By: Ebunoreofe Adedeji/Queen Idia Press
On some nights, in the Queen Idia Hall, high-pitched screams of ladies would rent the air. These screams were not in response to the arrival of a celebrity; instead, they were cries for help particularly when a snake is sighted within the hall, a situation that has now grown dreadfully frequent. To understand how it all began, we must go back in time.
Idiates And The Visiting Serpents: It Didn’t Start Today
The hostel has three blocks, namely A, B and C. A block is mainly reserved for finalists while B and C blocks are meant for freshers; ‘stalites’ are spread out in all the blocks. Aside from these blocks, there’s also an accommodation unit within the hostel known as ‘Flats’, where rooms within this unit are allocated to ‘stalites’.
Sighting of snakes is not new to the brave Queen Idiates, but the frequency is becoming fearsome. Several students in the hall had reported sighting reptilian creatures within the hostel premises. This has been the case for years, but these visitors are increasing in population and the hosts are agitated.
During the 8-month strike, majority of Idiates vacated the hall, as directed by the school management, leaving behind students who were on the compulsory Practical Year Training Programme (PYTP), and some executives of the hall.
It was during this period that the visiting serpents increased in number and filled the hall with their sons and daughters, without approval from their host-ladies. They did not even have the courtesy of bribing the damsels with apples.
Students who witnessed the population explosion of the snakes during the strike expressed their fear to Idia Press. One of them is the Hall Chairperson, Adeyemi Aishat. She recalled how she almost stepped on a snake in the hallway of A Block, as there were no light bulbs in the hallway at the time.
Also, another eyewitness, Faith, who was in the hall during the strike, recalled her horrific encounter with a brown snake sometime in August, also in A-Block . In an interview with Idia Press , she said, “It was long. It’s more than a baby snake, though not very big but it’s long… and the colour was blending with the darkness. You can hardly know. It’s like colour brown.” According to her, the snake was killed by a security man, but she still lives with the trauma.
After Strike: Queens, Serpents, And The Pervading Fear
Warning! Images shown in the videos are sensitive and might be disturbing.
After the strike was suspended, halls of residence were officially opened on Sunday, 23rd October, 2022, and boisterousness returned to Queen Idia Hall as eager Idiates resumed to the hostel almost immediately. But they were oblivious of the growing population of their reptilian visitors, until they got to campus and found themselves under a cloud of fear.
*Ope was excited to be back on campus but her excitement was cut short when on Wednesday, November 9, she found a snake in her cupboard. She ran out to call on the Sports Director of the hall, Tayo Gold, whose room happened to be two rooms away on the same floor. It was Gold who entered the room to kill the serpent. Speaking with Idia Press, the Sports Director said, “It was hidden in a corner of the cupboard… As I was called, I killed the snake and sent it to the executives group.”
She also said that she urged the executive members to make a broadcast urging Idiates with “perforated balconies” to block the holes with stones as a way of preventing the entry of reptiles. This was seen in her message on a WhatsApp group for Idiates.
On the next day, Thursday, November 10, another Idiate on the first floor of A block saw a snake in the toilet, just nesting under the toilet seat around 6am in the morning. *Tamara, in an interview with Idia Press, confessed to not alerting the security men or any one in the hostel, save an Idiate she saw walking by, because, according to her, “It was early in the morning… people are still sleeping”
A week later, on Wednesday, November 16 around some minutes past eight, shouts were heard from the first floor of A block. It was learnt that a big snake had been injured by the security men. It was gathered through the grapevine that the snake was only wounded, not dead, forming a cloud of fear in the hearts of Idiates, especially as electricity had not been restored.
However, according to Christianah, a finalist and resident on that floor, “One man came, he collected a chair and he killed the snake.”
A video was recorded, showing the snake and the security man who killed it.
While many Idiates were still wallowing in ophiophobia , another snake was killed on Thursday, November 17 . This incident happened, again, on the ground floor of A block. The snake was found on the net covering the holes. An Idiate was walking past the net covering the “perforated wall” on her way to B block, around 9pm, when she was alerted by fellow Idiates who saw the snake. A video was made as well, in which the snake was killed by an Idiate.
Security Man Speaks On Snakes In Queen Idia Hall
Mr. Ajagbe, one of the security men assigned to the hall , spoke with Idia Press. He said that the sightings of snakes reported to him from the resumption date after the strike till now was about four in number.
On fumigation, he emphasized that the hall was fumigated earlier in the year before the initial resumption date in January.
Management Promised To Supply Snake Repellent Seeds – Hall Chairperson
The Hall Chairperson, Adeyemi Aishat, spoke with Idia Press concerning the prevalence of snakes in the hall. Explaining the possible reasons for this, she said “Recently, these gardeners worked around when we just resumed. So, most of those snakes that have been hiding in the bush have now been coming out. The place is now exposed. There’s no hiding place for them again.”
Miss Adeyemi also confirmed that she had discussed with the Hall Warden, Dr. Olufunke Ezekiel, and the Dean of Students, Prof. Keye Abiona, regarding the issue. According to her, the Dean said that snake trackers would be in the hall the following morning and snake repellent seeds would also be planted within the hostel environment.
She added that some students would be assigned the task of watering and monitoring the snake repellent seeds.“The hall warden was telling me that, maybe tomorrow, there’s going to be a little fumigation – not in the rooms – corridors, outside, the environment, bathrooms and toilets, she further disclosed ”
**some names in this article were changed as requested by the sources
