Bright Chimezie: I Took 404 Pickup To Lagos, Landed At My Brother’s Place In Ijora; They Never Knew My Plans

 

Bright Chimezie has described his journey to Lagos in 1980, revealing that he traveled in a Peugeot 404 pickup truck where passengers sat facing each other in the back. He explained that this was the common mode of inter-state transportation at that time, with those who could afford to sit in front paying special money for what he humorously called “business class.”

 

On The Honest Bunch Podcast, Bright Chimezie recalled that he took off from the east and landed at Ijora in Lagos, where his elder brother who had just finished university was living. He stated that his family welcomed him without knowing that he had a hidden agenda to pursue his music career in Lagos rather than look for conventional employment.

Bright Chimezie said: “I entered one man’s vehicle, like a pickup, 404 pickup. So you sit just like the way I’m sitting in the next row, face me, then the driver. So yeah, if you stay in the front, you pay special money. That’s like the business class. Thank you. We took off, landed at Ijora. That was where my elder brother was staying then. So they welcomed me. They never knew what was in my mind. My brother had just finished from university. All of them were thinking, ‘Bright, get a job. Papa said you should go to university. You didn’t.’ They were all on me that I refused to go to university. I should get a job. I should do this. I was quietly watching them.”