Africa Aura of Honesty

                                 Africa Aura of Honesty.                     

                            by Romeon Okwo
The Sun walk gradually and set at its angle on it way home,as it balance its  yellow spot to allow women who has came late from farms get prepare for the evening meals which also allow the villagers to arrange their chairs for the evening occasion.my friends and I were at the village for one of our friend wedding introduction,my friend had left his home town over some years,so when he was set to get married,he was keen in marrying a lady from his tribe so he can be in touch with his culture again which he claimed,he had missed so much being in the city.
Being a young lad,when my guy departed  his home town,him and the lady never had the opportunity to know each other's families deep -down till they were lucky to met in the city .

We were about to start the formal engagement after all had being said and agreed,it was at this steep an old man walks into the crib where the elders were finalizing discussion on  the bride price
I notice a commotion when my friend was introduced to the new elder, we were expecting our intruder to greet and stretch for a handshake as the tradition demand,but nothing like that  happen and  immediately I began to notice,as the looks of the old man start falling.Between the twist of  light,the father of the bribe was excused by the elder outside the hut as their actions stared at our  faces.

The actions confused us but we patiently await the confirmation of our worries preluding the discussions
After about thirty minutes or thereby,the father of the would-be bride enter the crib,and announced the occasion is being suspended as we were asked to leave. Like a bomb,our thoughts shatter. Not knowing where to reposition our thoughts from,our tongues became limb as none among us can understand the happenings.Oh God ! my good friend cried out!,"what have I done wrong???" It was a question nobody is dare to answer us now.

I'gather the courage and insist,we should be informed on what is the problem but we are told, they will get back to us ,my pride eloped my face as I bacon on my guys to let go.
They even refused the bride to accompany us as we gather our belongings to find our way since our legs was not carrying our frustrations again.

Finally,we gather our temper and make our way from the compound,we move toward the Village Market Square where I insist we relaxed a bit and recap our odds and empty the gongs and bottles we had inside the boot before departure.
As we were summing up our assumptions on what would have being the causes of our wahala,about three loads Hilux vans with some cars drove on convoy toward a compound opposite our direction.
As the visitors fell into the village.news start flying round.Our findings later confirmed,the leader of the visitors was a young politician who was also in the village to take a second wife and had fixed his traditional marriage that day too.

We start to whisper among ourselves if that could being the reason why our own trash should be shifted and why we should be treated shabbily just because we didn't come on convoy or if the rich Mugu had banned all gatherings for his occasion,a practice that is common on this part of the country, before the bubble of our doubt's could settle,we saw our in-laws moving in their numbers toward the venue of the wedding.our insinuations almost give us the answers but the better ones  later come from the bartender.

The politician was a former Director in one of the federal MDas.He was sack after embezzlement and other illegal activities with others of his colleagues,arrested and arranged for allocating over five hundred million to a ghost project which he was the direct owner.

With the  helps of some seniors advocate of Nigeria who created some legal technicalities and intervention from some top politicians,a  seal save-heaven for his freedom was secured,according to the barman,he was set free and later joined politics,contested and was elected honorable member of Federal House Representative.
He was at the village to married his second wife as pre-requirement for a traditional little to be bestrode on him.

The marriage was attend by who-is-who in the village and across the neighboring Communities.The Igwe of the village gave the groom a "special name tittle" for coming to married their daughter.As we left the village,we keep hoping if our hosts will send sos after us but it seem,they had taken their stand  and there is no sign of that coming.the night was failing and the gulley will not allow us a smooth drive,we has to be smart to take our leave if not we be shame for the second time ,we put our efforts together and rolled out our old Mercedes Ben as we drove out of the village.

My friend frantic effort to reached his fiancee finally yield after some days of  phone -number -not -available and on probing,he was told,the elder that came during the wee hours remind her families of  a goat that was said to be stolen by his father many years back.
And because of that,the elders say,they cannot marry their daughter to a family that will steal a common goat .

According to my friend,the goat was never stolen by his father as the  alleged goat was later discovered to belong to the father.
A man who was having quarrel with the father had raised an alarm when the father was trying to catch the goat in the night because the goat was no longer going back home after roamings.
after a summon from the Village chief,the man who accused his father had apologized and since then the story had not spread out like the bad story.
Such was the allegation trending before my friend left the village almost some decades ago and never knew the neighboring villages had not got the clear version of the story till date.

My friend,a Hard working fella,who had push through the ups and downs of life got a slap on the face for no fault of his,denied a wife ,disgrace before his friends and saw same in laws rushing to honor public office who antecedent is all over the public for his grafts.
The Honorable member that even stole millions was celebrated by the people  because he steal in millions
Honor is no longer share among hard workings as more money mean more respect,followers are bound by what they get as stomach infrastructure is foremost the well being of their concerns.

As my guy discovered the reasons behind the in laws action,he begging me to follow him back again to sort out the problem,I m insisting,he should not go.part of my reasons is that, a man that humiliated you at such important time can even denial you access to his house in future if his daughter later behaved.And the elders did not denial him their daughter because your father stole goat but you were refused marriage because they believed you have no mind to steal big ,why would a man steal just a common goat?!! was their stand.
my guy is in love and he is not taking my advice serious,what do I do or I should him let go back?

This is my Africa where characters was strong currency for the future till civilization  come to our Chiefs  with the exchange of mirror,guns,pen and papers,what a society,we find ourselve ,it is only in Africa that,less-thieves are punished for sins  committed as a result of survive but big-thieves are celebrated and elected to political offices.
If we must build a decent community,the goat stealer and the political thieves must be punished and shamed same way,it is in doing so that we can have a better .
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