By ADESOLA AYO-ADERELE
My mom had this driver who conveyed her goods from Ebute-Ero in the heart of Lagos, to Agege. We called him Baba Saheed. He should be in his mid-30s. Until it happened, Baba Saheed looked pious, responsible and gentle.
As trustworthy as he was, mom would sometimes give him money and a list of goods to be purchased. He would do everything efficiently and deliver the merchandise with receipts.
He had a wife and several kids, along with relations who lived with his family.
Baba Saheed lived in a well-furnished room-and-parlour apartment in the main building, while the remaining members of his family lived in the boys’ quarters in another section of their rented apartment. They were a happy family.
One day, after mom had taken delivery of her goods, Baba Saheed asked for her advice on what he described as a thorny issue.
Baba Saheed narrated that he had been in a relationship with a married woman and that he had spent so much on her. He said he was pleased with the spending until the woman decided to call off the relationship after some years.
She only had praises for her late, gentle husband who wouldn’t hurt a fly…
He said he didn’t really mind if she wanted to go, but that, after calculating how much he had invested in the scandalous relationship, the only way the woman could compensate him beyond their regular romantic rendezvous was for her to have a child for him. Ha!
READ ALSO: MRA condemns calls on security agencies to restrict use of FOI
I was in my mid-teens then; but, even as young as I was, I knew that Baba Saheed was poking hands into a black Mamba’s hole.
In response, my mom expressed surprise that he could do what he had just confessed to and went on to advise him to let the woman go, especially because he had also received compensations for whatever he spent on her.
Baba Saheed said he stocked the woman’s shop and probably contributed to sending her on pilgrimage, and that the only way he could be pacified and allow the woman to end the relationship was if she could agree to his demand.
Mom asked if the woman had divorced her husband, Baba Saheed answered in the negative. Asked how he would claim the child if the woman agreed to get pregnant by him, Baba Saheed didn’t have a coherent response to that. Mom’s attempts to make Baba Saheed reconsider his obstinacy met with stiff resistance. Not even the warning that he was toying with his life would discourage Baba Saheed.
Not long after that, Baba Saheed fell terribly sick and he died within weeks. I accompanied mom on condolence visit to his wife and I listened hard on what the widow had to say.
She only had praises for her late, gentle husband who wouldn’t hurt a fly…
