Showcasing Lagos, Traffic And Sex In The City.

One of the problems associated with living in Lagos is having to grapple with the tough life there. This reminds me of a phrase from American hip hop star, 50 Cent: “Death’s gotta be easy cuz life is hard.”

When you live in a city like Lagos, you contend with traffic, erratic electricity and security lapses among others. But survive you must. And so you find a way of balancing life in this big city by unwinding.

People get different benefits from different activities, and sex is usually a large part of how we loosen up.

Dapo Johnson is the typical Lagos big boy. He worked really hard to earn his stripes. In 2001, he returned from London to manage his father’s little business.

Born into a middle class home, he has managed to turn the family’s fortune around, but like every human, he has his weakness. He has quit smoking but loves women, maybe a bit too much for his own good.

He has a wife but keeps about half a dozen other affairs on the side. He plays golf with his friends and loves to swim. He also drinks occasionally, but regardless of his excesses the man doesn’t play with his job. He has a solid work ethic.

Within five years of returning to Nigeria, he entered the diesel market and few years later became one of the major marketers in the city.

It isn’t a long drive from Etim Inyang, V.I. to his Ikoyi home but he only leaves the office after 10PM. He is often too busy with his personal assistant, when everyone else is gone. But they are never busy with work at these late hours.

He knew he could use more than her brilliance when he hired her. Actually, they dated a few times when his wife was out of the country to deliver one of their children.

On the last Thursday in September, Dapo sealed some major deal with a politician and celebrated in style at the office. Then he spent the Friday and Saturday at a choice hotel with one of his ladies.

He was usually at Radisson Blu or Southern Sun swapping different girls like a pimp. On such weekends, his wife was made to believe he was out of town on an official meeting. Girls love the good life and he relished creating memories because money was no problem.

His driver had brought in one of his girls that weekend. He watched as she ordered Italian cuisines pricier than they were tasty and it didn’t mean a thing to him. He had more naira bills to spend than she could consume in one night out, or perhaps a lifetime.

“So who cares?” he’d say to himself.

On his part, he loved seafood a great deal. A few shrimps and lobsters and then they retired to his suite where they had sex till the break of dawn. Often, when she was unusually satisfying in bed, like last night, he had his driver cancel the next appointment with another girl who ought to come in for Saturday evening.

Then he’d have a repeat performance with her till he left for home.

Bridget was his favourite girl and she alone ever really enjoyed a ‘replay’ like this. She was carefree and simple, with a crisp English accent that gave away her London root as she is only half Nigerian. She gave him a swell time always and maybe it explains why she wears a $1,200 Swiss wristwatch courtesy of him, among other things.

Dapo enjoyed his time like this and rarely ever went home on weekends till Sunday morning.

It was 6:45pm on a cold Friday evening in October as the car cruised slowly on the asphalt leading into his Ikoyi apartment.

“Where are we now,” he asked his driver, still half sleepy, as the gates opened.

“We done reach house Oga,” the driver replied.

This was when it dawned on him that he had asked to be taken home as he was so tired all he wanted was some real rest. This was one of the rare days he came home on a Friday and his wife, Ebele, on seeing him from the penthouse went in, undressed and entered the bath tub.

He stepped out of his black Range Rover, spent a little time playing with the dogs as he always did whenever he came home, then entered the house and went upstairs into the bedroom.

The sweet smell of rose fragrances and slow songs welcomed him. The lights were really dim and the coziness in there was on point. Ebele stepped out of the bath with a white towel around her waist, a great pair of boobs and a warm smile as she moved closer to welcome him and take off his jacket. He liked it, he loved what he saw, he barely came home this early on a Friday and he hadn’t touched her in over seven weeks.

He caught a better glimpse of her as she neared him. She smelled so fresh and pleasurable – with her hair loosened, her massive hips, the goose bumps on her skin and her luscious lips all looking inviting. He wanted her. Physically he wanted to get off his pants, lift her into himself and place her on the sofa by the corner of the bedroom and then make really sweet love to her.

The last time it played out like that they started on the bed, and then hit the couch and ended on the floor.

On this lazy Friday evening, right before them was some spiced pepper soup and lamb, and then salad and vintage wine as well as champagne, all on the table. She was expecting him to pop any of the bottles open as they let the games begin. But not today. He couldn’t get himself firmed up for the task.

Sex with his wife had become a task, a daunting task, not because he had lost his libido or because she had become any less an alluring woman. She still had a trim body in spite of having two boys for him. She still ran her business and closed shop any day and time she wanted just to visit the spa. She still had time for herself, still looked great and prepared home-made meals for him, among other things.

But the crux of the problem was there was nothing more to arouse him as he had had too many sex romps with his assistant at work that what was left of him had been taken by either of his other girlfriends.

He touched her here and there, fondled this and that, kissed her forehead and then made for the shower. That’s more like a signal that he still finds her attractive, that he might rouse by 2am and satisfy her with his early morning erection.

At this point Banky W’s Strong Thing was playing, and the rhythm of the song driving the narrative as he looked admiringly at her.

“Baby, I’m so exhausted,” he said.

She smiled and remained calm. She had become a lot calmer than she used to be when they first got married. Then, she would trace him to the office and many other places and throw tantrums.

These days, having given him two boys, who are mostly off till boarding school vacates, she doesn’t feel the urge to chase him for anything anymore. She has a multi-million naira business and is a shareholder in two of his other ventures.

She doesn’t see the need to trace him wherever and throw any more tantrums.

In fact, she knows he is seeing other ladies on the side but she doesn’t check his call logs or read his inboxes. She is not oblivious but she has everything sorted for herself. She has a carefully-crafted plan that ensures her sexual cravings are satisfied. But unlike him, she has every reason to keep her affairs under wraps because it is a man’s world, as far as double standards are concerned, and she knows better than to be caught with her pants down.

*This a work of fiction and characters are drawn from the author’s mind. Any resemblances to persons living or dead are entirely coincidental.