I said how when father married mama Akanni, the tempo of the household changed. The drama began to enact itself without prompting. Mama Akanni was gauche, malicious, finicky about unimportant things, finicky about her looks, a chatterbox who never minded her business.

She was bitter that maami agba handled the finances of the house. She felt maami agba was cheeseparing about money. Her shrill voice each time she squared with maami agba over money was nerve wrecking. The constant fracas with maami agba was legendary. The ill mannered and foul-mouthed mama akanni mocked maami agba for not being capable of producing a male child. She called Akanni the arole and through arole Akanni and her boys, she chiseled father on everything.

Although mama Akanni was beautiful but the combination of father and mama Akanni did not produce beautiful children both in character and in physical looks. Fate was benevolent to the capricious mama Akanni who began to bear the much-desired heirs father and the family wanted as soon as she came into the household. She had five boys before fate took pity on maami agba before her seventh child came in as a male child.

When mama Akanni first had Akanni, maami agba became the butt of mama Akanni’s cruel jokes. She insisted on an elaborate naming ceremony for every child she had because she called it special. Her carriage and behavior drove a knife through maami agbas heart on those occasions

When maami had her son, mama Akanni still taunted her that her own son was the arole. While maami agba had seven children, mama Akanni had gone on to give birth to nine sons, which made her proud like a peacock

She thought the world of Akanni, so did father initially. However, Akanni was an imp who looked like a chipmunk. Akanni’s attributes are not impressive at all. As a spoiled child, he thought himself more important than he really was. Akanni dawdled over everything except bad behavior. He sometimes behaved like a dormouse. In short, mama Akanni raised her children to be like dormice!

They were lazy, ruble rousers, ruinous roughshod ruffians. Mama Akanni and her children made the household a living hell for everyone

It was whispered that father inwardly regretted marrying mama Akanni and winced at the constant reminder of the embarrassment the brood brought him especially Akanni, the arole.

Well if he did, he concealed it well out of pride.

As for arole akanni …..hummmm