Lefty

Violence was inevitable!
It was a result of the culture into
 which he was born
Respect was everything
Seniority according to birth
Most of their parents in the 
community were polygamists
The predominant religion practised
 in the community encouraged it
It is a must for the younger ones to 
address the older ones 
as "Brother So and so"
And since nobody really knows who is
 older than who due to the prevalence 
of illiteracy and the volume of the 
number of children per family
It was inevitable that once in a while
 there would be a clash over who is 
older than who
These clashes are usually taken 
very seriously
You might be walking down the street 
unaware that a trap had been set for you
Someone might just say "Hey, So and so
how are you?"
If you respond by saying "So and so 
(Mentioning the person's name) without adding
 the "Brother" (Sign of acknowledgement that the
 person is older than you) to the greeting, you might
 find yourself beaten blue black for disrespecting
 your elder
For this reason, people of the same age group
 flock together
Within the family, it was much easier to tell who
 was older than who
Anyone who is a friend to your elder brother
 or sister automatically becomes a "brother 
or sister so and so"
And you automatically become "Brother so 
and so" to the company your younger ones keep
Another way to identify those in your age 
group is through western education
If someone is your classmate, there is a 
high degree of probability that such a person 
is your age mate
The system has its merits and demerits
But it is what it is!

He dropped out of secondary school at 
the age of fifteen
His father was a butcher and he knew that
 was his path
His father and some other butchers have
 an association
They pool their resources to buy live cows
 from the north at a reasonable rate
They butcher the cows and divide it 
according to how much each individual
 contributed
The butchers then take their cut and hawk
 it all over the city or find a stall where they
 can sell their meat
The butchery is a very lucrative business
His Father married eight wives doing the 
business and sired over thirty children
He was very well respected amongst the 
butchers 
All his male children were brought up in
 the business
He knew all the rudiments and slaughtering and 
butchering cows from the age of eight
His Father ensured that all his children took 
advantage of the free basic education at the time
He believed even butchers should be able to 
read and write
That was why he went to school at all
He hated schooling with a passion
After dropping out, his father handed him over
 to his uncle in Port Harcourt
His uncle was also a butcher
His father said it was important for him to learn
 the rudiments of the business
from someone who would mould train him 
without any sentiment
He was in Port-Harcourt for five years
He hawked, he butchered, he dealt with the
 herdsmen and he got his own customers
In all, he did excellently well in the business
His uncle was satisfied with his conduct and
 asked him if he would like to stay in 
Port-Harcourt and run his own butchery outfit
 or if he would like to relocate to another state
He told his uncle he would like to return home
 and see his Father
He wanted to consult with his Father before 
he made any decision 
His uncle gave him his blessing
He returned home during their most popular
 religious festival
The festival was so important that practically 
every indigene of the town
would return home to celebrate it
It was always a great occasion to see friends 
and loved ones
He got to their family house late at night
His Father listened to all he had to say
His Father was very pleased with him
Even though he was just twenty years old 
at the time
He had conducted himself with a maturity 
beyond his years
The next day they went for the early morning
 prayer with other adherents
of his faith
He went home to kill the ram for the festival
Later in the evening, he decided to take a stroll
 to see some of his old friends
When he got to the main road, he saw some
 people sitting down in front of a tailor's shop
He remembered the tailor very well
He greeted all the people there
Suddenly someone stood up and said
 "So and So, am I your age mate? Am I the one you
 are greeting so casually?"
He turned around wondering what the 
aggression was all about
The person moved close to him and said 
"Yes, I am talking to you? Why are you looking 
about like a traffic warden?”
He might have left home for five years but he 
understood what was happening
He was being called out for disrespect
He had one of two options
Apologies, show the person some respect 
and walk away
Or, resort to fisticuffs with the person
The problem with the fisticuffs is that the 
winner would be seen as the “older” because
 “anyone younger than you cannot beat 
you in a fight”
This was a myth that made no sense to him
He wanted so much to avoid having to
 fight anybody 
He turned to leave
The aggressor slapped him
He turned around and slapped the aggressor
 in retaliation
It became a fight 
He had the upper hand
A jab here, a dodge, a kick, he carried 
the aggressor! 
Showed him to the skies, and scattered him 
on the road
The aggressor screamed in pain
He pressed his advantage
The aggressor screamed “You are watching him 
