When the Hearts of Men are Decadently Wicked

By Ijeoma Onyemesili

This fiction novel, WHEN THE HEARTS OF MEN ARE DECADENTLY WICKED, is based on a true-life story that exposed the evil side of the practice of polygamy in Nigeria. After their father went into polygamy, all the hatred he had for their mum Rose, were transferred to her children to the extent that their father Michael teamed up with his evil new wi

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ijeoma Onyemesili
• Release date: Nov 2, 2020
• ISBN: 9781913704902

Book preview

Chapter 1

Azure, a village in the old Kano State, was a peaceful village that comprised of a vast uninhabited mass of land, with buildings dispersed here and there and oftentimes in groups of the farming community. People were living communally with one another. It was a place where the Hausas, Ibos and other ethnicities lived in harmony. It comprised mainly of farmers whose farming activities endowed the agricultural sector of Nigeria. They produced tomatoes, corn, wheat, onions, rice, and beans in large and exportable quantities. Families helped each other during the farming season. This village had a good stretch of tarred road that connected it to other cities such as Katsina and Kano respectively, and that helped these farmers to transport their products to sell in the city. The indigenes travelled within the village mainly on a cart driven by two bulls. They also used these animals in farming by attaching their tractors to the animals or they used donkeys or horses to pull their tractors. Very few people drove cars and many lived in a rounded hut built out of mud. The alhajis and wealthy Hausas lived in their mansions and were flanked by their multitude of wives who usually dressed in their attire (hijab) when they are in their kwunle (solemnness).

The scenery of the village was just like countryside, which was surrounded by mountains; the landscape was usually dried and dusty throughout the year. They practiced irrigation a lot as they did not have enough rainfall in the year to support their farmlands and crops. There were gullies here and there, as the soil was so weak in those places that the land had often given way to erosion. There was only one primary school in the village and all the secondary schools were located in the cities. Many of the indigenes did not send their kids to school as they believed that they were better off farming. The school provided quarters for the teachers and their families and housed nearly 10 different teachers, including the headteacher of the school, Mr Udu, whose wife was from Cameroon and spoke a lot of French, to the bewilderment of the other teachers who could not understand her. These quarters were close to the Ibo community in the village where the indigenes lived and helped each other during the farming period. They did things in common and knew each and every body by their names. The teachers, who were also farmers, depended on the help of their class pupils to harvest or cultivate their farmlands as they were usually busy with their classwork and yet could not afford to pay outsiders for the farming.

There was a general hospital at the center of the village where many people, the Hausas, Yorubas, and Ibos, went in for treatment. The hospital also had a large amount of land where there were buildings scattered here and there which were used as the hospital offices and quarters. There were mosques everywhere and a few churches could be seen, mainly on the outskirts of the village. There was only one bank near the center of the village and that was where all the government workers went to collect their payment at the end of every month. The village also had a police station and a post office, which was a subsidiary to the main post office in the city. Once or twice in a year, there was drought, and only tiny rain showers and this rainfall was usually accompanied by the sand rain. This sand rain occurred when the wind from the Sahara Desert blew southwards, carrying with it all the dust across its path. The dust then blocks out the sunlight and turns the sky brown. People were usually alerted when they saw the brown skies and they quickly took in all their laundry which they had left to dry under the sun, to avoid having them rewashed again.

The market was located at the other side of the hospital and farmers who could not afford to take their products to the cities sold them at the market. They had market days every day of the week, apart from Fridays when they mainly went to their mosques, leaving the non-Muslims who stayed behind to sell things. The butchers sold their meat too, ranging from wild rats and mice to cows, camel meat and donkey meat. The only abattoir was found in the city where cows, goats, camels, and donkeys were killed and dismembered. Live fowl could also be purchased and slaughtered for people who could not kill them or who were afraid of killing live fowl. Flies celebrated each market day as they had plenty of meat to perch and dance on. The butchers could not do anything to eradicate the excessive flies that surrounded the meat which they sold every market day and the buyers, most of the time, did not complain as that was an epidemic in this part of the country. The epidemic might have been due to their unhygienic ways of living as none of the families in the village had good toilet facilities. They mainly used the open fields as their toilets, which, they believed, would help the farmers indirectly. People used plant leaves as tissue to wipe their excrement off their skin when they had finished passing their stools and didn’t bother to wash their hands afterwards.

