18/09/2025
A TRUE LIFE STORY
My name is John, a trader in one of the popular markets in onitsha , I met my wife Chika , beautiful,tall ,fair complexion,soft spoken young woman the day she accompanied her uncle my good customer to my shop to buy some goods from me .
The moment I saw her I knew she's going to be the one for me and afterall it won't be hard since her uncle is more than a customer to me but now a friend, as she said " good afternoon sir " to me ,her sonorous voice adds wonders to her beauty.
I later went straight to tell Andy her uncle of my intention and everything went as planned, before a year time Chika and I are already married, but thugs started getting bad for me after our marriage, my business which was booming started declining,to make matter worse ,7 years to the marriage there's no child to show for it. we tried all means in search of the fruit of the womb to no avail.
One day I decided to go the village and try spiritual means to know what is behind my misfortunes both that of financial challenges and childlessnes.
On my way to the village in a public transport I boarded, a pastor whom much of the passengers did not pay attention to,either because he appeared poorly dressed or because they already got fed up with gospels ,as there had been another woman who identified herself as a Minister that had earlier preached and prayed for passengers before departure from the bus terminal and the experience did not end well with most of the impatient passengers who are already fed up with the bus delay in the park,as the female minister had asked for financial support at the end of her sermon and prayers.
Anyways ,this particular pastor preaching for us again in the bus seems to make more sense with his Bible teaching which he backs up with related Bible quotations intervally that it often seems to draw my interest despite the fact that my mind was consumed by the burden of my predicament which I was heading to get a solution for ,and to make him more interesting ,the pastor unlike the female minister, concluded his teachings without seeking financial support or advertise his ministry for patronage which is common with some pastors nowadays.
However,he did something that made me raise eyebrows,as he casted a rare glance at me and finally say with a smile concealing his true intention as he finally said " brother John '' please I would like to see you when we drop , I will also be stopping at the last bus stop "
I was shocked that this so called pastor knew my name, I wonder how and in the ripples of my thoughts,I concluded ,he may be from my hometown and probably know me from the village , since my village is our final destination and maybe he wants to engage me in a familiar conversation which I am certainly not in the mood for at the moment , so I just nodded casually at him to indicate I accept his request even though I wasn't interested in whatever he's going to say or was I happy with the stares he triggered from the curious passengers
We finally dropped at the park and alighted one after another ,I almost forgot the pastor's request when I overheard someone call me " Brother John" I recognised the voice and turned around to see the pastor standing behind me with a smile, so I greeted " good afternoon sir " and added curiosily "have we met before sir " his reply shocked me instantly " No we haven't met my son " then how on earth did he know my name or could he be lying,I was about interrogating him, when he added " I was directed to you by the holy Spirit ".
For once I took a thorough look at this mysterios fellow who claimed some spirit told him my name and I asked again" please who are you ?" ,
He stared me straight in the eyes and said " don't go where you are about to , the solution to your problem is not there "
Now I'm beginning to get scared than shocked ,how could he know I was on a mission to seek solution to my mishap
He continued " brother John ,I know your having financial challenges and I also know you and your wife desperately need the fruit of the womb after seven years of childlessness , now I want to ask you a question, does your wife get mad at you whenever you touch her at midnight, shunning you never to try it again ? ".
His last question sparks flashes of my misfortues to my mind.
I remembered how the devil my wife always turned to once it's midnight and I want to make love to her, in most case she applied physically threats just to scare me , warning me never to disturb her night rest ,it became an unavailable ritual and becuase of my peaceful nature and my love for her , I decided to stop making love to her by midnight.
With this thoughts still flooding my heads ,I nodded at the pastor and, told him that he's right and asked how he knew all this about me ,he told me that it's not every pastor I see that is a fake ,but he doesn't need to go into details on the topic as it wasn't his assignment to me .
He told me that I should just visit my parents and go back to the city as he reminded me that I can't find solution there in the village as I thought,he also said that when I get back from my journey,I should try touching my wife again for love making at exactly 1:AM ,that she will repeat her violent response and if she does, I should call him to inform him and he will tell me the next steps.
