My husband died unexpectedly. We don’t see it when death is coming but the way death happened to him was so unexpected. Years after marriage, nothing was happening to us. I was working in a grocery shop. My salary could only buy a bag of peanuts from the shop where I worked. My husband was still looking for a place where he fit in the universe. He was everything that gave him money though he was a learned engineer.

What we earned was very little but out of that, we paid rent, paid utilities and also paid the university fees of his brother who was living with us. Jones. He worked for Jones because he didn’t want to fail him. I worked to support him because we were on the ship together.

My husband had a big job at some point and started drawing big salaries. Within two years, he bought a car and relocated us to a place worthy of his new position. Jones had completed school and had travelled abroad. We had two kids. When we sat down in the evening with a roof over our heads and food on the table, we thanked God and asked ourselves, “What next?”

My husband started something on the side. It was doing very well. I went to school, graduated and got a good job too. We became a couple in love and in business. A year before we both resigned and worked fully for ourselves, my husband travelled as a whole person and came back in pieces. He had an accident. His body was in pieces. I couldn’t muster the courage to see it and I’m glad I don’t have a memory of how he became on his final day. It would have haunted me for life.

Three days after his death, his father’s elder brother called me. It was the first time I was talking to him after marriage. My husband’s father had died so he was the one who stood as a father during our wedding. He said, “You’ve succeeded in killing my son but don’t ever think you’re going to succeed in taking over his properties. We won’t allow you.”

The tears in my eyes dried up. My throat got dried too. “What is he saying? The death of my husband doesn’t mean anything to him but properties?” I called my husband’s mother and she didn’t pick up the call. After several attempts, my husband’s elder sister picked up the call. She said, “What do you want from us? Do you want to kill us too? Witch! What do you want from us? You better pack out of the house before we come and meet you there.”

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It felt like a crazy nightmare. My last born walked in to tap me, had it not been that, I would have been in denial. I called my parents and told them everything. My dad said, “Come home. They can take whatever they want. You have life. You have everything.”

While I was mourning the death of my husband, I mourned what his family were also doing to me. I didn’t fight back. I waited patiently until my husband was buried. At the funeral, I was cast aside. As if I was nothing to the man who was dead. I wasn’t consulted about anything. When they saw me around, they called me a witch. My family was disgraced at all levels so finally when the funeral was over, my mom went home with me and said, “Pack and let’s go.” I said, “Me? Go where? They’ll have to kill me first.”

I became a wounded lion. I fought them squarely. My husband’s elder sister thought I was a pushover until she felt my wrath. She ran and never came back. When it became too much, I took the issue to court. My husband’s uncle came to my place at night and told me, “You can win here but there’s a place you can’t win. Wait and see.”

I got scared. They belong to that tribe and I knew what they could do. I rented a new place and left with my kids. Anytime we had to go to court, I fell seriously sick, sometimes on the brink of death. Three times it happened. While they took over my husband’s properties, I was left with sickness to nurse.

One day I had a foreign call. It was my husband’s junior brother, Jones. He said, “I’m coming for you and the kids. Start working on passports as soon as possible. My family is planning something deadly. You’ll have to leave before they get you.”

The process was slow but finally, my kids went first before I followed. Jones told me, “Your presence scared them so they were doing everything to take you away. I have an insider. He told me everything. They should come and kill you here.”

I was shaking. I cried. I was paralyzed with fear. He told me not to worry. He helped get me a job. My kids started schooling. He was paying for us until I earned enough to be on my own. To date, he still comes through for us.

When I met Edgar and he proposed marriage, I told Jones about it even before my family got to know about it. He said, “I didn’t know you wanted Obroni, I would have given you one long ago.” We laughed about it. He was the only family at our wedding.

Today, my ex-husband’s family have wasted everything and is still fighting over a building we couldn’t complete. His uncle had tried to sell the building thrice but they got the hint and it turned into a huge fight. I lost my husband for them to gain properties. They’ve started using juju against each other.

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Today, someone’s foot would be swollen, tomorrow, someone’s stomach would be overly bulgy. I pray for them but I don’t forget what they did to me. Ultimately, I’m thankful for the life of Jones. If he forgot about me, I would have been an obituary on the wall.

—Lucy

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