The Fig Tree Blossoms

Brother Gbenga, I just came out of a nasty divorce in which I was stripped of everything

I had to start living with a family friend because even the roof, which I laboured to secure with all the jobs I had done since my youth, was taken away from me

I slept in train stations for three days before an old friend heard about my ordeal and asked me to come and stay in their guest room until I could sort myself out

This happened in November 2023

Throughout December, it felt as if I was in a fog

I missed my children, and it seemed unreal that I couldn't just go back home and amend whatever might have gone wrong

I really didn't know what it was that led to my landing on the street

I went to work, and I came back to meet changed locks and the police at the door

My wife had accused me of molesting her first 15-year-old daughter from her first marriage

A girl I raised like my first child since we got married 11 years ago

I was told there was a restraining order, and I couldn't even go to the house to face my accuser or find out the truth

It was the police that told me what was going on

I was told my wife was too devastated even to bother talking to me

This was a woman whom I found at a homeless shelter run by our local church in 2009

It was later she told me about her daughter, and I accepted both of them before we got married in 2010

I had pledged myself to her and her daughter long before she gave birth to two sons for me, and I kept that pledge as a Christian should

I never misbehaved in any way towards anybody

I never drank, I never smoked, I never went clubbing, and I never went chasing after other women

I lived and walked the narrow path morally and couldn't even understand what the accusation was until it had been explained to me over and over again by the psychologist lady officer at the police station

I worked as a train pilot, and sometimes I did some plumbing and sewage maintenance to keep body and soul together

I had never gone on vacation since I met her

I worked hard to put her through school while paying the mortgage and also buying a piece of land and building a house back home in Nigeria

I was given your phone number by Sister Kunbi Akangbe. She is a big sister here in the UK, and I reached out to you

You prayed with me and said I should hold on for 21 days in silence

No reaching out and no answering any message from my wife and her lawyers, etc

You told me to be quiet

You said it would be tough, but I should trust the instructions of the Lord and focus on my relationship with God.

I began to do this, and things got better emotionally because I was crying every day at first, but after about ten days, I realised I stopped weeping, and I began to enjoy some level of peace

I began to sleep better too.

After the first week away from home, I began to get calls and messages from my wife.

I ignored them all

On the 22nd day, I got to my friend's house, where I was staying, to meet a crowd.

Our church pastor, some other people and my wife were waiting for me at the house.

They came to support my wife in tendering her apologies.

It turned out that her daughter was taught by one of her friends in school that if she accused her step-father of sexual molestation, her mother would get a lot of money as a settlement from the government and me, and they could then use this money to travel all over the world and enjoy a life of pleasure without her step-brothers and me because we were not allowing her to get enough of the mummy's attention.

It was all a mess

I am here to testify that I was cleared without having to put up a fight

Apparently, my wife had been complaining that all I ever do is work, and she wanted a vacation; this was a distress cue to her daughter.

So this year, we will have a vacation and relax a little.

I have learnt a lot of lessons from this, as I discussed with you, Brother Gbenga

I know now how to preserve my home and also myself

It was as if a blindfold was removed from my eyes

I am here to say Thank you, sir

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