There was a high rate of dysentery, cholera, and amoebiasis epidemics too as the only source of drinking water were shallow wells dug out of the muddy ground. Often, these wells were fed with water that was washed off the fields, where there were human and animals’ excreta. The Almajiris, who were children driven out from their family houses to fend for themselves by begging for alms and food from house to house, opted to fetch water for those living in the quarters who could not fetch the water themselves. They carried a cart loaded with gallons of water, soliciting for buyers. Once they had got a buyer, they quickly transferred their water to the vessels provided by the buyers and then rushed back for more, or they would abandon their carts complete with the water content and rush to their praying ground, leaving this water uncovered and free for anything to settle in, and for roaming animals to drink at will. They would later sell this water to a willing buyer. These had brought about so many cholera epidemics and amoebiasis too, but the indigenes couldn’t care less; as long as they had water at their disposal, they didn’t really care where and how they got it.

In this area lived Mr Michael Asonti and his family; he was a teacher in one of the secondary schools in the city. His wife, Rose Asonti, taught in the only primary school in the village and they also lived in the quarters provided by the school. Michael had to commute to his secondary school each day of the week as the house rent in the cities were too dear for them to afford. Each family quarters had farmland to support them, along with their food subsidies they receive each year. The Ibo community had a chief representative called Mr Afommili, whose job was to summon all the Ibo indigenes when there was an emergency or when there was a little misunderstanding between the Ibo community and the Hausas. He also acted as the mediator or peacemaker between these different ethnic groups. He was quite wealthy as he had lots of sheep and cattle and a vast amount of land where the animals could graze. He drove a cart attached to two bulls and often passed through the front of Mr Michael’s house, as his farmland was directly opposite to their apartment. Women and men alike drove the cart and they forcefully engaged these poor animals to move when they attempted to eat grass by the roadside by lashing at them with their whips. The donkeys were made to carry all the loads collected from the farms.

One day, there was an uprising that arose between the Hausa indigenes and the Ibos in Azure on a market day. Afommili went to broker a peace talk with the emir of Sabongari, as there was a little Ibo girl found by the Almajiris, throwing a well-packaged stool, wrapped in a waterproof bag, into their place of worship. The girl was just 6 years old and also an orphan as she lived with her aunt. On that fateful day, she was sent by her aunt to buy bread from the bakery across the road. While she was nearing the bakery, she felt so pressed that she could not hold the urge to go to the toilet, so she decided to do it by the corner of the bakery shop, using a waterproof bag which she was meant to put the loaves of bread in that she was going to buy. She wrapped it tightly afterwards and then threw the package over the fence, thinking it was just a bush. The bag landed and splashed all over the place, including on the head and body of one of the worshippers who had just arrived in the mosque and was about to wash his feet at the pump near the fence. That sparked a big outrage in the village and this spread to the cities surrounding the village. Many Ibo indigenes were killed as they were defenseless; many, including all the teachers, ran for their lives and went southwards. The poor girl was arrested and murdered as they claimed that she insulted their worship place and being the only child from her parents, their generation was wiped out from the face of the earth instantly. Afommili could not even go home from his journey where he went to broker a peace talk, as the demonstration started before, he could even finish sweet-talking the Emir. It was really a shame as too many people lost their lives as well as their properties. The wealthy Ibos who had landed properties lost them as well, as the Hausa broke into most households, they could lay their hands on and made away with so much.

