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ESTHER’S DIARY-DAY 10

In the midst of these disclosures and hullabaloo, my father was entombed. All through the burial ceremony, Akanni was absent. He was not missed, with his absence the atmosphere was devoid of apprehension, an obvious sign that the burial would go on well. Everyone’s worried and silent prayers that Akanni should be absent was granted. It was an accomplishment.

Father didn’t leave a will. Of course, he did not know he was going to take an early walk with his ancestors. However, a great number of father’s business dealings especially the cocoa business angle was not a new terrain to Maami Agba she undisputedly and seamlessly became the head of the business. While alive, father had let her have a substantive role in the business even though he was the head. They were as two mongrels poised to defend their territory against invaders.

After Olori Ebi was unveiled as the mask behind the seemingly tribulations in the Thompson household, he had shame facedly retreated into his shell. His wives have been shocked and bitter about his dalliance with mama Akanni. They had some running battles with him. If the communal relatives shrugged it off as some unavoidable incident dictated by fate, his wives were not buying that school of thought.

The remote thought of akanni being part of their household was horrific to them. Olori Ebi walked on a tight rope, he was literarily grasping for a hold in other not to tilt over. They warned him to never entertain the idea of Akanni becoming a member of their household. There was no place for Akanni in their home. If he ever remotely entertained the thought of bringing akanni into the household they threatened to string up his balls. In a polygamous household lit with the ever-burning fire of jealousy, bickering and fights, it dimmed for a united front against Olori Ebi over Akanni. The whole community buzzed with the story for a long time.

Nuisance billowed in the form of Akanni barely a week after father was buried. He arrived with his circle of scumbags. They came in as noisy and as dramatic as they often did. Their music was vulgar and ear splitting, banging on objects to create fright. Everyone moved out of the way in panic.

Mama Akanni told him about her fracas with Maami Agba as soon as Akanni was sane enough to listen, if she had expected akanni’s short fuse to explode over her story, she was disappointed and surprised that Akanni was exasperatingly calm. He sneered at her, and replied in a very derogative and smirking voice, that she was a lazy old sucker as well as a stupid scaredy-cat. He barated her that she deserved what she got for not standing up to maami agba. He rudely asked Mama Akanni if she was his mother because he cannot fathom how a fraidy-cat like her could be his mother.

Mama Akanni was hurt by those scalding words coming from her own son. She was very disheartened that Akanni did not take the bait to fight Maami Agba. In a fiendish laugh Akanni had sauntered away reeling in laughter, whacking his sides while reporting to his fellow scumbags what a slothful mother he had. He derided his mother so much that Mama Akanni began to scream expletives and profanities on him.

Akanni merely laughed scornfully as he cruelly taunted his mother who could not hold back her tears. Disenchanted she wailed loudly but Akanni’s brain had dismissed his mother and was mentally engaged in how to assert his authority.

Akanni began to live in father’s wing, which he had forcefully taken over without respect for tradition and the dead. He did not care for traditions he contemptuously rubbished it.  He continued to live wild and violent with his friends. The house was noisy, nauseating and terribly fearful. Akanni heard what maami agba had revealed the day she confronted Olori Ebi and fought his mother.

Akanni had brushed this aside. He laughed derisively and bragged that no one could remove him from his father’s house. He laughed like a jackal at the thought of Olori Ebi being his father. He threatened to mutilate Olori Ebi if he dared claim him as son. He scornfully called him a rogue for trying to lay his hands on his father’s wealth. As for his mother, he reprimanded her for being a whore who did not know whose pregnancy it was. He harangued her, in his exact words allowed father and Olori Ebi ‘to ride you like a horse, stupid Bitch” he had spat at his mother.

In a caustic tone, he advised her to open a brothel. He derided her so much; it was if Akanni was mentally replacing Mama Akanni with father. He announced that he would deal with anyone who did not obey his rules as Arole of the family. In his blistering tone, he said even his mother would not be spared.

Maami Agba moved out into the house she had built for herself.  Happy to keep a permanent distance between Mama Akanni and Akanni’s awful lives. Shortly afterwards, my mother packed us up to live with her family in the palace. Other wives who arrived for the burial took to their heels. They were astonished at the extent of Akanni’s appalling and despicable behavior.

Moving away from the Thompson’s household began another chapter of my life, far away from Akanni and his tragicomedies. It was a sublime moment of peace.

Stories filtered in that Akanni turned the house to a haven and hideout for miscreants. He cheaply sold every worthy piece of household item in the house leaving it dismally squalid. He couldn’t subsist without drugs, beer and women. His acquired taste for them had built up. He also had frequent rows with his mother most times which tended to be violent. No one had a word of compassion for Mama Akanni.

Within the space of two years, Akanni had squandered the money from selling property. Akanni and siblings enjoyed the largesse with mama Akanni. If it got to Olori Ebi, no one knew. He was completely, down, flat and broke.

Words filtered in that he was under arrest for kidnapping and rape, which resulted in homicide.

Calamitous for Akanni, she was a niece to a Military Officer. He simply called six fierce, stern and aggressive looking Soldiers who had just returned from the war front to pick Akanni up. They arrived in commando style, hostilities visibly on their countenances. Everyone knew there was trouble as the soldiers jumped down from the vehicle before it came to a halt.

They came fully armed in their battle fatigues as going to war. They yelled for Akanni to come out or risked being smoked out and having the house razed down. When it seemed that Akanni was dawdling to come out, they figured out that Akanni was armed. Certainly, they were armed, but they were no match for the soldiers who shot sporadically into the air before running swiftly into the house like gazelles. The commotion was deafening as they slogged everyone out, questioning, “who is Akanni?” where is the bastard called Akanni?” Akanni was dragged out shrieking and half naked.

They mentally saw Akanni and his mob as prisoners of war. They became the conduit to release all their pent up fury and antagonism. It was a stinging slap and painful stomping pains Akanni and his gang would take years to forget. They were frog marched for hours and thrown like trash into the waiting vehicle. This was what we were told by those who witnessed the picking up of Akanni and the scumbags. The last we heard of Akanni was that he was still languishing in cell. The family and the community must be at peace for the removal of Akanni from their midst. I think he deserved what he got.

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