The ‘good man’ died at an incredibly young age of 34, leaving behind an equally young wife and 3 little babies. I received the news of his sudden death by his relatives in the most uncultured manner. Burial arrangements started in earnest. His friends came through for the family and donated a good amount of money which would have been more than enough to bury him. I remembered one of his friends brought cash in the tone of 500,000 naira, just one person. Of course, the money ran into few millions, but all of these monies were given to his relatives which perhaps was the right thing to do as they were the ones planning the burial. A week before his burial, his ‘ne’er-do-well’ only brother came to my house and told me the most senseless thing ever. According to him, it is not custom to bury their brother from the money his friends donated, in that regard, he begged me to bring a certain amount of money to take care of the burial bills. He mentioned some incredible amount I had to bring. I simply told him to bring the money his friends donated, since it was not good for burial, perhaps it just might be right for his widowed wife and young children. And I added that maybe then I will go borrowing to give him the millions he was demanding as his brother never keeps money in his bank accounts but invested every tiny bit into his businesses.
But alas he told me the money his friends donated has all been spent. Spent on what please?…
Not to forget, he had earlier come to me demanding 300,000 naira that I gave to him from my little savings. Because I married a man that provided 100% for us, so all the money I made working at my job I invested. Reasons why I had spare 300k to give.
My husband’s relatives were close to me, they gave me maximum respect when he was alive. I was always referred to as ‘Madam’…they never called me by my name. They always looked out for me or so I thought. I felt loved. They will always say their brother married a good wife, maybe probably because I never stopped him from giving to them as he loved giving. We were two of a kind!
You can imagine my shock when the game changed after his death.
My refusal to bring out what would have been a stimulus package to them angered him and his followers and war were waged against me and my young children.
I was summoned the next morning after his burial in their village. They told me that before his death he was training a whole community, and in that regard, I and my children will be excluded from whatever he left behind. They lined up over 60 men/women and I was told he was training their children in school/feeding them. It shocked me because the young man I married was not anywhere near a billionaire. He may have touched a few million but that was the most. So why would he shoulder the burden of a whole community? Who did this to him? Who you? The much I knew from him was that he was training two of his relatives in private universities and two or more others in state universities apart from the ones in primary /secondary schools. But a whole community? Nay! nay!
How these fellows turned enemies in one day amazed me. Never had any problem with my in-laws before then. In fact, my home was a wine and dine place for them.
