11/09/2025
Tales from the Road –
Episode 28: Aunty With the Cooler
It started like every normal trip from Ibadan to Owerri — weather was calm, tyres were pumped, fuel tank full, and my spirit was at peace. I had 13 passengers. All of them calm… until Passenger Number 6 entered: Aunty with the cooler.
From the moment she dragged that red cooler into the bus, I knew destiny had changed.
I asked, “Aunty, wetin dey inside cooler?”
She said, Just small rice and meat for my sister dem, no worry.
First lie.
By the time we reached Ijebu, the aroma from the cooler had turned the bus into a portable buka. Passengers started shifting, one man even asked, “Oga driver, you dey smell that stew?”
I said, Yes, and it's smelling like temptation.
Then wahala started.
Aunty opened the cooler in transit! She brought out plastic plates and started dishing Jollof rice for real. One for her, one for her daughter, one for “just in case we get hungry.”
I said, “Madam, you dey run catering inside bus?”
She smiled and said, “Driver, you wan chop too?”
God abeg.
But it didn’t end there.
Some sauce spilled. The stew traveled from the back row to the middle seat like it was on a mission. One lady's white blouse became Jollof-themed. Arguments broke out.
Passenger 3: “You don stain my cloth!”
Passenger 6 (Cooler Aunty): “Na only small stew! You no get soap?”
I stopped the bus. I needed to breathe. I told everyone, “Make una settle this matter like Nigerians. Peacefully… or we no dey go again.”
We moved on.
Somewhere before Asaba, she opened the cooler again this time to bring out fried snail. The aroma nearly caused a riot. One guy at the back shouted, “Driver, park! I wan come down. I no fit take this hunger again!”
Another woman asked if she could “just taste small.” Before I knew it, aunty had created a mini food market in my bus. Nkwobi, rice, snail all from the same magical cooler. She collected ₦1,000 per plate, right there.
At this point, I realized… this woman had side hustle plans.
By the time we reached Owerri, she had sold 9 plates, made friends with 4 passengers, and somehow turned the trip into a party.
One man asked if she could be booked for his cousin’s wedding.
Me? I was just praying for one thing that stew should not enter my gear again.
At Big Uche Transport We Don't Just Drive We Create Memories
