Kawasaki Z200

Once Banji was transported from New Buka to Agric Faculty on a metallic blue Kawasaki Z200, powered by a hefty 200cc engine, and manufactured sometime between 1977 and 1984. When he mounted the bike, Banji’s mind went back to his high school days in Ibadan. At the time, five years earlier, Banji was thirteen years old. He vividly recalled how a group of four 16-year-old boys from another high school a few kilometres away often rode into his school, loudly revving their engines.

During his high school days, the Z200 motorbike was referred to as Zee-Two. Banji thought the group of Zee-Two riders were trying to show their level of independence, or impress the students, girls especially, or both. He recalled how the older students rode their Zee-Two bikes up his high school’s 400-metre driveway, then skilfully navigated around the circular water fountain directly in front of the main office and the principal’s office, and returned down the driveway, past the big mango tree, and back through the metal see-through main gate, all in a matter of seconds – enough time to cause a stir among the younger, frenzied students, Banji included.