Afommili lost his wife in the demonstration and his two sons survived it as they climbed and escaped through their fence when the Hausas struck at their house. Men and women alike were murdered on that fateful day and the riot lasted for several weeks before there was a ceasefire declared by the emir of Kano. The school premises were burnt down and all the living quarters ransacked by the military turned indigenes. Many families lost their loved ones as there was pandemonium everywhere. After the riot, people started to come back, to rebuild their lives and to start from where they stopped when the war broke out. Trucks filled with corpses were driven out from the village and the bodies were taken to the outskirts of the village, where they were all dumped and buried in a mass grave that was dug up for that purpose.

Afommili still survived the war that broke out in the city and was among the first to come back, but to his dismay, he found the decaying body of his wife and his whole house was turned upside down. Some of the goats that he used to keep tied under the shed had died with the ropes still around their necks. The cows and sheep were all gone. He became a poor man overnight and thank God that his roof was still intact, as his neighbor’s house was damaged from the roof down. He managed to give his wife a befitting burial, the next day, at the back of their house before he started thinking of how to rebuild his life. Rats and crickets, cockroaches and flies, vultures alike, were all feasting on the decaying dead bodies left unnoticed by the wayside. Some of these dead people were just passers-by who did not realize that they were ambushed, they died at the scene of their ambush and the killers made away with their belongings.

After several weeks, Afommili’s two sons came home and were looking tattered from head to toe. Their father could not believe his eyes when he saw them as he thought that they were all dead too. They embraced their dad so tightly together and wept bitterly when they revealed to him that they saw the Almajiris butcher their mother. They vowed to retaliate and kill them as they could identify the killers as their neighbor’s son Ahmed who had an anger problem, and two of his friends, Ishmael and Rashid. They vowed to ambush Ahmed on his way to their farm and cut his throat. This was to happen when everyone had forgotten all about the riot and their losses. Their father agreed with them but warned them of the likelihood of upstaging another war and this time, it may be worse than ever before. They did not listen; Osundu the elder of the two, said, Dad, if it means that I myself will pay with my life, I will definitely do so. What is life again without Mama? It is very painful and heartbreaking to witness the death of your loved one. Nwaozuzu, the younger one agreed and said he too would see to that, especially when it had to do with the fact that he had fought with Ahmed before the incident and he had told him that he would kill one of his parents. Their Dad asked, What, did he actually say that to you? Yes, Papa, he answered while he was weeping. He did say that and he actually did it. Well, in that case, I will not stop you from carrying out your plans but make sure that you escape when the war breaks as these people do not have human sympathy when they have any problem with the other people; I mean we Ibos. Now, my sons, go to the market and ask the Mallams selling meat to give you some piece of meat as we have not eaten since yesterday, even if it means that the meat is decayed, but make sure that it is not human meat as I heard that they were selling human meat when the war finished. Please, please hurry so that we will eat. Again, please, my sons, when planning your ambush, make sure that nobody sees you guys, please! He held his ear, pulling it down as a gesture of warning them of the grave consequences that might arise. Do not let anybody hear this, he repeated. Yes, Papa, we are mature enough to do what we want, Nwaozuzu interrupted him.

Osundu went to the market while Nwaozuzu went to get firewood. When Osundu reached the market, he noticed that there was only one Mallam at the market, but he was wandering to and fro in the market, not selling anything. Osundu asked him if he had seen anyone selling meat. Hankalifa, meni ni kwo (what is the problem, what is it?), the Mallam spoke in Hausa thinking that he was being approached to be attacked. Akwei kanda (do you have cow’s skin)? Osundu asked in desperation as he was getting fed up with the attitude of the Mallam. Babu akwei Nyamili (which means no, but I have a woman).

