Our unforgettable Molue memories – Nigerian celebrities

The bus lumbered on as every part of its body creaked and vibrated, threatening to fall apart. Looking at its roof did not seem to be for the faint-hearted either. As the weather-beaten fabricated metal plates that make up the bus’ ceiling bobbed up and down, as if they would break loose from the copper wire used to fasten them together and fall on sweating passengers, the bus conductor’s eyes went from our correspondent’s worried face to the ceiling. “Don’t worry, it has been like that for many years, the metals won’t fall,” he said, smiling. At the back of the near empty bus, two women discussed animatedly, unfazed by the state of the
bus. For them, it would be strange to even think any harm could come to them in the ‘Molue’ bus they have been boarding all their lives.

The history of organised mass transit system in Lagos State has been marked by many failures, but in the midst of this, the yellow fabricated bus known as the ‘Molue’ seems to have got the longest lifespan.

But with its reputation and sordid history, the Molue has come to be known as one with a common affinity with individuals who have today become stars and famous men in the country.

We spoke with some of these men, to reminisce on what their experience was like at the time they depended solely on the bus to commute from one part of the city to the other as they scrounge for a living and sweat to build what today has changed their lives.

They recalled those days when a crowd of passengers jostled to sit or stand in the crowded bus where those standing sometimes doubled the number of passengers sitting.

The reality of the ‘Molue’ transport system was even captured by the late Afro beat legend, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, as “44 (passengers) sitting, 99 standing” in one of his songs dedicated to the ‘Molue’. One of such stars, who had this experience in his days on the street, popular musician, Chibuzor Orji, aka Faze, explained that his memories were ones filled with lots of agony but which he now sees as hilarious.

Faze

Faze said, “For us at the time, Molue was the quickest and cheapest means of transportation when we were growing up. I still remember those days with laughter.

“When I’m driving in the city now and I come across a Molue, the memories of me being inside one would come flooding back. I reject using it again in Jesus name though.

“We used to have serious fights with the conductors in those days but it was fun for us at the time. I enjoyed the experience. Going through that kind of experience has helped shape our lives. Everything happened in those buses in those days.”

Faze said he particularly remembered that the Molue put everybody on an equal pedestal and no one dared to claim “big man”.

The ‘Molue’ bus, a combination of 911 Mercedez Benz with fabricated body for seater, which has existed for several decades, was ‘sentenced to death’ few years ago as the Lagos State Government banned it in many parts of the metropolis, restricting its operation to a couple of areas like Orile, Iyana Ipaja and Mile 12. The number of the once omnipresent ‘Molue’ buses has reduced to only a handful, which have clung stubbornly to life, refusing to succumb to the death knell sounded by the Lagos State Government.

Popular actor, Segun Arinze, who also spoke on his own Molue experience, said he had his share of mischief and being a victim of robbery when he was a young man trying to make ends meet in Lagos.

He said he worked with an entertainment company at the time and had to paste posters around the city.

“My friend and I would sometimes fight with Molue conductors, and other times we would board the bus and not pay at all. We would jump down and run away.

“The buses would be so crowded that they would push you down but you just had to squeeze yourself in, else you would not go home that day. Sometimes you just hang on the back of the bus or the front.

“I remember one Christmas period, a friend and I had just finished work. My salary was in my pocket. The conductor was asking for his money and I told him to collect the money of others and come back to me. But when it was time for me to actually pay, I put my hand in my pocket and my whole salary was gone.

“My friend started shaking his head because I had told him earlier to be careful with the money in his own pocket. I asked why he was shaking his head and he said because he knew his own salary would now have to be shared in half with me. We all have our share of crazy Molue experiences. ”

Stories such as Arinze’s abound and even veteran actor, Segun Aderemi, popularly known as Chief Kanran, said he is a former patron of the bus.

Chief Kanran said the few times he boarded Molue bus, the experience left an unforgettable negative imprint on his mind.

Fred Agbaje

He told Us that out of curiousity, he decided to board the Molue bus a couple of times even though his mother preferred transporting her children with cabs at the time.

