Old Wounds

Old Wounds

He lost his job in a jiffy
It felt and seemed too much like daylight robbery
He was the staff of the month for January
The plaque was handed to him on the 30th of January
He had worked so hard to deserve it
when he got to the department
The department was running at a loss
Nobody expected him to be able to turn things around
Since the department was already haemorrhaging money
There had been serious suggestions for the 
department to be scrapped
The implication would be that some staff members 
would be
absorbed into other departments while 
others will lose their jobs
He was at the board meeting when the 
issue was being discussed
Some of the staff members of the department had started
lobbying the heads of other departments to absorb them
While those who didn't have any connection were
looking seriously at becoming unemployed
He suggested that the department could
be turned around at a little cost to the office
The Managing director listened to him and said 
"You have six months and a budget of half a million
to implement your plans and turn things around"
It felt like a fool's errand
The next morning, the Head of the department was sacked 
And he was given the position!
He called a meeting of all the
members of the department and told them his plan!
They bought into it!
Their department was primarily tasked with asset recovery
for the organization
The main problem was poor decision making and inability to
implement  harsh execution strategies due to political reasons
Most of those who owe them money are politicians
Politicians are difficult to pin to a wall
They would make a phone call and someone in authority 
would make a phone call and they will end up empty handed
That had been the experience over the years
As a result, the department was not making any money
One of his tech guys developed an API
It was done in such a way that all the names of their 
debtors and their account numbers were revealed 
They knew who had what amount and had access to the 
statement of accounts
With this, they went to the government agencies in charge
of economic crimes and tendered their evidence
The agency shook the tree
The fruits dropped with force
Within three months, the department was flourishing
80% of the company's money had been recovered 
He became the toast of the office
Then they had an election cycle
Politicians won and lost elections as usual
The new governor appointed commissioners
The commissioners were politicians
One of them was one of those he harassed relentlessly 
The man was owing the company a huge debt and
had refused to pay for over three years
The politician told their Director informally that unless they sack
him, the government will have no problem blacklisting
the company and ensuring that no government agency
or parastatal will deal with the company 
as long as he was the commissioner
The Director didn't like the option but he had to sacrifice
the target
That was how he got to the office on the 1st of February
and was told his services were no longer needed!
It was like watching Ned Stark being beheaded!
How can the hero die like that?
The director gave him a reasonable severance package
His head was in a red cloud for several days
The director had explained to him in details what happened
He felt it was an act of intimidation and loyalty
But the director didn't see it that way
It was always better for one man to die than for a 
whole nation to perish!
Even if the victim was the Son of God himself!
The Honourable commissioner was especially vindictive
He called him the morning after he was sacked and told him
"I will make sure that I finish you in this country,
when you had the power you used it to your satisfaction,
Now that the baton had changed hands, I intend to 
show you what the wrath of Sango feels like"
He begged the man, tried to explain that he
was merely doing his duty
The Honourable commissioner wouldn't budge
After the call he te told his wife what had happened
His wife told him it is necessary for them to pray
He declined!
Women love to pray because they are very emotional by nature
They love to cry and be all mush and helpless often
It is how they are
Prayer, therefore, helps them to stabilize
When they don't pray, they are like a bottled bomb
They will eventually explode
So prayer is more of psychological relief for women
But men are strategists, thinkers and executioners
Who needs God when he's got a brain? right?
He submitted his application everywhere
But the problem was very simple
He was in the Banking industry and the Banking industry
depends so much on the government
No organization would touch him with a pole
All his friends and colleagues told him he should
find a way to make peace with the honourable commissioner 
or leave the state 
After one year of living from hands to mouth
He decided to leave the state
He travelled out of state several times for interviews
He waited patiently for one of the companies to call him
He decided to go to the commissioner's office
He took his wife along
He asked God to give them favour and turn 
the heart of the man around
He met the commissioner in the office
He kept them waiting for hours
