One Friday evening very recently, I was having a good time with a group of friends. We were about 15 guys, mostly Nigerians, with a couple of Ghanaians. While sharing stories, laughs, and good food, one Nigerian and a Ghanaian, continued to engage in the sibling rivalry both countries are known for. While serious (or not very serious) topics were discussed, either of them would occasionally throw in sly comments to shade each other, and the room would erupt in laughter. This went on the whole evening. Now, while both of them had much to shade themselves about, there was one shade that almost took everybody out.
Anyone familiar with Nigeria knows about the terrible state of its power supply. Back in the 80s, up to early 2010s, the company in charge of power supply was called NEPA - Nigeria Electric Power Authority. Everyone called them Nepa. They had authority in every sense of the word. As much as power was in really high demand, supply (and cut off) was very sporadic and unexpected.
The company had a different name later, but its influence in the life of the average Nigerian stayed the same. Among other things, Nepa influenced your outfit for the day. You could be in the middle of ironing your preferred shirt when the sudden silence of a power outage hit. They influenced the frequency at which you prepared food, because a whole week could go by without power, meaning the soup you made on the weekend would probably not make it to Tuesday. People were so anxious about power supply, we screamed "Up Nepa!" in excitement whenever power came on.
Back at the gathering, we were all spread across the room - some people sat, other's moved around occasionally, and one or two leaned against a wall. At some point a Ghanaian leaned against a wall and accidentally turned off the light while laughing at a joke someone else made. The Nigerian guy seized the opportunity to throw a subtle shade at the Ghanaian. About two seconds after the subtle shade drew a couple laughs, the Ghanaian turned the light back on, and screamed "Up Nepa!". Some people laughed so hard, they ended up on the floor.