Tatcher

His mother drummed it in their ears 
every day "A child that makes me proud 
will know he or she has a good mother, 
I will follow you everywhere and 
celebrate you to the ends of the earth 
but a child that decides to frustrate my 
efforts by going into crime or bringing me 
shame and pain will soon find out he or 
she does not have a mother! 
I am a single parent here grappling with 
feeding, clothing and providing shelter 
for five children. 
I do not have the time or the fund to visit 
police stations to bail anybody! 
Any child that commits a crime will be take
away with my blessings! 
I will not beg or plead on behalf of a 
wayward child" 
His mother ensured she said these words 
to the children every morning after 
morning prayers and every night after 
evening prayers 
She had seen some of the children of their 
neighbours, friends, and relatives and 
colleagues get into trouble and how it 
affected the families. 
She was trying the best she could to put 
food on the table and ensure that all her 
children turned out right 
The last thing she wanted was to be 
distracted or blindsided by a child making 
wrong decisions
She believed she could steer her children 
away from wrong influences through the 
Word of God and daily warnings but sometimes, 
a sense of adventure and peer pressure 
could cause the most responsible of 
children to deviate from their path 
Her first son was 13 years old at 
the time
He was at home watching SuperTed 
on their black and white TV when a 
neighbour's son came to their flat and 
gave him an offer he couldn't resist 
"Would you like to ride my friend's 
bicycle? My friend came to visit and 
we are doing our homework together
We didn't want to leave the
bicycle outside so that it wouldn't be 
stolen away 
You can ride it for as long as you want, 
my friend will be with me till evening" 
Her son rushed out of the house like 
thunderbolt 
He got on the bicycle and rode off into 
the sunrise 
Enjoying the feeling of gliding through 
the air like an eagle 
He rode the bicycle for four hours 
He rode through Bolajoko Estate, into 
Alagbayun, to General Gas Estate, 
to Akobo all the way to Dr. Akinyemi's 
house down to Oju-Irin 
Yes, he overdid it 
It was foolish 
He returned with the bicycle by 7:30pm 
The whole estate was tense 
What he didn't know was that the 
neighbour's son snatched the bicycle 
from a boy riding through their area 
renting out the bicycle for a token 
The boy was the son of a soldier 
living in the barracks located about 
thirty minutes drive from their area 
The boy had cried home and told his 
father his bicycle had been stolen
The boy's father had donned his 
military uniform and for good measure 
taken along his horsewhip 
There was no free ride 
There was hell to pay 
He was saved by his instinct
 Instead of riding the bicycle into 
the estate, he rode it only as far as 
his house and dumped it in front of 
their neighbour's flat 
(The House was a four flat affair
Their flat was upstairs while the 
neighbour's flat was downstairs)
His mother would have returned home 
from the office and he wouldn't know 
how to explain the bicycle to her 
The Soldier and his son had been 
going from house to house in the 
estate trying to identify the person 
who snatched the bicycle
When they got to the building next 
to theirs, he saw them through his 
bedroom window 
He had sneaked into their flat 
undetected and was trying to tidy up 
his room and make up for lost time 
before his mother would notice 
anything was amiss 
He heard some noise in the next 
compound
He peeped through the window and 
saw the soldier and his son 
He added everything together 
He knew they were searching for him 
He sneaked out of the house and ran 
far away from the estate 
The soldier got to their compound and 
found the bicycle in front of the 
neighbour's house
The solder knocked on the neighbour's door 
The neighbour's son opened the door 
The soldier's son identified the boy 
as the bicycle snatcher 
The soldier dragged the boy 
The boy's parents raised hell 
They insisted their son had been at home 
all afternoon with them and couldn't have
been the one who took the bicycle away 
for almost five hours 
The boy blatantly denied snatching the 
bicycle 
It became a puzzle 
Who would snatch a bicycle and not 
ride it and who rode the bicycle if the 
snatcher was at home with his parents 
Pythagoras theorem (XYZ+ABC=???) 
The soldier boy insisted the neighbour's 
son snatched his bicycle 
The Bicycle was found in front of the 
neighbour's flat 
The soldier refused all entreaties and 
explanations 
He called for backup and started dragging 
the neighbour's son out of their flat
He said he was going to set the whole 
estate on fire if need be 
The noise attracted other neighbours 
Eventually one of the boy's in the estate 
told his mother that the soldier boy had 
identified the wrong culprit because he 
saw "So and so" riding the bicycle 
The (Let's call him Amebo) Amebo's 
mother felt she ought to wade into the 
issue so that the wrong person wouldn't 
be punished 
She approached the Soldier and told him 
what his son said 
The soldier looked at the proximity of the 
two flats and decided his son might have 
missed a vital aspect of his Almighty 
Formula calculations