Osundu left in despair and told his dad, I saw Mallam our neighbor wandering up and down the market as if he was looking for something. He did not even recognize me as he seemed to be looking for something else. When I told him in Hausa that I wanted meat, he replied that he had a woman. He looked so uneasy and I reckoned he was up to something sinister. He had a machete in his left hand and a small knife in the right one. He behaved as if he had some meat and obviously said that he had a woman, although I knew his wife was dead and he had no female children. Nwaozuzu, Nwaozuzu ooo! his father shouted out for the younger son. Where is your brother? their dad asked. Where is he? Go and fetch him and you two go to the market again and watch him to find out what he is up to, but don’t let him see you watching him. Try and find out why the man was in the market by himself in the first place. Do not forget to take machetes in case he attacks you guys, okay? Yes, Papa, Osundu answered him, already rushing out with his big machete. Then followed his younger brother who was eating sugar cane he fetched from the overgrown forest in their backyard. Wait for me! he shouted while he was still chewing the last bit of the sugar cane stick. Wait, I am fainting already. Nna (my man), be a man or else you can go back and finish the stick you are chewing like a he-goat. Osu, you know we have not eaten since last night; at least you should understand that one, Nwaozuzu yelped while he was trying to swallow the juice from the sugar cane. Osundu replied, hastily, Have I eaten at all? And yet I am walking this fast? At least you wanted to be a soldier before but you changed your mind as you do not want to die on the battlefield, Nwaozuzu retorted, and moreover, Mum did not want to have a soldier son as they said that she who has a son that is a soldier has no son at all.

Well, enough of that argument and let’s keep quiet now and stop talking, Osundu snapped at him. Later, he asked him, Did you see that man from afar who was walking blissfully towards us? His brother replied, Yes, I saw him and it seemed as if he had just put something like a sack down. Okay, try to cower down and let’s crawl so that the grasses will hide us, he urged his brother.

While they were creeping under the overgrown grasses, Osundu asked anxiously, Can you still see him? He replied, Yes, he stopped over to collect the bag and is now dragging it behind him. Wait, I think I heard a woman sobbing. Did you say sobbing? the elder one asked again, perplexed. Yes, in that direction. I presumed that he was killing someone and the person could not cry out loudly. Just hide well and let him approach our direction and we will catch him. He is coming in our direction and not too far from us. Now Nwaozuzu, Osundu whispered, when I say attack, just do it without thinking, alright? He answered, Yes, but make sure you back me up or else if he strikes with his knife and you did nothing, what would you tell Papa? Do not worry, I will back you up."

When the Mallam approached them, they could hear the woman sobbing loudly, firmly tied in that bag. Then Osundu signaled his brother and suddenly he jumped upon the man from the back like a wolf ready to devour his prey. The man dropped everything that he had in his hand, including the bag, and shouted, meni, meni, meni (what is it, what is it, what is it?) in Hausa language. They covered his mouth so that he would not alert anybody and they dragged him further into the market square and tied his hands around a pillar behind him. They used some of the ropes to gag his mouth so that he would not shout.

Then they opened the bag and behold it was the daughter of Nkwo, a very good friend of their dad. She had been tied from head to toe and left to die in the bag. The man wanted to kill her and sell her private parts to the juju men, to make him rich and then cook some part of her meat and sell it to the women selling mama put (restaurant). It was an omen to see a little girl tortured in such an inhumane way. They quickly untied her but she could not stand, so they lowered her to lie down and then they forced that sack over the head of the Mallam and pushed his tied body into the sack, tying the sack securely; they left him in the middle of the market to die there. They made sure that he could not escape from the sack and left with the poor girl. They took her to their house and looked after her until her dad was alerted about her whereabouts. Now the market had nobody buying or selling in it as the stalls had been burnt down in the recent uprising. Mallam stayed in the bag for two days without any help and died from suffocation in the early hours of the third day as nobody had found him. His son Ahmed, who killed Afommili’s wife, died during the riot as he embarked on a killing rampage. He was hit from the back with a large stone that was used as a missile and he died instantly. The little girl recovered quickly and was sent back to her dad, Nkwo.

