The thing paining me in this matter is everybody thinks I was too aggressive during sex that is why she died.
I didnโt take anything to perform, I swear by Sango!
My friends call me โperformerโ because they know I have action and if I had known the woman had some sickness in her, walahi, I wouldnโt have touched her. In fact, she came to me by herself, I can swear by Ogun to kill me instantly right now. I am a butcher and you canโt swear by the gods without repercussions!
So this is how it happened.
I am a butcher by trade, I sell cow meat. That is what do. I donโt sell ram meat or goat meat, cow is what I do. I can bring a whole cow down in minutesโฆthatโs my job but sometimes, during sallah, people call for my services to kill their rams.
That time, my wife had been giving me some problems, you know how women behave? Anytime I want to touch her, she would say she has a headache, her stomach is paining her, her tongue is growing hairsโฆher back is on fireโฆ she was always giving one excuse or another so I told her, me, I will go out and get this thing. Even though I didnโt even mean it!
But you see, it’s not for nothing my friends call me โperformerโ? Thatโs because in my younger days, I was a performerโฆbut as you get older, you leave โthese thingsโ for small, small boys. You become responsible. And so, thatโs what I did for a long time.
That time, after we have not met for a long time, she said she was going to stay with her mother at Ede, the mother was sick. I said ok, can you tie a woman down and say, you must do? Ha, I left her to go and attend to her sick mother.
Because my wife wasnโt home that period, you know, there was no need to hurry homeโฆthere wasnโt anyone in. My wife took our smallest daughter with her, she was just three years old at that time. We have twin boys, they were in Jss2 at the boarding in government school, so there was no need to be rushing home. So after market, I would hang out with my fellow butchers at one joint we used to just hang out till late.
Thatโs how I met this woman who landed me in prison!
How did it happen?
That day, I was drinking 33, I had drank about four bottles when one of my friends who I grew up with, jammed me at the joint, he was hailing me, โperformer, performerโฆโyou know. He was in the company of two other women. One was young, the other was mature.
This mature woman would have been in her fifties, she was not a small girl.
So they came and added chairs and sat with me and my two friends. They ordered more beers for us and we were all drinking and eating fish pepper soup.
The mature woman was eyeing me throughout.
After sometime, she asked why my friend called me โperformerโโฆso my friend told her that when we were younger, I was the toast of all the girls in our town because I could performโฆ
You know, I was embarrassed but the woman said, she was sure I wasnโt a performer anymore. I felt insulted! But I just kept quiet and continued drinking my beer. She touched me and said she was just joking that she would like to know me moreโฆso I told her I was a butcher at the market.
She said, “oh, good, I will be needing meat for my partyโฆ”
The following day, at the market, my phone rang, I thought it was one of my customers because I get calls from my customers to book for meat or supply them on so and so dayโฆyou know?
But she introduced herself as the woman I met the day before and she said she wanted to test my meat!
โMo fe je eran e!โ
No bi juju bi dat?
I said to her, โI canโt eat the meat of elders.โ
We both knew it was not nama we were taking about!
This woman was older than me. I said she was like in her 50s, I was just 43years old but when it comes to the matters of the bedroom, age is not a problem especially when we are both mature.
So I told her I would call her later.
Around 5pm, this woman called me again and asked me to meet her at one guest house to see if my teeth could chew the โelderโs meat.โ
See, me I am no stranger to women making passes at me. I donโt know what they see in me but I have had my share ofโฆbut the devil was at work that time. I was starved, my wife had denied me many daysโฆand this one was giving me free meat, free of charge! I didnโt see that I was not strong enough to swallow it.
I got to the place around after 7 in the evening and called to find out where exactly I would find her. I located the room and as soon as I entered the roomโฆit was another world!
She ordered beer and fish pepper soup and she began to smoke. This was a real womanโฆas in, she was in control!
As in, a woman who was willingโฆI swear by the gods thatโs what happened.
We soon began the thing and itโฆI was not under the influence of anything, you know? I didnโt take anything that night and the woman, she herself was very readyโฆso what is left?
All I remember was that she was screaming for more โฆmaybe because when I checked, it was around like 10 in the night. We would stop and continueโฆand me, I thought, โHa, I am really giving herโฆโ
Later she stopped screaming and was just grunting likeโฆsomeone snoringโฆfrom her throatโฆI didnโt know she was choking or somethingโฆI just thoughtโฆshe was enjoying herselfโฆwomen make different noises and โฆI just didnโt know!
How was I to know something was killing her?
Before could say, โhow is it?โ I saw her foaming in the mouth!
That was when I knew her grunts were not from my performance. I thought she was enjoying how I was giving her! I swear on my fatherโs gave, I didnโt kill her. She must have had a sickness before that day!
So when I saw her foaming in the mouth, I panicked!
I was scared, I tried to wake herโฆpoured water on her, increased the fanโฆnothing happened. It was fear that made me runโฆI had no hand in her death!
She wasnโt even dead when I left the room that night!
And I didnโt even know she was married until I was arrested two days afterโฆmy own is finished!
Please help me, I mean, what will I do with her death? I have nothing to gain from itโฆthis is the devil at work!
(Series written and edited by Peju Akande and based on true stories)