By ‘Ladeji Popoola
Jejelaiye breezed into Ajadi’s room on a sunny Saturday afternoon only to find his friend seated in his living room gulping down a bottle of Star Lager. He was astonished. He had hoped to find him mourning.
“Ajadi, aren’t you aware of the news,” Jejelaiye asked in surprise.
“What news my friend,” Ajadi inquiried as he wiped off the foam the beer had left on his moustache.
“What news?”
“Why are you always oblivious to everything in this town?”Jejelaiye asked looking stern. “When Kabiru died of Magun a month ago, you claimed you were unaware. Now you are unaware again.”
“Jejelaiye, you should know that I am a busy man. I do return home late. It is work.”
“You mean you are so busy with work that you don’t give attention to what is trending in this town, Ajadi?”
“My friend, must you over flog me for my obliviousness?”Ajadi asked, smiling at his friend.
“Is it the news of this fake disease they called Covid-something?”Ajadi asked as he lifted the bottle to sip his beer.
“Oloruko is dead.”
Hearing what Jejelaiye had just said, the bottle in Ajadi’s hand fell and shattered as it gave a thud on floor. His eyes were wide opened as he fixed his gaze on his friend who was seat on a sofa beside him. The shock he felt was so intense that he gripped Jejelaiye by the hand. “Oloruko is what?” He never saw it coming. He and Oloruko still met at one of the town’s garages fortnight ago and Oloruko had told him about his visit to Lagos.
“Was he caught in an accident,” asked Ajadi curiously.
“He wasn’t,” replied Jejelaiye. “He was poisoned.”
“Poisoned?”
Jejelaiye nodded in affirmation.
“You also know that Oloruko had an amorous affair with the wife of his landlord, Mama Kemi?”asked Ajadi.
“It was early in this morning that I confirmed that what truly led to the death of our friend is the Agunmu iba that his Landlord gave him. I learnt that Oloruko had gone to his Landlord to complain fever and dry cough. And the herb the man gave him was a lethal poison.”
“Everyone in this town knows his landlord to be an easy-going man. And many people in this town depend on the herb he sells. In fact when I was down with malaria some days ago he concocted some herbs for me. Still that is unfair if he had poisined our friend.” Ajadi said as he felt unease.
“We both know that our friend is sleeping with his landlord wife. And the poor man had caught them. What the man has done is jungle justice.”
“Jungle justice?”
* * * * *
Oloruko was a man of thirty years of age, he was slender and smart and he was an adulterer and a gambler. Money, to him was not a problem. He womanized and he had quite slept with many women in Bagoro and among those women was Mama Kemi, his Landlord’s wife, who had gone to borrow some amount of money from a micro-finance bank which many would prefer to call Owo gbomulelantern and she could not pay her debt. On that cold morning she went to knock on Oloruko’s door she had hoped he would be able to borrow her the money to clear her debt.
“Brother Oloruko, I have come to you,” said Mama Kemi with a pleading gesture. “My image is about to be stained. You know about this money borrower in town. They unleash great distress on those who could not pay their debt. I have been evading my creditors for some days now and tomorrow they have promised to arrest my husband, Baba Kemi who has now given me ultimatum to either pay my debt at all cost or leave his house. Brother Oloruko, help me, I don’t want to be shamed.”
Oloruko who was not so surprised to hear what the disturbed woman was saying, assured her that he would help her not to slide into the quagmire her creditors were about to put her.
“That is not a big deal, I will borrow you the sum of money,” said Oloruko as he fondle his beard, “but one favour you will do in return, that is after you have paid your debt. We will discuss it.”
To cut the story short, it was not yet a month after the death of Oloruko; Bagoro, the town Oloruko had lived in until his death was now under the attack of a disease that had killed scores of people. It was one old man who had traveled from Bagoro to Lagos and fell sick on arrival to Lagos that led to the discovery of what could have been causing a quick death in the town. The old man was test positive to COVID-19.
The End