The school’s buildings were burnt down to the foundation level. All the teachers ran for their dear lives and were not even thinking of coming back to teach at the village. Some of them had got employment in the southern part of the country and it was left for some teachers, such as Michael and family, who had no choice but to return to their base. They came back to the village after about 6 months of tranquility in the northern part of the country. The people that left during the uprising were coming back one after the other after they heard from others that there was peace and quiet in the area. But I tell you, anything could set off the riot again, at any minute. But after more than a year, the government started to renovate the schools and they decided to build two schools, with one secondary and the other one a primary school. At least this will attract people for employment to that area. The teacher’s quarters were joined together so that both the primary and the secondary schools had their teachers living together and this was walled round with a high fence.

There was a massive clearance of the village. Decayed dead bodies were removed and buried at the outskirt of the village. The stalls in the market were rebuilt as well to give it a better aesthetic view. There were settlements for the Hausas and the other ethnic groups created to separate them from each other, to avoid any further altercations occurring that might lead to a further uprising. The new development attracted so many foreigners to that place who were looking for a cheaper way to study as the government began to issue subsidies and scholarships to pupils both young and old, to study from primary schools to at least the secondary school level.

Chapter 2

The new development attracted a lot of teachers from the southern part of the country up to the northern part where they believed they would be highly paid and with less work to do. So many of the Hausa people felt that the education system did not suit them as they believed so much in the Arabic teaching. They had teachers of Arabic languages who taught their children every day. This they did so as to scare them away from the white man’s education system. Some very poor ones, who did not even want their kids to go to school, sent them away as almajiris to go out to beg for food; some even as young as 6 years old. The government of the state, in a bid to encourage education for all, made it a free educational system for every northerner who wanted to study. Moreover, they gave them scholarships to the university level. Even studying abroad was paid for by the state government for any willing soul. Yet most of them preferred not to go to school. There were so many changes in the curriculum of the schools, and there were very few old members of staff of the primary school. Mr Udu, whose wife was a Cameroonian, came back from Cameroon with his wife and two daughters after almost two years, because he could not find a decent job there.

There were new additions to the school and one of them was Mrs No Nonsense. She actually bore that name as a nickname but she refused to change it as she felt so comfortable with it in the classroom. She was strongly built and scared pupils by the way she carried herself. She shouted at anybody that misbehaved in an attempt to scare them off from being naughty. Her character had won the hearts of many teachers, especially the headteacher, who believed that she brought good morality into the teaching profession and that pupils would respect all her ideologies. There was a bit of a higher standard of teaching in that school after the changes were brought.

The secondary school added a bit of glamour to the educational level of the village. The headteacher was Mr Maduka, who delighted in using corporal punishment to correct naughty students. The students would sing their last song whenever they were caught in the trap of Mr Maduka. He would set desks and made them lay on them, while he executed his judgment by flogging them. The sound of the cane would be heard from so many miles away and the flogged students would barely use their bums to sit down or do anything for a couple of days. Osundu and Nwaozuzu were late to the assembly one day, as their father sent them to see one of their family friends before going to school. They thought that they would make it before the assembly, but to their dismay, they had already started stopping students trooping into the school premises late. They tried to explain to their headteacher, who was standing by the gate of the school, but all their pleas fell on deaf ears. They were later lined up for their strokes of the cane. The headteacher told them to lie flat on the floor, stretching their hands sideways or forward, any way they wanted. Then the cane, which was made from a dried cow skin interwoven tightly together, was used to flog them mercilessly. They vowed never to turn up late to the assembly from that day onwards. At times, the students would be made to stand, raising their hands to the air while he unleashed the whipping. The whip dances round the bottom part of the person and that is where it hurt so much. They cried like canaries each day they were mercilessly flogged by their headteacher. He did not tolerate late-coming and that attracted the maximum penalty of 7 strokes of the cane; insulting any teacher or fighting in the classroom attracted 10 or even 14 strokes, depending on how badly the student behaved. However, this brought about a sense of responsibility amongst the students. They usually went to school with the full intention of getting the best from their studies. That was why the school’s performance was always good during their final examinations, even more than their contemporaries in other secondary schools in the city, although there were one or two subjects where they needed help to upgrade the students’ performances, such as in science courses.

