TINA IGWUILO: 1984 - 2010

Been thinking of writing this for months now…but I don’t know how t start. This is very sad and hard for me to do. Okay let me start at the beginning

The first time I saw Tina was six years ago. I had just entered Madonna University and she was in the same batch as I was. I remember thinking “oh my, she’s pretty”. She was the first mixed raced person I had seen up close apart from family. So it was really nice to meet her. We became roommates for some months in our 100 level. I started getting close to her…not because she was mixed mind you, but because of how mature she was. She was 4 years older than I was and till this day she doesn’t know that. (Hehehehe) she always thought she was just one year older than myself…what can I say? I can be quite mature lol…anyway she was always so laid back, she wanted to see the world and have fun and didn’t care for quarrels, fights and all the bullshit that usually goes on in the girls hostels. She was a breath of fresh air. When we moved out of that hostel in our second year we kind of grew apart. Well…she made her own circle and I made mine.
Sometime in our second semester, same year, a couple of friends brought us back together…Uzo and Laura (two very crazy people who you’ll meet later on). We played basketball together; it was our escape from that crazy school where we felt like we were being locked up against our will. What am I saying? We were locked up against our will! We couldn’t go nowhere without a permit. And nobody hated that as much as Tina! Lol. She hated to be confined.

As friends do when they are bored, we came up with what at the time was a fun and silly idea. We decided to form a girl group called FELINE. Why feline? We were smart bitches that’s why. Fine, sexy smart cool fun and very very dangerous bitches….or so we liked to think Lol! The plan was, I would write the songs, Laura would sing and Uzo and Tina would sit and look pretty. We had so much fun. We had big dreams. We would go to different places together, sleep in one hotel room all squash up….:)….i miss those days. We would buy alcohol (oh yes Tina did not joke with her alcohol), we would cook indomie and then we would chill in a place called love garden, eat drink and just go wild! Is it hard to picture us four together? Well let me make it easy for you. Have you ever seen sex and the city? (yes this is perfect description of us four) I was Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker), Tina was Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall)….flirty, sexy, couldn’t care less about bullshit and just generally fun…and oh yes she loved her men ;), Uzo was Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon) the high powered lawyer….yes she was studying law and she is a force to be reckoned with (rolling my eyes) and Laura was Charlotte York (Kristin Davis) innocent, clean…..and just plain dumb...hehehehe she will kill me! Yes….we was the group of friends that were always envied. It could get no better. And it didn’t.

As in life, there are no ups without downs. Tina and I had never fallen out because we had one thing in common: we hated bullshit so we avoided it. But we finally did, it took one year of lives and it was unfortunate that that happened when I was graduating. Tina was also studying law so she had one more year to go as it was a five year course. What caused our quarrel? Guess…..oh yes you guessed right! A MAN!...Or men rather lol. She was quite insecure were I was concerning men. She was so beautiful but she hardly ever saw her own beauty. She always saw others. She thought for some reason I would out shine her or something like that and take her man…hmm...if only she knew. Well I can’t blame her for thinking that. I did go out with one of her ex’s. But in my defence I didn’t know they had anything. And I didn’t even see the dude for that long. Our thing lasted for two weeks…because well what can I say…he was not my type...if only you knew Tina…if only.

We stopped talking after a while…don’t know why. She was just very insecure around me. Started keeping secrets, wouldn’t tell me stuff. I just didn’t know anything. And at the time I couldn’t care less, I was leaving that prison of a school and I had the whole world in front of me. I thought she’d be there forever so I thought well when she comes around she knows where to find me. If only I had swallowed my pride and gone to talk things over with her...if only. Well I started my NYSC and I lost touch with her. Oh yeah during my convocation she was by my side…lord she was sweet. She was there for me even though we weren’t speaking. That’s the kind of person she was. She sent me a text message some days before my convocation and said she’d be there for me. I was moved. I loved this girl to death…still love her.

After one year of silence, I contacted her on facebook. My birthday was coming and I used the opportunity to speak to her. I joked about how I was expecting my present and she asked if she would get some cake and wine in return and I laughed and said there was no cake lol…she said no cake no present. That was how we reconciled. March 2010 she came to Abuja where I had served to hang out with me and a friend I had made. She looked gorgeous. She stayed in a hotel but followed me back home where I cooked our famous indomie for her, we went shopping, clubbing, she showed me her tattoos and belly ring…I took her to dance salsa. She was impressed. I told her I was leaving the country for a vacation and she said I should catch a white dude. I said….pink??? LMAO! She laughed her ass off though. Little did I know that I was never going to see her again…or talk to her, or fool around, or call her an albino….i didn’t know.

When I was in London, I went to facebook and saw comments on her wall: RIP TINA…I felt my world spinning…seriously. I cried so hard. I called everyone I knew demanding information. Nobody could give me any. I tried calling Laura and Uzo, I couldn’t reach them. I later learned she was cooking this same indomie and the generator was on…then something exploded. She was in the hospital for a few days then she passed on. Laura blamed me for her death. She thought we hadn’t reconciled and she felt if we in good terms she wouldn’t have been involved in that accident. But we had reconciled and even that couldn’t save her. Guess things were just supposed to happen like that. The night I learnt of her death I was thinking of her and crying…then my bulb suddenly flickered and died. I don’t care what anyone says; I know she was in that room that night. She came to tell me good bye and to let me know her energy was moving on…as you can expect this only made me cry some more. Lol.

I miss her like crazy. We had such big plans. I will remember her for ever. I doubt there’s anyone I will meet who will be just like her. I love this chic mehnnn. She’s my heart, my sister, my friend.

SHE’S FELINE.

T’baby…imma keep your fire burning. I hope you see me. Rest In Peace Kisses.