He dropped his number with me and I tried to give him a token from the little money I was having but he declined saying he's not after my money but a solution to my problems , he reminds me to call and we parted ways .
When I got back home ,I tried what he said, I made advance towards my wife for lo******ng few minutes after 1:AM like he though it wasn't easy keeping awake for the assignment to maintain the said time as I only came back from the trip earlier same day but it was worth trying .
When I touched Chika my wife this time,the hostility was even worse as I got a hot slap in return with same warning ,never to disturb her night rest , I endured it as usual .
In the morning I wanted to call the pastor as he requested but I couldn't find the piece of paper which he used in dropping his number as my battery was low the day we met , I was devastated, and it took me till the next day to discover the paper with the number folded with an old rumpled 100 naira note ,I quickly gave him a call ,I told him my experience 2 nights ago which ended ugly as usual ,,he urged me not to worry about that ,and said that I should try same thing tonight and that this time if she' becomes aggressive to me that I should be sober and ask her what I have done to her to deserve what she's doing to me and also ask her why she hates me .
He added that I should make sure that tears spill from my eyes as I say this emotional words , that once she set eyes on my tears ,she will make a strange confession to me .
That night I did as the pastor instructed,she was aggressive as usual but when I started shedding tears , I was able to import from reflecting on my misfortune , the pastor's revelation came as he prophecised , this time she looked into my eyes as tears broke out from her eyes too . She cuddled me crying.
She apologized for how she has treated some nights like that night, she said that she doesn't hate me , that what is poccesses her to such actions is beyond her mortal control , I asked her what that may be and the question returns the devilish expression that was previously on her face hidden by tears as she warned me not to ever ask her questions but follow her orders, if I want a solution to our problem, she asked me to promise that I will obey all she will instruct me to do without argument or anymore question, and I also warned that I should not tell anyone whatever we have discussed. I agreed, wholeheartedly of course why should I do anything to jeopardize the chances of getting a solution to our problems whatever it maybe. We went back to sleep or rather to bed because there wasn't any sleep not for a troubled soul like mine, as my mind was racing with thoughts and fears of the mysteries unveiling which I'm warned not to question about.
In the morning,we all went to our usual daily businesses without saying a word about last night incidence ,because she is a petty trader in a near by market that specializes in food items , I couldn't concentrate in my business that that as I patiently wait for her next line of actions.
At about 3':PM , she called me and requested I start coming home ,so I locked up the shop and left for home .
As I was getting home ,she was already sited at the pavement,she told me that the journey we are about to embark will require some money that I should get myself ready with about 80,000 naira for some things we are going to buy and she added that everything we are going to buy, should be bought by me and paid by me .She also warned me never to negotiatie the prices of the items .I agreed , used a nearby POS to get 100,000 naira from my business savings and we left the house , when we got to the junction she flanked down a Keke and told the Keke person to take us to a popular local market within , the same market where she trades , we boarded the Keke and maintained absolute silence throughout the ride .
We finally got to the market and she told me to buy a big "Ghana must go" bag which I obeyed without questions as we agreed,then she lead the way through the market till we got to the end part of the market where they sell spiritual materials for rituals , somewhere I don't even know that it exists in the market, she turned to me and say in our Igbo dialect " Ife obuna ntulu aka ,igolu ,ekwekwe na onu". meaning , I should go ahead and buy any item she points at without negotiating the price, I nodded ,as she keeps pointing at frightening ritual items and I kept buying without negotiating as instructed.
We bought most of this items to the point that the Ghana must go bag was filled with them, and it took us about 3 hours to find all she wanted,by the time we are rounding up it's already dusk ,then we left the market for home .
After having our dinner which we both did not take much of as we are both apparently lost of appetite, at about 12 :PM , she woke me up and instructed that I should get the items we bought which I carefully kept within the bedroom, I did as she said and she resounded her warning that I shouldn't ask her any questions but follow orders . " Anukwanam ajuju obuna , just nesom " in our Igbo dialect.
Together we set out of the house by that midnight with the Ghana must go bag on my head . A journey that remains a mystery to me .
END OF PART 1
To be continued....
BY EMEKA RODSTICK EZEH
( PENGOD)