Then came Mr Sokatua, the vice-principal of the school. He was very quiet but as sneaky as a serpent. He wore a long beard which he refused to shave and he rarely smiled. He wore this stern face that put students off from approaching him or even asking him questions in the classroom. He taught them mathematics and physics and he made these subjects the most hated subjects in the school as he did not make it easy for the students to understand them. Many people were enrolled in the secondary school, both old and young, boys and girls, men and women alike. Michael decided to transfer to the school as he found it convenient to teach at the school that was nearer to his young family, should there be another uprising, so that he would not be separated from his wife. He was transferred to the secondary school at Azure and he joined Sokatua to teach the students mathematics and physics. That brought a bit of harmony and gave the students more zeal to learn those two boring subjects, as he approached the topics from a different perspective, quite unlike Mr Sokatua. The students started to enjoy the subjects a bit more and the pass rate improved.

There were about 15 staff members in the secondary school and each member of staff was teaching one thing or the other. They had a large field where the students played football, netball and volleyball. The secondary school had at least 1000 students and more were still being recruited. After about a year since the resumption of the newly built school, the teachers decided to organize inter-house sports. There were presently about 5 different hostels called houses, ranging from A-E and each enrolled student was assigned to a house. Afommili’s two sons were among the first students to be enrolled in the junior secondary class 1, but there were fewer students in the other classes who came as transfer students. Osundu and Nwaozuzu were all in house C and they wanted to represent their house in track events. They were preparing and competing with each other in their back garden, but their dad did not feel that it was a great idea as the land space was so small, so he urged them to use the field where their sheep and cattle grazed. Nwaozuzu, Nwaozuzu, Osundu shouted in despair. Yes? Why are you shouting my name like that? Please get my slippers for me when you are coming to the field, he said while he was racing barefoot, down to the other end of the field, trying to outpace his brother in the process. When he reached the end of the field, he saw his brother running down to meet him, holding a pair of his slippers. Osu, do you think that we should ask our father to be our referee as we really need to practice hard before the inter-house sports or else, we may not win anything? Eeeh, but you know Papa now, he is an old man, he can barely stand upright; how do you expect him to stand and watch us racing each other, bending over his walking stick? He cannot do that unless he sits down and uses your whistle to blow when we have reached the other side. Okay, it is true, I think I misjudged the whole thing; so, who will be our referee? as we need somebody so that you do not cheat on me. Well, Nwaozuzu, if you are thinking that I will cheat on you, then forget it as there is nothing like cheating here. On your marks, set, go! Osundu flew like a shooting star and was well beyond his brother who was trotting from behind. They ran and raced each other the whole evening and Osundu always came out on top. Then they decided to call it a day and then the next day, Mr Sokatua who was wearing shorts and a white t-shirt, called every student for the physical education section and told them to change into their sportswear, boys and girls, men and women alike. They gathered at their recreation center which was a vast grazing land for the sheep. You could see some sheep wandering to and fro in the field and they wandered freely without anything impeding them. The owner of the sheep, Mr Ugwo, was a well-known farmer and he took his sheep out to graze on any land, notwithstanding the ownership of the land, all he cared was that the sheep were well fed for the day. The school had warned him several times not to graze his livestock in their field but all those warnings fell on deaf ears. So early that morning, the college needed their space for the preparation for their inter-house sports. These animals were busy eating and pooing in the field. Mr Sokatua, well known for his bad temper, grabbed one of the sheep by the tail as the poor sheep was about to run. He then threw it forcefully to the ground, breaking all the bones and left it to die. ’Baaa! Baaa! Baaaaaa! Baaaaa!’ yelled the wounded sheep. Mr Ugwo heard the noise of his sheep and knew instantly that it was an unusual cry. He came out of his hut to see if any of them were in danger as he saw a lot of students at the scene. When he looked properly, he saw that one of the students was literally sitting on a sheep. It was the wounded sheep called Obiageli and she was bleeding profusely. He hurriedly went to the scene walking as fast as his walking stick could carry him. As he approached there, all the students dispersed and ran back to where Mr Sokatua was standing, addressing the other staff members. He was telling them what they were to do for the day as they did not have any time to waste. Mr Ugwo carried the wounded sheep and went on cursing the hand that did that to his precious sheep. He said that it would never be well with the person and his family. Hot pellets of faeces and hot urine were gushing out from the sheep as it was in great pain and may not survive to the next day. He reached his house and lowered the sheep to the ground. He used sticks to hold the wounded legs firmly with the help of some threads, then he applied okuma (locally made pain reliever) to its legs to ease the pain. Mr Ugwo went back to the fields and gathered the other sheep, and left for his house with them.