Eventually, they were told that he had left through 
a private entrance
Undeterred, they went to the commissioner's house
The commissioner refused to grant them an audience
The next day about 6AM in the morning
He told his wife he was coming
He needed to go and see a friend before  the friend left home
He never came back
His wife ran to the police station, ran to hospitals
Eventually, they found his car by the expressway, 
then they found him, about 500 meters away from the road
Dangling lifelessly from a mango tree
He had hung himself!
His wife went crazy for many days afterwards
He had left her with three children
She was an auxiliary nurse by profession
How was she supposed to cope
Later that week, some elderly people came to their house
they said suicide was an abomination
And she would have to offer a sacrifice of appeasement 
on behalf of her late husband
She wondered why the living had to pay for
 the misdeed of the dead
Early the next morning, she packed her children
in the car and carried as much of their property 
as she could
The car was a 504 station wagon, it had some extra room
She fled to the capital to live for a while with her uncle
When her uncle heard her story, 
he decided she needed to go farther away
The implications of harbouring a "spiritual fugitive" could
be very dire
Her uncle processed her papers and that of the children
Within a month of getting to the capital
She and her children were travelling to the UK
They left the shores of their country in great fear
She had no plan whatsoever to return 
She settled in the UK and so did the children
She studied nursing and did a lot of menial tasks
She also made some good friends in the local church
Her children were a godsend, none gave her a day of sorrow
The first child eventually migrated to Australia to study
medicine on a scholarship
The second child took to finances like his father
and worked with a bank
The last child a lady was in her second year in college
Everything was going to plan until the child studying medicine
graduated
He returned to the UK with a lady
He said he was planning to marry her
The lady was a believer, full of the Holy Spirit
She was overjoyed, especially because the lady was also 
from her country
They both spoke the same dialect and the lady spoke it fluently 
They had left home for almost twenty years
She didn't think it is proper to call the people at home
and inform them that her son was getting married
She decided they will do something simple
Share the joy with the family they have had for over twenty years
in the church and their community
But the lady's family wanted more than that
The lady insisted that her parents wanted the marriage ceremony 
to be conducted in their country
After mulling and praying for some time,  
They all decided to go home and get it done
The introduction was fixed for a week before 
the engagement and wedding
The parents had already met unofficially in the UK
The lady's parents live in Liverpool
The Father was a retired Doctor in the  British Navy 
and the mother migrated to the UK
about thirty years earlier to study 
They met and the rest was a tale of four children
The lady was the first child!
When they got home, they got in touch with her late
husband's relative as well as her own
The strength of a family lies in numbers
According to their culture
Food and drinks flowed freely and 
people really turned up for the introduction
The introduction was supposed to be a sitting room affair
But when they got to the lady's house 
They saw tows and rows of canopies
Eventually, the crowd gathered and the praise singing began
The elected speaker for her son did all the talking
He introduced them all one after the other to the cheer and applause
of the people
Then it was time for the bride's family to introduce themselves
and he arrived in a Mercedes Benz!
The Honourable commissioner!
He had grown some white hair and was using a walking stick
But she had his image burned into her memory
She seethed in silence as he sat down
Then the speaker introduced him as the grandfather of the bride!
That was the moment she suddenly saw blood
She stood up, hissed like a cobra and walked out
Her son and relatives ran after her
"What is it?
What happened?"
She told them who he was!
Her children got into the car with her and they drove off!
Her son took it as it was!
They lodged out of the hotel they were staying in 
Two days later, they returned to the UK

PS: The events happened in Osun state 1988/89, Lagos 2018
It took several weeks for this event to unravel
The bride contacted the brother in Jeans and T-shirt
in July 2018
She wanted to know what happened
Was it a family curse, was it a spiritual problem
The groom's mother picked her phone eventually 
and explained
She said there was no way her son would 
marry into such a family
The lady was heartbroken, she really loved her man
She regretted agreeing with her parents to 
do the wedding at home
But she had to take the verdict!
And move on

"You can accept or reject the way you are treated 
by other people, but until you heal the wounds of 
your past, you will continue to bleed" 
-  Iyanla Vanzant, Yesterday, I Cried