My sister, when the devil wants to use you, he will give you everything you need, that is the only thing I can say about my calamity, my sister.
The devil just used me, then dropped me like hot charcoal. See my life, now!
I was doing my business jeje. What kind of business? The business of supplying girls for people that want house maid.
That was my business. I would go to my village and mobilise those that want to come to Lagos to work. Mark you, I will pay their transport fare to Lagos, I would feed them on the way, I will house them for some time.
Mark you, when they are there, they will eat, so consider that, it is someone who is feeding all these girls and girls can eat a lot!
Then one by one, I would start distributing them to my customers; some are in Surulere, some in Ikoyi, some in V/I, so many of them. This January 2019 alone, I came to Lagos with 15 of them because I have many customers that need housemaids.
So, I would arrange with them that they would pay me half of their salaries; after all, I am the one who brought them to Lagos, as per say, I am their agent.
I don’t do child trafficking, ma. The girls that I mobilise are from the age of 16 and above. I don’t want police wahala. I am not involved in trafficking of small, small girls, I don’t do that.
I go to their families in the village, I ask them, ‘do you agree to send your daughter to Lagos to work and bring plenty money for you in December?’ They will say yes, I will then go round to all the people I know that need help. In fact, since I have been an agent, a lot of girls will just come to me by themselves and say, ‘Bros, we wan follow you go work for Lagos.’
I have never by-force anybody, at all, at all!
As you are seeing me so, I am an OND holder, I am not a school cert, not at all!
Ok, so the reason why I am here is because I let the devil use me. The devil is a liar; he is a wicked soul.
I was doing this business, and like I told you, everything was going fine. The girls would give me half their salaries because I helped them. But sincerely, in recent times, because the manner of girls I supply are very good, hardworking girls, their ogas just began to misbehave.
Yes, what I mean is, many times the people they work for will become very selfish; they would not pay my girls their full salaries by December. They would tell them that if they comeback in January, they would complete their salaries for them and this is very bad for business.
That’s how I started having small small challenge.
How can someone serve you from January to December and you will not now pay the person because you want them to come back?
Rich people are the problem of this country, it will be hard for them to make heaven!
Ok, so with this kind of hardship I was facing, one of my girls just began to worry me to come and take her away from her madam. She said the woman is too wicked and that the madam does not like anything she does. And I hate this kind of thing, it is bad for business, their money will not be complete at the end of the day.
I said, ‘You will stay there, o because I don’t have anywhere to put you.’ But this girl was just calling, calling, calling, so I decided to go and talk to her face to face, that she should calm down
That was when the devil borrowed me. I went to visit her at her madam’s house. I had not been there before because when I delivered Martha I dropped her at the madam’s office.
The place was fiiiinnnne, the house is a very fiiinnnnee house. I saw that the madam was very rich. So, I told Martha, ‘You will be patient here because your life is about to be better!’
I told her I would be calling her and when I do, she should not use English to talk to me, she should speak our dialect because when I asked Martha, she said the woman has plenty gold and money, even foreign currency!
So I now planned that she would begin to steal the gold small, small, bring to me, then I will give her the fake so that her madam will not suspect anything. It was a perfect plan.
I did not know that the devil will also enter Martha in a different way.
Martha carry herself go to tell her madam what I was planning and they planned for me; they went to police to tell them that I was going to steal from the madam. I didn’t know.
So me, I arranged that Martha would bring some of her madam’s gold and foreign currency to come and meet me at one place, that I would now do the fake of the gold that she brings so that she can use it to replace the ones she took. I didn’t know that Martha had planned for me with her madam and police…
As I collected the gold, collected the foreign money, put everything inside my bag, wanted to begin to go…powai! Police surround me!
That is why I said I allowed the devil to use me. I for jeje still be collecting my small change and will be a free man but I allowed the devil to use me and drop me like charcoal. Who will help me?
(series written and edited by Peju Akande and based on true stories)