There is juju o! And when a woman does juju to keep her man, my people, run!
I’ve had been dating my boss for two years now.
When it began, that is, when he told me he wanted to go out with me, I was scandalized! In fact, I went on my knees and begged him to please find another person to date because I wasn’t ready to date a married man not to talk of my own boss…I had a previous nasty experience, so I knew why I was begging him to back off!
I had to beg because when I came to Abuja I spent more than five years looking for a job and when I finally got one, I held on to it with my teeth and nails and I believed that dating my boss would make me lose the job…
Nothing good comes from one dating their bosses, I have heard enough stories to know and in this Abuja, tori plenty!
Before I got the job, I suffered o.
I left Port Harcourt as a secretary to a man who dealt in properties…things did not go well and so many of us were laid off. A friend of mine who was posted to Abuja and worked with an oil firm told me to come to Abuja, she said there was plenty of work and that in no time, I would be a big madam. More so, she said she needed a flat mate to share the huge rent she was paying and she would prefer a familiar face to a total stranger.
I got to Abuja and stayed with her…hoping I would get a job quickly and with the contacts she promised, I was looking forward to begin work in no time.
The job I was told was plenty, didn’t come, instead, it was men of all shades coming to ask me out under the pretext of giving me a job. At first, I refused because I knew what they wanted and if they got it, they would dump me like hot coal…no job.
You know, after sometime, my friend and I began to quarrel because she felt I was just feeding off her. She said I was acting as if I was too much and refusing lucrative jobs because I knew she was going to continue to pay the rent and feed me.
I was shocked at her attitude. Especially after I had told her each of the men she introduced me to wanted sex first before the job!
She told me outright that if I wanted to survive in Abuja, I had better give them what they wanted! I said I wasn’t!
She asked me whether I thought I had a golden pxxxsy that men couldn’t get.
I swear, my mouth was left hanging that day! The following day, after staying at her place for 2years, she threw out my things and told me her house was not a charitable organisation!
See, I know she tried for me, two years is no joke and I understood her need for a flat mate to help share the rent because she was paying N2.7m yearly for her two bedroom flat in Wuse2. Even though I have no idea what she earned, that kind of rent can dent your savings every year.
So, when she threw me out, I went to stay with someone I had met at the Secretariat when I went on those job hunts…it was a guy from my village….you know.
Midnight came and this guy wanted to have sex…what was I to do? Walk away that midnight? I had to give in….I told myself, “na so you will become sex slave to this church rat…”
The following day, I called one Alhaji that had been disturbing me for long and told him I would play ball. We settled and I got the job…I was managing a petrol station and super market for Alhaji.
Na so I see myself o.
So, Alhaji became my man friend…
I knew he had two wives. I knew he would never marry me.
I knew he would soon be tried of me and move on to another girl and there was a likelihood I would also lose my job. Though I wasn’t earning big, I could at least feed myself because Alhaji also paid my rent; a small place at Kubwa.
I knew Alhaji’s wives, many times they would come with their friends, be speaking their language and mocking me. I had to find a way to handle them. I was making money for their husband, the least they could do was be civil to me and I didn’t ask their husband to be sleeping with me! I endured this for some time then I was offered another job by a customer who said he liked the way I handled myself when a difficult customer came by.
That’s how I moved job, from manager to a real office where my computer skills were put to test and my Business Administration degree was useful!
Alhaji was angry when I told him I was leaving; he called me names…
He told me I would beg in Abuja…two years down the line, I am begging but not for work, it is not to be entangled in a relationship with a married man.
My new boss said he liked me when I joined the company…he is a part owner of the business. He too is married with kids but his wife and kids are in Lagos not Abuja but even so, I was scared!
My boss paid my rent because Alhaji sent me packing when I left his job. So you see why I was afraid of going into a relationship with another married man because of my job?
But my friends encouraged me, they told me I shouldn’t fear, that I should just enjoy it while it lasted…and I did. My rent was paid, I moved to a nicer area, I got gifts of clothes and jewelry…after a while I moved in with him…though no one knew at the office.
Then I began to get threatening calls, his wife would call me and curse me until I put off the phone.
I blocked her line.
She called with another line, I blocked that one too.
I installed True caller to identifiy who called me…so I never picked suspicious calls and you know, when I told my boss his wife was threatening me, he just scoffed and told me she was just a noise maker, that I should ignore her.
Then one day, November, 23, 2021, his wife came to the house and met me and her husband and all hell broke loose…
She chased after me with a ram horn and some red cloth tied around the horn and was speaking into it…I ran half naked out of the house that day!
Which kind wahala be dis!
I called an Uber and have been staying with my friend since then. I can’t go to my job or to my house…what if she is there waiting for me?
So as the New Year comes, I will go hunting for a job again…and no more married men, please, their wahala is too much!
(Series written and edited by Peju Akande and based on true stories)