He told the neighbours he was not 
releasing the boy he had in his hands
 until another (The real criminal) was 
handed over to him 
Many parents were on the street by 
this time trying to resolve the issue 
The time was about 9:30PM 
He was watching the drama unfold 
from Adamu's (The Estate's security 
man)'s post 
The neighbours decided to call him out 
He knew they were making the worst 
mistake of their lives 
His mother was trained in Germany, she 
had a strict "Mind your business" lifestyle 
and she wouldn't take kindly to their 
intrusion into her affairs, but they didn't 
know this 
He saw one of their neighbours knock 
on the door of their flat, he saw his 
mother open the door 
He couldn't hear what was said but the 
neighbours retreated like swarms of 
locust being blown into the sea by the 
east wind! 
He saw his mother slam the door shut
The neighbours returned to the soldier 
They all had a short meeting 
The neighbours contributed some money 
and paid the soldier 
The soldier released the neighbour's son 
Everybody dispersed 
He waited for thirty minutes until everybody 
was really gone 
He walked back home and knocked
on the rear exit door 
His younger brother opened the door 
His mother was in the sitting room with 
the rest of his siblings 
They were having the night devotion 
After the prayers, his mother said "I have 
told you guys often that I will not show 
my face to beg or plead for anyone of
you who decides to take a wrong turn 
or get involved in anything that will bring 
me shame 
His mother looked at him and said 
"Don't think you have a mother who will 
be bailing you out of trouble, I have 
warned you enough, when you commit 
a crime you will answer for it yourself"
He realized his mother really meant 
what she had been saying all along 
He made a vow never to get into 
trouble again 
What happened that night was way 
too frightening for him 
He didn't know how his heart didn't 
tear into a million pieces 
But trouble came again when he was 
in 100L
A female friend of his gained admission
into the University before him
When he gained admission to the
same school, the female friend's
father decided to withdraw her 
and send her to another university
abroad
As a farewell gesture, the female
friend gave him all her textbooks
and notebooks for the previous
academic session to aid him in
his studies
What he didn't know was that
one of the books the female
friend gave to him belonged to 
the University's library
The library's stamp, checkout card 
and other identification had been 
torn off
It took him about three weeks to
complete his academic registration
Upon the completion, he went to
the library to read
He took the books his female friend
gave him along
A librarian noticed the book and all
it's torn features and pounced on it
Before he knew it, he was deep 
trouble
He was accused of stealing, defacing, 
molesting, raping and murdering a
library book
The penalty was expulsion once the
matter gets to the School's Disciplinary
Committee
He was at sea
He called his fellowship leader on campus
"What can i do?"
The fellowship leader advised him to
talk to his mother and see if his mother
could come and beg the librarian
before he escalates the issue to
the school authority
He called his mother and told her
what had happened
His mother laughed and said 
"You know I will never show up for
a show of shame! I have warned 
you all your life never to drag me
through the mud
Whatever the repercussion is that
you have to face, it will be a lesson
in life for you!
WOW!
He felt his life was over
He could neither eat nor sleep
A classmate of his (Female) saw him on
Sunday evening and asked him what
the matter was
He told her everything
She called her mother immediately
and narrated the story to her mother
The next morning, his classmate's
mother arrived at their school at 8 AM
and was already with the librarian
before calling him to join them
His classmate's mother said he was
her son and went on her knees to
plead for him
The librarian was moved to tears
by "His mother's" plea
The librarian showed them the report
he had written and in their presence
tore it to pieces
He survived!
When his classmate's mother was 
leaving, she hugged him and blessed
him.
She even gave him some money!
His classmate became his best friend
They read together, read together
and eventually started dating when
they got to 300 Level
He got married to her in 2014

PS: His mother wasn't happy with
him on certain things
His mother felt he gave the Mother
in-law almost equal right with her
in his life after she suffered so much 
to raise him and his siblings
single-handedly
His mother didn't like the fact that
his children prefer to spend
time with his Mother-in-law
than with her
His mother was a very strict 
disciplinarian
His mother-in-law was a very warm
and cheerful woman
His children preferred the warmth
to his mother's cold demeanor
He didn't know how to explain that
to his mother without adding salt
to injury

GSW's notes: Believers must be
led by the Holy Spirit and not by
principles or emotions
If you are led by the Holy Spirit
you will do the right thing always
because the righteousness of God
will find expression in your life 
all the time
As many as are led by the Spirit
are the Sons of God!