Creativenonfiction #101 - The Path That Led To Home

Is there an event that you wished you never re-lived? Or one that you are glad it's no longer happening?

This incident happened when I was still in secondary school. Those times there used to be fights amongst the land owners also known as land grabbers in my community and other communities close to us. The Yoruba term used for these people is “omo-onile” or “Ajagungbale”

The tribe that dominates this group is the Yorubas. Some families amongst the Yorubas were said to have had ancestors who have acquired large farmland or the other. Land dispute is common amongst these people because in a family whose grandfather or father had married several wives and had lots of children, you will see their children fighting over lands which in one way or the other affects those who purchase land from them.

Let me give an instance, someone who buys land from one of the sons of a particular family who ”owns land” is at a risk of losing that land because another son either legitimate or illegitimate might sell that same land to another person which would in turn lead to quarrels between the two individuals who purchased the land.

In other cases, even when you purchase the land with no issue and you leave it for years probably due to financial constraints, you are at a high risk of losing the land to another person.

Back then the land grabbers dispute was a common thing but it got to a point where the dispute became tougher and the fights became bloody.

Sometimes curfew were imposed at night in order to safeguard the lives of people and ”Orò” (the Yoruba traditional deity of bullroarers and justice) which usually comes out late at night and only on “special occasions” would be summoned to come out in the night in order to curb these disputes.

Whenever this ”Orò” is summoned, nobody is allowed to be seen roaming the street; only the native sons of these deities are allowed to go out with it. Male strangers might be told to go back to where they are coming from or worse. It is very bad for the ladies as it is forbidden for any female to behold the orò. According to belief, any woman caught may be killed. If she is spared eventually, she would be unable to give birth or so they say.

Most people are always scared of this orò deity. Some people believed the tale of what it could do to those who violate these curfew while some don't believe it but still they stayed clear. Though these beliefs seemed absurd, it still helped keep the peace in some aspects.

The fight that happened back then was between two or more of the land grabbers families that it got to a point that an impromptu curfew was imposed in the afternoon(which is as opposed to the time the oró do come out). Many people stayed indoors in fear of their lives. Some parents that have children in nearby schools quickly went to their school to pick up their children before the curfew starts.

My mum quickly reached out to my teacher to inform them about the latest update concerning the curfew and to tell us to take a different path when comfy home because my brother and I school is very far from home. Unfortunately, my mum was unable to reach us as she was told that we had already left the school and were already on our way home. Neither my brother nor I had a phone back then so there was no way my mum could reach us.

When the public bus my brother and I boarded got to our bus stop, we immediately knew something was amiss because the path that led to the direction of our home is very quiet. We came down from the bus and saw from afar, a few men holding cutlasses and a red cloth was laid down on the road. Instinct immediately alerted us that this was no red carpet event and we quickly pleaded with the bus driver to drop us at the next bus stop which he obliged.

We stopped at the next bus stop and were left with another dilemma; how to get home.

”What do we do now, brother?”I asked him as he held my hand.

"Don't worry, we would find a way o get home", he responded and his words seemed to assure me.

Luckily for us, we saw some students from other schools as well as other people who are also trying to get to their respective homes, so we joined them and they showed us different paths and their endroads. It was actually kind of fun walking with them and my brother and I saw interesting places we had never seen before.

When we got to a “Y-junction”, those students showed us a straight and clear path we could take to get home safely. We thanked them and we all parted. We took the path and we finally got home looking so tired and famished.

My mum was overjoyed upon seeing us and she quickly helped my brother and I to dish our food while she told us to sit and eat to our fill. In fact she told me not to bother doing any house chores as she will do them all now that she is finally relieved to have us back home safe and sound.

After eating and relaxing,we narrated our journey to her and how we were able to make it home safely. She told us since she was unable to reach us on the phone, she thought of going to wait for somewhere but she didn't know which path we would take.

It was a crazy period back then, one that I wouldn't want to experience again. The silver lining was that we got to know different paths we could take in order to get to our house.

I am glad those ridiculous disputes were a thing of the past and never heard of again.

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