Rolling Stone

admin Jan 17, 2020 3062 0

It started as a minor dispute
He had a supermarket in Lagos
He was happily married with children
His children were exceptionally brilliant
His wife also had a foodstuff shop
They attend a Pentecostal church
Where they were both workers
They were highly favoured
They traveled to the village for the
Christmas and New Year festivities
Some of their kinsmen came to visit them
They talked and laughed together
as brothers
One of them informed him of a project
the state government wanted to do in
their community
The state government was very serious
about the project and his late father's land
had been chosen as the right spot to place
the project.
The representative of the government had
come to meet the extended family and the
family had told them to wait until he comes
for the holidays so that they can have a
Meeting!
They had the meeting with the government
representatives the following week
It was a good meeting
A lot of money was spoken about
Some money was thrown around right there
at the meeting
The government was very serious
His father's land had something that
was needed for the project!
It was a piece of land he never knew
would amount to anything
His father suffered a lot cultivating
the land, not knowing it would be of
value in another way!
Once the government officials took
their leave, his uncle, the eldest man
in the family said the deal cannot be
done!
Why?
"When your father was sick and dying,
I lent him some money to take care of
himself!
Seventeen thousand Naira!
He took my money and he died!
This was over thirty-five years ago!
I have never asked you for this money
and you never offered to repay me
this money all
This while!
You were indeed just a young boy then
but you know this is true because what was
done was done before our brothers and
kinsmen in this family!
Your father's land was the collateral
he gave me for the money I lent to him!
You have never cultivated it or showed
any interest in it all this while and I
have kept quiet, tending the land and
taking care of it as if it was my own!
Suddenly the government showed interest
in the land and you remembered the land
belonged to your father and you want to
sell it off!
It cannot be done!
Wow!
The other members of the family kept
quiet It was obvious it wasn't the first
time they had that discussion!
He was the one in Lagos
He didn't know what had been going on
in the village
His kinsmen that came to his house
the previous week knew his uncle's
position on the issue
That was why they came to sort of hint him
about the government offer without telling
him the full story!
He didn't know what to do!
Land disputes are very crazy in their state
and many families had been ruined by it!
He looked at all his kinsmen, picked his
cap and left the meeting!
When he got home he didn't say a word
to his wife
Two days later, his wife came to him with
a request
His Uncle's first daughter had approached
her and requested to return to Lagos with
them!
The young lady was twenty-two years old!
She had lived in the village all her life and
obviously needed assistance
But he had to be careful!
The timing was suspect and very sensitive!
Hmmm!
His wife begged and pleaded
He didn't want to tell her the whole truth
so that he doesn't create a bad blood
between the two families
The land issue was discussed only among
the men It doesn't mean his uncle couldn't
have discussed it with his own family but
he knew his wife
Things would escalate unnecessarily if his
wife got to know!
He agreed
They returned to Lagos in January
The young lady was assisting his wife at
home and in her shop
Suddenly, his wife's business started failing!
His wife insisted it was demonic
Money was disappearing from her
Shop mysteriously!
They decided to pray
The weekend they were all supposed
to go on a fast, a young man came to
their house and told them he had
impregnated the niece he just brought
to Lagos from the village
It was a major distraction!
The prayer was suspended
The young man was interviewed and
found to be from a good family!
He had to call his uncle and inform him
The next day, his niece ran away from
home with over five hundred thousand
naira cash!
She eloped with the person that
impregnated her!
He told his uncle
His uncle said he had used his niece
for money ritual It became a police case
Within four months of their return to Lagos
His family was eating from hands to mouth
The money his niece took from his shop
was supposed to be used to pay for goods
to replenish his shop
His wife's business kept dwindling until
they had to shut down her food shop
It was hell!
They suffered throughout that year
They couldn't even go home for the
Christmas holiday
His uncle sent him a message
He had reconsidered his stance on the
sale of the land
The govt needed his signature to lose
the deal
They should talk about sharing the money
from the sale of the land!
The timing was crazy!
They could barely eat once a day
He couldn't pay his children's school fees
He had no leverage
He knew he would be cheated
He approached the brother in
Jeans and T-shirt
He told him the whole case
He wanted them to pray for his wicked
uncle to die!
The Brother in Jeans and T-shirt laughed
He said "What you need is a blessing,
you have set your eyes at the wrong
place and taken to heart the schemes
of man!
Your stone stopped rolling and now it
has gathered moss" They prayed together
The Brother in Jeans and T-shirt blessed
Him! Three days later, his niece was arrested!
She had delivered her baby and was
trying to sell the child.
They heard the news!
They went to the police station, the lost had
been found!
His wife was given the baby to care for!
Someone in his church loaned him some
money to kickstart his business
Things began to turn around
He didn't have to travel on the land issue
His uncle kept calling him
But he wasn't under pressure to sell
anymore!
He had food on the table and his children
returned to school
On the 2nd of November 2019, his uncle
fell ill
The Brother in Jeans and T-shirt called him
and told him to go home "Go and settle this
festering dispute so that it doesn't spill over!
He traveled home and paid his uncle's
hospital bill because nobody else had the
means or the will to help out 212,000!
They called it square!
They had a family meeting during the
festive period of 2019 His incle thanked him
and announce to the family that the debt
owed to him had been paid!
His father's land was restored to him
peacefully!