beat me up! Must he kill me before you 
defend me? ”
The people settling at the shop rushed to the
defence of the aggressor
Six to beat one
He dodged as much as he could
They beat him to pulp!
His whole face and body was bruised 
and battered
He could barely crawl home!
When he got home, his father rushed him 
to the hospital 
He spent a week in pain
After he was discharged, his father put 
him in a car
His father said “You need to become a man”
His father drove him to a friend of his
He spent two days with the “friend” of 
his father
He was given incisions in the left hand, 
back, waist, feet and neck 
Only his right hand was left untouched 
He returned home
His father said “Go back to that shop this evening
 and bring me that idiot whose Father didn’t
 bring up properly, teach all his supporters a lesson”
That evening, he declared war on the aggressor
He beat everybody up, he destroyed the 
sewing machines and everything else 
in the shop
They fought back with sticks, scissors, 
stones, teeth, everything! He was just 
too strong!
He dragged the “aggressor” to his father’s 
house
The aggressor was on his knees until later
 in the night when the father of the aggressor
 and his relatives came to beg his father
His Father released them after some time 
It was a very satisfying climax to the whole event
His reputation as a fighter spread throughout 
their community 
People respected his prowess!
A week later he left home to settle 
down in Lagos!
He prospered in Lagos
Amongst the butchers he was a superstar
He was diligent, disciplined, had a good
 business sense and almost supernatural 
strength 
He would single-handedly butcher a cow of
 any size 
He could lift items that five or six people would
 struggle to lift
He once pushed a truck loaded with five cows all 
by himself for about 500 meters
He pretended to the people that all was well 
but nothing was!
He couldn’t sleep at night
Sometimes his left hand would twitch violently 
throughout the night
Sometimes certain things would be walking 
all around his waist and his neck and feet
He did a lot of exercises, joined a local boxing
and bodybuilding group 
He would hit the punching bags and lift weights
until his arms were heavy, just to relieve
himself of the strange sensations running through
his body
Many who saw him training assumed he was a 
dedicated athlete
They didn't know he trained that hard because
the strange sensations all over his body had to
be given expression so that he could
have some peace
They nicknamed him "Lefty" because his left
jab was very dangerous
Anytime he was sparring with an opponent and
he hit the person with his left hand, the person
usually felt the pain for an unusually long time!
He knew the symptoms were burdens he must
 carry because as a price for his 
supernatural strength 
The most painful symptom was with 
his manhood
It stopped working about a year after the 
incisions were done for him
He had travelled to see his father’s “friend” 
twice but the man insisted it wasn’t the incisions
 that caused it
Losing one’s manhood is a death sentence in
 many ways 
The thing just kept shrinking and shrinking
He envies those who had it and the sperm had 
issues or had no cell
At least they had it
He went to the hospital, the doctors called it 
Peyronie’s disease 
They gave him drugs
It changed nothing!
He had everything! 
And yet, he was not a man!
His parents, unaware of his condition kept 
asking him to get married!
At first he didn’t know what to tell them
His mother kept picking girls in the village 
and inviting him to come home and pick his bride
Eventually he told his mother the truth
His mother did what mothers do
Took him everywhere!
They went as far as Ivory Coast
Nothing changed!
Eventually he started going to church
Crusades where he knew he wouldn’t be easily 
identified by anybody
He had a problem and was looking for solution
He didn’t care where the solution would come from 
He met a lady, a graduate
He gave her a ride to Lagos from one of the 
crusade grounds he frequented every month
They became friends 
He told her his challenge 
She brought him to the Brother in Jeans 
and T-shirt 
She said “He does not speak much English 
but he is a good man and I love him, can Jesus 
heal him?”
Jesus did?
The strange power in his left hand, waist, 
neck and legs were the first to be sent packing
 by the power of the Holy Spirit
He screamed and cried and blacked out for 
almost half an hour
When he came back to consciousness
He was completely healed! 
The Brother in Jeans and T-shirt told him, 
“You need to give your life to Christ, you 
need to receive the power of the Holy Spirit! 
This is the only guarantee you have against 
a return of these demons of affliction!
He gave his life to Christ and was baptized
 in the Holy Ghost!

PS: Nine months later, he married the sister!
They have two children 
Ododojesus (flower of Jesus) and 
Ododojesu (Truth of Jesus)
He is the Prayer Team Coordinator of a 
Pentecostal church in Lagos
There is a way out of every mess
Jesus turns our messes to messages 
If you know there are strange forces dealing
With your health, life, marriage or finances
Don’t keep quiet and hope the devil will go away!
He won’t!
Turn to Jesus today and you will be free indeed!
This event happened in 2014