Baptizing The Gun

Special thanks to Africa Is A Country for the image and posting this story.

"Baptizing The Gun" by the amazing, Uwem Akpan is in the New Yorker

Here is an excerpt:

A female passenger starts to scream in the molue, or you-beat-me-I-beat-you bus, in front of my battered red Volkswagen Beetle, introducing another ripple of confusion into the midmorning Lagos traffic. She jumps out. Squatting by the roadside, she tilts her head so that the blood dripping from her torn ear won’t soil her yellow onyonyo dress. Someone had reached into the bus to steal her earring, tearing her ear in the process. A group of child hawkers, whose schools are on strike, gather around her, drumming consolations into the other ear. Each time I try to move my car, there are at least two motorcycles ahead of me. The traffic stops. Up front, there’s a throng of people chanting and dancing. They carry amulets, clubs, and locally made hunting rifles. They’re members of the Oodua People’s Congress, or O.P.C. They say that Lagos belongs to the Yorubas, so all others should understand that they’re just guests. They say they will not tolerate armed robbers or corrupt police anymore in Eko City, and that this year, 1999, it is their turn to rule Nigeria. Well, this madness could have happened in Onitsha or Abuja or Ugborodo, I console myself after waiting thirty minutes for them to pass. Besides, this isn’t my first time in Lagos... Read more here