It is only in a few cases that landlords and tenants get along. Some people don’t even like to rent an apartment where the landlord also lives in the compound. Tenants’ and landlords’ wahala is no new thing. In some cases, the landlord and the tenants get so close that you would think they are family friends, it happens sometimes like that, but do you want to know a secret on how such a relationship happens? It all has to do with some spoon-feeding, one party is rubbing the head of the other party, or both are just rubbing down each other’s head.
Some strong relationships are built from sucking up to a party. In this case, the landlord might see a good feature in his tenants and move to his good side, so he starts by complimenting every little thing his tenant does or the tenants begin to worship his landlord instead in order not to get on the bad side of his landlord as house hunting no soft like Agege bread. This is exactly how shady relationships start, it all depends on the avarice of the parties involved.
Nigeria is a country of opportunities but the opportunities you get depend on who you know and how long the legs of your connection are. Nobody is above the law, but we all know that’s a big fat lie, some individuals are absolutely above the law; the law is on their side – Na poor man pikin dey below the law. Every part of Nigeria is an outstanding representation of what the country is.
We’ve all been told we are equal so long we pay the same amount of money to get a space, but some individuals come first before others, they are the ones who get to pick which space they prefer and who gets to stay with them. They are first-class citizens in this unruly world – The landlord’s favourite. They are the ones who get the better space in any location of the compound and it doesn’t matter if what they pick is not for their level. They acquire it by crook even if they pursue the rightful owners of the space like stray dogs. They are the Ahab after Naboth’s vineyard.
You know this saying: trouble dey sleep, yanga wake am, but it is not every time yanga wakes trouble, sometimes trouble wakes yanga. You don’t need to offend the powerful before they reason you. You might just be breathing and existing and hate the sight of your heaving chest.
You don’t need to do anything to hurt your landlord before he serves you quit notice like early morning breakfast. You would start analysing where things went wrong but you would not be able to come up with a conclusion and the only choice you’d have left is to move out only to find the tyrant who sent you packing welcoming another person with open arms into your space.
In this unruly world, some people get banished to dejected rooms because an Ahab wants their space. If your legs are not long enough, you will be reaped. Everyone’s trying to keep their head under wraps. So, in this world, you either become a tool in your landlord’s kingdom and suffer bruises or increase the length of your legs.
