call that Chief Ifeanyi Ubah wanted to see me.

The drive down there was scary to be honest. I was told it will take 15 minutes to get to the Hilton (Where DPIU) was but I ended up spending nearly 35 minutes in the cabs.

At a point we passed through an Industrial Estate and that was when my sense went hyper. I thought dude was trying to go kill me (I’ve watched too many Russian mafia movies), I just wasn’t comfy at all.

I searched my pockets if I could find anything I could defend myself with incase something was going to go down.

Worse part was the taxi dude has no grasp of English, none at all. Sign language was his thing. We eventually pulled out to the harbor area and I remembered I had ‘google maps’ app on my phone. I turned it on and I saw my progress all the way to the Hilton.

  I eventually met up with DPIU and his crew and had a short meeting.

 Well, not short because we ended up spending three hours there and left around 1am.

I must say the man impressed me with his vision and doggedness. I pray and hope all his plans come to be. He’s got a good heart that Nnewi giant.

Bumped into Arsenal star Joel Campbell and had a quick selfie with him.

With Arsenal player Joel Campbell

Today na for ‘yawo’ aas I and Ayodeji Adegbenro plan to hit the city centre and Fan Fest Zone to have a bit of fun and possibly shop.

Emphasis on possibly.

Naija plays tomorrow and hopefully we get some good cheer.

I don waka.