Encroacher

They started arriving one after the other 
that Saturday morning
Her husband didn’t tell her they would be 
coming! 
He got home quite early the previous day 
and they spent time together with the 
children watching “Sound of Music” 
Everything had been going on quite smoothly 
between them! 
They had been married for ten years, and have 
five children! 
The only major challenge she had was adopting 
her husband’s first son which he kept a secret 
from her while they were courting! 
She felt he ought to have told her about the boy 
before they got married! 
It mattered!
He didn’t and she dislike the fact that everybody 
expected her to just get on with it! 
She had the right to know, she had the right to 
consider all the facts and make up her mind 
if she wanted to proceed with the marriage 
or not! 
That option shouldn’t be taken out of her hand!
Everybody spoke with her! 
Even her mother said “The boy will not sleep 
on your bed and his mother had remarried, 
so what is the problem?” 
The problem was the deceit! 
Once she took it once, he would offer it to 
her again! 
She coped! 
The boy was a sweet genius, extremely brilliant
Even though she didn’t plan to love the boy, 
the boy won her over with his beautiful mind! 
She settled into her marriage properly 
Her husband was a banker 
She was a nurse 
They were believers and they prospered! 
Her husband built houses and acquired 
land for fish farming and
Animal husbandry! 
He also set up an animal feeds factory and
built a three star hotel
They travelled abroad often and they were 
set on course for a glorious future! 
And then that Saturday morning came! 
By 11AM all the Who is who in his family 
were seated! 
They invited her into the sitting room and 
told her the news 
Her husband has married another wife! 
She was seriously caught unawares! 
She was dazed and befuddled! 
Another wife? Why? 
The women in his family drew close to her 
They wanted to touch her and calm her down
They came to console and control the aggrieved
wife
It was like a scene out of old Yoruba movies
Her husband was rich and they were putting 
on a performance for him 
She was fair game and she knew it!
She had options, several options but she 
couldn’t even think straight! 
After about thirty minutes of whispering and 
talking and pretending to care, 
they brought in the lady 
She was pregnant 
She was the daughter of the boli (roasted plantain) 
seller whose shop was down the street!
That was the moment she lost it! 
What! 
That girl!
 Had her husband gone mad? 
The girl was barely literate! 
Something was wrong! 
She met her husband in the UK, he had a 
serious skirt chasing issue at the time but 
he had a certain type of woman he fell for! 
The girl was looking like more a housemaid
She knew it wasn’t ordinary! 
Though she wasn’t prayerful and all,
 she knew the lady, her pregnancy and 
whatever she had with her husband was 
staged by an agenda of the lady’s family 
to move out of poverty! 
Her husband was under the influence of 
powers beyond the physical!
She stopped complaining, she smiled and 
said it was fine! 
His family members were puzzled, 
they expected a war! 
She gave them a smile! 
She needed them to pack their bags
and leave
If she did what she had in her heart
while they were present, they would
prevent her and she would be rude to
them!
They left around 1 PM
She went to her room and cried for two hours 
Then she called her children and told
 them to dress up 
She wanted to take them out! 
They got on the road at about 5 pm 
She and her five children!
 She didn’t tell anybody anything! 
Her father left her a property in Lagos 
The property was a building of four flats!
 She rented out three and left one for 
herself and relatives who might have a 
business in Lagos to stay in! 
They drove there 
The drive took three hours from Ibadan! 
They didn’t pick a pin from her husband’s house 
She still loved him but she sensed that 
she and her children were in grave danger 
if they stayed! 
Her husband had brought in the devil, 
why should they be victims?
Her husband and his relatives started calling 
frantically later that night! 
She told them she was fine but she and her 
children will not live in a polygamous home! 
Her husband should keep his new wife! 
If he desired to be part of the children’s life, 
he can send their fees and other allowances 
He can also come to visit but she will keep 
her children and resettle them in Lagos! 
Her family members also called 
They tried to persuade her 
“Fight for your home” 
"You have ceded your territory to a stranger
People will say the second wife’s charms 
worked on you! 
Blah! Blah!! Blah!!!"
She turned a deaf ear to all that! 
She knew what she saw 
It wasn’t ordinary! 
She will not fight for a man that refused 
to fight for himself or for her! 
She refused to budge
 She resettled in Lagos 
After all his threats and pleas had failed badly 
Her husband accepted her decision!
The second wife delivered a set of twins 
Her husband put her in charge of his 
business enterprise 
He was transferred to Benin as Regional Manager 
of the bank he was working with 
It took only 18 months 
All the houses, farms, cars, animal feed factory 
and the hotel were sold off!
The new wife and her young boyfriend eloped 
to Canada with the money, abandoning even 
the twins! 
She got the phone call that her husband had 
suffered from stroke and was hospitalized in 
Ibadan! 
She went to see him He was in a terrible state! 
One of his eyes was blind, his left hand had 
thick black spots like leopard skin 
The doctors claim they do not know what caused 
the eye issue and spots but the caught the 
high blood pressure and stroke on time! 
She called the Brother in Jeans and T-shirt 
She asked for help 
The Lord Jesus came through for the family
His eyes and skin were healed by the power 
of the Holy Spirit 
He was discharged from the hospital with a 
slight limp on his left leg 
He had lost everything! 
He asked for her forgiveness 
She forgave him 
He moved into her flat in Lagos with her 
They started rebuilding from scratch!
She took in the twins! 
They were one year and five months old! 
She cared for them like her own children 
and her children also took to them 

Ps: Love prevailed 
She said she never stopped praying for him 
She knew it was not ordinary but she had 
to run away from the storm so that
she and her children will not pay steep 
prices for their father’s irrational decision! 
It just didn’t add up for her! 
He said he was sorry! 
He wasn’t in control of anything and didn’t 
even know how he gave the second wife 
access to all his documents and 
properties carelessly!

GSW’s notes: There Bible talked about the 
Midianites in Judges 6! 
They waited until the Israelites had laboured 
only to come to Israel during harvest to attack 
like locusts and strip bare the land, 
leaving the Israelites with nothing! 
Some people’s mission in your life is this!
Be wise! 
Your wife is your fountain of joy,
 drink from her with joy 
Let her breast’s satisfy you 
If you insist on seeking what is not lost, 
your life will be littered with potholes of 
regret and pain! 
Sir/Ma, be sensitive 
There is a time to run 
David did 
Jesus did 
So should you