How my mother led me into a trap

By Yetunde Arebi

Hi,

Why do women worry so much about everything and nothing? This was the question I asked myself after listening to the story you are about to read.

In a mother’s bid to ensure the best for her young daughter, she ended up leading her into the lion’s den. And though Sekinah said she has moved on with her life, she cannot forget what happened between her and the man she called Alfa. Her story is one of the most intriguing I’ve heard in recent times. Happy reading!

“Not many people know that I was once married and I have a son. I met my husband when I went for consultation at an Alfa’s place. My mother took me and my siblings there. He used to do some potions for us on our mother’s request. You see, my father is a polygamist and has several children from these women.

“My mother was initially the second wife before the death of the first wife. The unhealthy competition attached to the polygamous life style forced my mother to be suspicious of everything and everyone. Someone or something was always responsible for whatever happened or did not happen to us.

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Often, she would sit us down in her room for several hours, discussing our father’s behaviour and how he had not fulfilled many of his promises to her and how we must ensure to do well in our education just to put her enemies to shame. According to her, we were the reason she was suffering in our father’s house.

To make her dreams come true, she visited several spiritualists, Alfas, prophets, soothsayers, you name it. Though she did not visit any herbalist to my knowledge, I will not be surprised if she did. She would bring us concoctions and potions, insisting it was for our protection or success.

She said this particular Alfa helped one of her close friends and that was how we ended up with the Alfa who eventually ruined our family. When I was about to sit for my school certificate examinations, the man made some potions for me. To everyone’s joy I passed the exams in flying colours and even gained admission into a polytechnic that same year. There, I met a guy.

He was in HND2 and insisted he wanted to marry me. We were from the same town and he already had a job in the bank and was doing well. I really loved him and wanted to marry him. My mother was happy and supported the relationship but insisted as usual that she would only give her consent after checking things out spiritually.

So one day, she informed me that Alfa wanted to see me. Alfa asked me several questions about the guy and myself and why I wanted to marry him so soon. He told me to write his name and his parents’ if I knew them, as well as names of other guys who had showed interest in me. Years after, I remembered that on my way out, he’d asked me why young people are always in a hurry to marry and why they never consider older men who will take good care of them.

He asked me if it would not be good if a young girl like me was taking care of him. I just laughed and went out because I assumed he was joking at the time. He told me he would get in touch through my mother. A few weeks later, my mother informed me that alfa wanted to see me but has refused to say what he’d seen about my boyfriend. I figured that the gods had rejected my boyfriend and my mother did not know how to break the news to me.

I was eager to see Alfa as I did not want anything to go wrong. Alfa revealed that the guy and I were really meant for each other but that there would be problems with child bearing and his parents would eventually turn against me after our marriage. He also said the guy would be a flirt who will eventually marry other women. Immediately, I told him not to mention that part to my mother, and asked if he could do anything to prevent the problems.

He told me to come back for a potion he would prepare. That day, he gave me something to rub on my face, another to drink and one to mix with my cream. He told me that anytime I wanted to visit my boyfriend, I should apply all these things and his love for me would be strengthened. He also told me that anytime I dreamt about the guy, I should not tell anyone except him because he had some other things we have to do and the dreams would guide us on how to go about them. Unfortunately, things did not work out the way he had said. Before I knew what was happening, I fell in love with Alfa and everything came apart.

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I discovered that anytime I applied those things he gave me, my boyfriend and I would have a quarrel or something would come up and we would not have a good time together. Anytime I dreamt about him, it was always terrible. It was either he was chasing me with a dangerous object and I would be calling Alfa to help me, which he would or Alfa might either hold me in his arms to protect me or take me into his house to hide. I didn’t remember telling anyone else but Alfa since he had warned before. After I told Alfa, he gave me something to place under my pillow when going to bed. After that, I don’t think I was really conscious of all that went on between me and Alfa anymore.

I knew I was going to his place and he was having sex with me but it never crossed my mind to tell anyone. And when I became pregnant, Alfa was very happy. He said it was to be a secret between us and that I should not worry about what anyone would say. He would handle things. By this time, I had already called it off with my boyfriend as I could no longer stand him anymore.

I recall that my mother called me and began questioning me about my health and my menstrual period. I just told her I was not menstruating as I was pregnant for the man I wanted to marry. When I told her it was Alfa, she did not believe me. She rushed to his place for confirmation and from there she was rushed to the hospital.

When she came back, I can’t really remember what happened but I remember insisting that I wanted to marry Alfa. My father became very angry with my mother when he found out she was the person who took me to Alfa. He sent her packing and refused her access to my siblings. Till today, my mother lives on her own in a room her brothers rented for her.

I moved into Alfa’s house and became his fourth wife. I had to stop school at the beginning of my second year because Alfa said he could not afford the fees and going to school was not really important anymore. My son would attain whatever height I stopped at and surpass it. It wasn’t that I really cared too anyway, and that is one of my greatest regrets till date. I must have gone around making a fool of myself. The thought of it is so annoying, embarrassing and painful. To think I was proudly telling friends and former schoolmates about my new status and coming baby.

However, my mother swore not to give me up to Alfa and that she would fight him with her life, same with my father. Individually, they did not relent in their efforts. They sought help from other spiritualists because it was glaring to everyone that Alfa had charmed me. I was told also that he was even boasting to some people that he alone had the power to set me free and that there was nothing anyone could do until he was ready. He also reportedly told my mother that he was not a fool, and asked why she’d allowed him to nurse a plant until it was ready to start bearing fruit, only for her to allow another to reap the fruits. The whole thing took a dramatic turn when I gave birth to a baby boy. On the day of the naming ceremony, Alfa with his colleagues had prepared the veil for me. I became an ‘eleha’ (purdah), a woman whose face could not be seen in public. Only her husband and other close knit women could see her. His plan was to stop me from leaving his house.

I am sure that it was after this evil action that my parents decided they would not sit and watch the old man ruin my life. And so, just as I used to see him in my dreams in those days, I began seeing him again. Only this time, he was the one trying to kill me and I was running towards my mother for safety. I woke up one morning to realise where I was and I fully comprehended what had happened to me. I was repulsed. When he tried to touch me, I was even more disgusted such that it turned into a quarrel. Alfa was surprised and started shouting that he thought my parents had given up, and had been planning to take things easy but not anymore. Those behind it must suffer gravely for it.

I left Alfa’s harem shortly after, taking my son with me. No one believed I would not return to him because of all his threats. Initially, my father insisted I could not stay in his house but at my mother’s because she ruined my life. So I went to her place but two days later, her brothers came and they took me to my father’s house.

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Then my mother took my son to Alfa. My parents refused to have him anywhere near them. At first I used to feel sorry for the boy but not anymore, he is where he belongs. We learnt that Alfa finally sent him to his aged mother in Kwara state. My former boyfriend married one of my friends and he is doing marvellously well. He is very comfortable, though I am not a pauper also.

I still wonder why Alfa decided to take his reward from me and not my mother who was his client. Unfortunately, despite all that happened, my mother has not stopped patronising all these evil people. She insisted that Alfa was just a callous and shameless man and that there were very good and sincere ones amongst them. After all, it was another man like him that helped my parents to release me from Alfa’s clutches. She insists life is not as easy as we think, only the violent will take it by force.

Do have a wonderful weekend!!