He said, “Those few times was a terrible experience for me. People were loaded like Sardines. As a medicine salesman hawks on one end of the bus, another does the same thing on another end of the bus. You would see women discussing their family problems all over the bus.

“Life inside the Molue was like tragi-comedy. A lot of nasty things took place there in those days. Some men would use the opportunity of congestion inside the bus to stand behind women and touch them inappropriately, while others would pick pockets. It was a kind of experience that one cannot relish.

“Up to eight people would hand on the door just because they could not afford to pay and before the driver stopped, they would jump down and run away.”

Constitutional lawyer, Fred Agbaje, took a time out of his usual commentary about governance to reminisce on the hilarious experiences he had with Molue while studying to become a lawyer.

Agbaje said his experience boarding Molue buses was “a combination of the good, the bad and the ugly.”

He told us, “I remember when I was in the law school in the early 80s, it was fun to board the Molue because you found all sorts of human beings on board. The jokes in the buses are unforgettable.

“You’d see many drunk people in the bus too. Some of them would fall asleep and when the driver passed their bus stop, they would wake up and start screaming.

“I remember vividly one day, I sneaked out of the law school to go and attend an overnight party at Ikorodu. While coming back very early the following morning, there was this man who was also coming from a party with his friends. They were dead drunk.

“One of them who sat at the back of the bus, suddenly screamed ‘I want to wee wee o, I want to wee wee (I want to pee, I want to pee). The driver said nothing. He then said ‘okay, if you won’t stop, I will just wee wee here and after that I will poo poo. He was dead serious. The driver did not have any choice than to stop and wait as he relieved himself beside the bus. Those were the kind of funny memories I had in the bus.

“The bad side of it was that boarding the bus was agony. The Molue buses were so bad that you could sustain terrible injuries just by sitting inside the bus. Some of the buses were as old as 50 years. The interior of most of the Molue buses had so many sharp edges of iron that could seriously injure a passenger.

“Then all the chairs no longer had cushions just bare iron. Fela captured the situation perfectly when he said 44 sitting 99 standing.”

Agbaje said he learnt at the time that owners of the buses might have 10 and if seven out of that became unusable, they cannibalised the unserviceable ones and used the scrap to service others.

Surprisingly, he said he decided to board a Molue bus two weeks ago, just to have a first-hand experience of what it is like in the present day.

“I saw one at Agege and I told my driver to park, I told him to go and wait for me at Oshodi and I boarded the Molue bus from Agege to Oshodi. The experience was horrifying because the buses are worse now. So many people were hanging on the door. Boarding it was a problem and to get down was a problem,” he told our correspondent.

Kanran

Agbaje said the fact that Nigeria still has these kinds of buses plying the road is a sign of retrogression, describing the buses as “moving coffins” in the light of their bad brakes.

‘We love Molue no matter how bad’

Despite the pictures painted by these famous men, it is clear some Lagosians still have sentimental attachment to the buses.

Our correspondent took a trip in some of these surviving ‘Molue’ buses at Oshodi and Orile area of Lagos, to see what they are like at the moment and it became clear that some Lagosians remain faithful to the buses despite the state government’s BRT initiative. The question that pops up in a wondering mind is why would people continue to board the buses despite their state? On an average day, at least 10 Molue buses dislodge passengers at the Bolade-Oshodi Bus Stop every hour, plying the Oshodi-Sango route to and fro. On one of such days, in one of the buses, the two women our correspondent met in the bus explained why Molue buses remain their favourite means of transport. “Molue buses were made for the Mekunu (low income earners) like us. In those days, it was rough but it was so cheap to board the buses that no matter how much load you had with you, you would pay a very cheap fare. The buses are just reminders of the old time when things were a little easier for us economically,” one of the women, Alhaja Kabirat Adeosu, said.

