Words are powerful, if anyone doesn’t know that, a good Muslim woman like my wife should know that. She knows how I am a hot tempered person and she shouldn’t have provoked me.
That is all I have to say about that.
But maybe I can explain a little bit so that you can understand where I am coming from.
See ba, I met my wife, Fati through a friend of mine. We were all together during one sallah like this and I told Aminu, my friend to introduce me to her. Fati is the friend of Aminu’s sister, so that is the connection.
So, me and Fati we began to be friends. I told her that I am a serious person, I don’t do two face with anybody, when I say, I like you, nothing will change it. So she agreed. Small time, I said, let us get married, I don’t want to be doing corner, corner love. I want to be straight.
But Fati said she didn’t know if she wanted to marry me, she said I am too hot tempered. Yes, I am, because I have displayed for her once or twice or maybe three times I am not sure. I have displayed for her and she was afraid.
Me ba, when I am angry, I can do anything. I can turn this whole place upside down because of the anger and I have been praying to Allah, please take this hot anger from my heart. I am really praying. So I promised Fati that I will try and be cooling down and not be getting angry.
One time, she came to my compound and was talking to Jubril, my neighbour. I just went outside and dragged her to the room. I flung her to the floor and warned her seriously to desist from talking to Jubril, he is a rascal!
Anyway, after that I begged her, you know you women, she was just crying, saying she was not doing again with me. So I begged her. She stopped crying and I have been gentle since then.
We got married not long after that and she moved into my room. We were managing ourselves. She sells kosai, what people call akara down at the junction of our street and me, I ride okada. We were managing.
Then one day I had okada accident. It was one stupid danfo driver who hit me and I just went straight into the gutter, my passenger broke his leg, me, I lost three teeth at once, see…I also had many deep wounds on my elbows and knees and thighs.
So, I was at home and my wife was caring for me. But after a few days, the scratches on my body were not healing, they were just swelling and full of bad smelling things. I was very feverish and very sick.
One day, as I laid on the mattress, I was thinking about my life; maybe if it is Allah’s will, I will die from these wounds; if not I have to be very careful with this okada business.
Ok, so is it a bad thing for a man to tell his wife the things in his heart? Because that was what I was doing that day. I called Fati. I said, if it is Allah’s will, I will die in this sickness. But me I know I have served Him well but if not, Allah knows best. I was just very sad that day. I thought she was a good muslim woman, praying and observing the tenets of Islam.
This woman just opened her big mouth, she said I should not die because if I die, she would remarry. So I should just not die.
Tell me, is the power to live or die in anybody’s hands?
Is it not Allah whose will is for us all?
So if I die, she would remarry? Is she planning to marry Jubril? Or Ahmed or Isa or…I don’t even know. My mind was just boiling that day. So, I knew that this woman wanted me dead. She wanted me to die so she can remarry. It was that anger that made me try to get better. And as Allah willed it, I became better and stronger but the thing she wished for me was troubling my mind.
You know women are evil, maybe she will one day try to prison me, or send people to kill me or pray that I die on the road. So me too, I knew I had to do something about it.
Words are powerful as she has said if I die, she would remarry, if I waste time, it would just happen like that. So I waited for her to be asleep and I drew my machete.
That’s all I have to say about it. Now, she can never marry anybody ever and me, I will remain in this jail!