Marrying The Devil ( 3)
IT didn’t take long for the family to record the first casualty. The first wife had five children for the late chief. Her first son suddenly lost his mind and started behaving funny, chanting strange languages and stripped himself naked on the street to make matters worse.
The following week, the last born of the third wife developed a terrible typhoid fever. The little kid died before he could be rushed to the hospital. Charms, magical amulets and concoctions were seen at every corner of the spacious house of the Banjokos.
The third wife swore that her enemies would know no rest and she would avenge the death of her three- year- old kid that died mysteriously.
Something spectacular and strange also occurred in Banjokos family house on a Saturday afternoon. One of the wives, fondly called Mama Rachael, went to a nearby market to buy foodstuff, came back, only to meet her room in flames.
The mysterious fire consumed and destroyed only her room and everything inside. Mama Rachael was terrified and aghast at seeing her room consumed by the mysterious fire and swore she would unravel the mystery and the culprits wouldn’t go unpunished.
Three years after the chief’s death, the problems, troubles and calamities increased at an alarming proportion. The first child of Mama Ibrahim, who was the second wife, Ibrahim, had been down with a strange illness for the past one year. He later became blind.
Ibrahim’s mum took him to various spiritual homes and hospital, all to no avail. He remained blind and there was no remedy or cure for his ailment. Five months after he went blind, Ibrahim died, leaving behind a wife and three kids.
The problems and calamities that befell the entire family of the late chief were too much to bear for some of his children. Some who couldn’t withstand the juju and voodoo attacks ran for safety of their dear lives, even as some who had good jobs while he was alive lost them. A lot of his children became beggars on the streets and would pilfer anything they saw. Some of his female children even took to prostitution to make ends meet. A bespectacled, rotund man of God living very close to the Banjokos and who had been following the events in the family wondered if the chief would have a peaceful rest in the great beyond with all these tragedies befallen his family.
“I can see the spirit of Chief Banjoko moving restlessly, unsettled and angry at what is happening,” he said in a thought- provoking manner. “Chief was a man who struggled day and night to free himself from the shackles of poverty and lack… but only to end up in the hands of evil and strange women… and maybe he was hooked to what he likes the most. This is definitely one of the evils of polygamy. May God Almighty help his innocent children…” he prayed.
Sincerely, the aftermath of polygamy is not always sweet and palatable. Life is such a mystery that even with only one wife, there is always problem, not to talk of having a harem. Only God can help us.