By this time, the students were engaged in their track events; some were chosen to play ball, some handball and others netball. Mr Sokatua was supervising those in the track events in his House C. Osundu was the best runner at the moment, followed by his brother and one other girl called Grace. All the other teachers, about 14 of them, were also involved in the event and were divided according to their hostel numbers and that session was meant to be the first practice. They took three hours for the whole practice and every student was exhausted. On their way to their individual classrooms, Grace walked up to Osundu, and said, Hmmm, it seems like we have a world-beater in the relay race. Osundu asked enthusiastically, How do you mean, a world-beater? Well, yes, the way you were running made me think you are the one to be beaten, she rolled her eyes assuredly. Well, I would not say that I did not run really fast, but I am still developing, he replied. But you ran well too and, according to our master, we three from House C were the best runners the school have ever had. Any other person from the other house, I do not know. He patted her on the back and assured her that he would improve to merit that name, the world-beater.

That night, following the incident in the field, the sheep named Obiageli died from her wounds. Mr Ugwo wept as she was one of his favorite animals amongst the whole flock. He dug a hole and laid the animal to rest, but he vowed to deal with the person that killed his beloved sheep. He went to Afommili to report that his sheep was beaten by some students in the field and it later died of its wounds. Mr Afommili asked him where he had left the sheep. He said he was grazing them on the school premises. But they have warned you several times not to graze your animals there; you do not listen, now you want a fight with the school. Now, my dear man, I do not know what to say in your circumstances as you are guilty of invasion into somebody’s property. But they should have alerted me instead of killing my beloved sheep. Well, Mr Ugwo, you can go and tell them that but, as for me, I have washed my hands of your case and you know me, I always try to tell people the truth whether they want to hear it or not. I could remember the day when they brought your case to me and you were called, but you did not turn up; you feigned illness that day. Now it is your turn to walk about settling the matter. Please, I need to eat now. As you know, my wife is no more and these kids want to cook jollof rice; I need some space so that I can help them with the cooking. Maybe when you have looked into the issue, you can let me know. Afommili sounded so reluctant and unwilling to help Ugwo, then he left with his tail between his legs like a dog as he knew that without the backing of the prominent man in their village, he would not win any case against the perpetrators of the crime. Meanwhile, Mr Sokatua was vowing to cause more harm to the sheep that destroyed their field as he was the vice-principal, thus he felt he had all the power and authority to do so. He asked the educational secretary of the Sabongari local government, to help the school so that they would be granted some financial help to build a wall around their school. Then the idea of fund-raising also crept in and they resolved to merge the fund-raising with their inter-house sports as many parents and well-wishers would be there to sponsor them. Mr Michael was also promoted to vice-principal for education, and he was a very good friend of Mr Sokatua, to the extent that they shared their lunch alternately after school in their respective houses.

Then one day, Mr Michael asked his friend Sokatua, "You see, I have been having this dream of my dead parents coming to kill me. I have nobody living in the village at the moment and being the only son of my parents, people have taken most of my parents’ lands and trees, including the ones that I planted myself. My wife has just given birth to my second son and the first is just 5 years old. I needed to work hard so that I can take care of my young family. I cannot even vouch any savings to build anything, including a wall to fence off my father’s