The sentimental attachment passengers like Adeosu have developed to ‘Molue’ buses is contrasted by the image of numerous passengers scrambling over and kicking themselves to get into Molue buses in the Lagos of the old days. But the other woman, Mrs. Abike Lanihun, explained that their preference for the old buses was not because they are attracted by the stress that used to be associated with the bus. She said, “Without any money to pay as fare, if you wanted to board a ‘Molue’ bus in those days, you could. All you needed to do was to board like any other passenger and explain to the bus conductor when it was your turn to pay that you had no money. A lot of us did it when we were younger.

“Apart from that, for people like us who are petty traders selling soup ingredients, you can’t expect us to board any of these BRT with baskets of tomatoes. But you would be allowed into a ‘Molue’ bus without hesitation or without anybody challenging you. This is why no matter how old the buses are, as long as we still see them on the road, we would continue to board them.”

The driver of the bus, Benson Sholebo, said ‘Molue’ was the darling of Lagosians in those days because students and government workers could claim “staff” in order to get a free ride. “Staff” was like a password still being used by government workers on special duties, like law enforcement or road transport workers, to board public transport without paying fares.

There was a time ‘Molue’ buses were synonymous with Lagos. There are no other states in the federation, where they exist. In fact, the yellow buses are icons used to depict the metropolis brimming with human population. It was part of the Lagos culture.

 Thirty minutes in a 30-year-old Molue

Arinze

In one of the ‘Molue’ buses, which our correspondent boarded at Iyana-Ipaja, only few traces of padding which provided a measure of comfort for passengers inside the vehicle were left. On each side of the bus, separated by an aisle, were nine rows of two-seater chairs which have been stripped bare of cushion. Sitting on these is an agony as there are high chances that one is likely to have his or her clothes torn by the sharp edges of the broken seats or worse, have the sharp edges jarred into one’s flesh anytime the bus runs inside a ditch.

The bus creaked along, slowly, laboriously as in agreement with the ominous words inscribed on its body, ‘God’s Time Is the Best,’ picking passengers along the way.

Unlike regular and smaller buses, ‘God’s Time Is the Best’ requires two conductors – one at the front door and another at the rear door, who call out to passengers in varying degrees of baritone. However, 30 minutes inside this bus was a huge revelation – that ‘Molue’ owners don’t care a hoot about passengers’ comfort even though they still make a considerable amount of profit from operating the buses. Along with the two passengers who sit beside the driver in the front and the 36 who sit in the back, ‘God’s Time is the Best’ makes N3,800 from each trip between Oshodi and Iyana Ipaja.

“The bus was made about 30 years ago and I still ply between Oshodi and Iyana Ipaja at least six times in a day,” the driver explained. “That will tell you how strong these buses are. How many of these new buses called BRT that the government has put on Lagos roads will still be working after ten years?” His opinion brings to focus again, the state of the Lagos State mass transit system – BRT and LAGBUS, which are gasping for breath just eight years after they were introduced in the state.

A majority of the blue buses operated by the BRT system have not been operational due to one fault or another. Many of them are parked at the Ojota BRT park and other stations around the metropolis. Other buses still in operation have almost become as bad as the ‘Molue’ buses they were supposed to replace. Even though LAMATA, which is the regulatory body for the BRT system, had promised in 2013 that BRT services would be improved tremendously, residents say not much have been seen in terms of their operations.

The Managing Director of LAMATA, Dr. Dayo Mobereola, had stated that the measure was part of a holistic plan to return the BRT operations and experience to its once efficient and effective state at launch in 2008.

According to Mr. Kenneth Aduloju, who owned a Molue bus that operated the Oshodi-Iyana Ipaja line between 1991 and 2002, it was clear the Lagos State Government wanted to completely “keep the buses out of sight” as a result of their embarrassing state by restricting their operation to some parts of the state.

Molue

“The government’s plan was that the ‘Molue’ would be totally eradicated from Lagos streets as time goes on,” Aduloju said.

But its battle against extinction has been tough. Against all odds, few of the Molue buses have survived, working their way through some corners of the metropolis like old, gaunt creatures.

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