Alfa Quadri : Peace Has Come!

I told my mother.

I didn’t hide it from Iya Niyi.
The moment I got home, I told her what I saw. I told her the story of a man “who told me everything I had ever done”

She asked if I had plans to go see him… I was sure I wanted to, the promise of peace was enticing. However, my younger sister would not hear of it. I didn’t blame her, we were born in CAC, raised by CAC parents, prayers, Omi adura and òróró were the only way we knew… But at that point in my life, I believed I needed more. Still I hearkened onto her and decided I would not go.

The night I made up my mind not to go, I received a call from the quarters of the hoodlum family, they called just to remind me wípé “Bose, Yar-a-bastad”

The reminder of my bastardisity 🤣 choked me to near death, and in that moment of despair, my phone rang again and it was Alfa Quadri.
His words.
“Kilode ti ibanuje gba omi loju ẹ Abosede”
How he knew that sorrow had turned my eyes to River Nile was a mystery!
Before I answered his call, I had cleared my throat many times, swallowed the cry and composed myself.

So it shocked me when Alfa plainly asked me why I was crying.
According to him, my tears “came” to him and asked for mercy.
Ìyẹn ni wípé, omijé oju mi n plead fun mercy.🥺

Since my tears had kuku reach his office before my legs, let’s Kuku settle it, daz how I Kuku started wailing like the Heartbroken girl that I was…
“They said ayam a bastard! They say my baby is a bastard”
“They say Sanpona wee drink my blood”
Alfa Quadri laughed.

Let me describe Alfa Quadri.
I was 30 around this period, he was younger by a year.
Fine, tall, dark, good teeth 😞
(TDH Sha)
🚶🏽‍♀️
He also spoke well but for the unmistakable Ilorin accent.
He was a graduate of Unilorin, Department of Religion, 2011.

He didn’t look like a typical Alfa, except for his cap and his Guinea Brocade.

I went to Alfa Quadri the next day.
I didn’t go alone, my elder brother went with me. They all needed me to come out of that dark period and if there was a magic Alfa Quadri would perform, they were ready to support me.
We went to Alfa Quadri TOGETHER.

That day, Alfa was evasive while my brother was in the room, he said he needed my full name, date of birth and some other personal details wey no dey my CV.
I gave him all.
He looked at the paper I wrote this info and looked up at me sharply…

“Abosede, ọmọ méjì ni mo n lọwọ rẹ”
Ok, so he could “see” now that I had two children, not the ‘one’ I told him.
🙆🏽‍♀️

Toh, Alhamdulillah.
Bẹẹni Alfa, I have two sir.

Alfa asked my brother to excuse us.

“Bose, mo fẹ ran ẹ lọwọ”

“I will help you”

Remember my request was “Peace”
But in all honesty, Peace was abstract in that context, I wanted so many things. So many things that I couldn’t even put names to.
He promised me I’d be fine.
He said “ha, Iwọ ọmọ yi dẹ ni star gan o”

Bẹẹni sir’, I haff star but is like my star haff wear Aṣọ ibora. Ko shine rara.

That evening, I left with my brother and two days later, I went, alone.

The moment I stepped into Alfa Quadri’s home this time, I felt a difference. I saw it too. It was a big house, right in the center of the living room was a grave.
The first time I came, it was covered, I didn’t bother to ask myself what it was.
This time it was there for me to see.
I stepped into the room where he received us the first time.
The Holy Quran was not as conspicuous as it was the first time. He looked at me in the eyes and said.

“Abosede?”
“Sir'”
“Ti o ba fẹ isinmi, ọjọ méje ni n o fi ba ọ lajọsepọ lori awọ”

🥺
Those were his exact words.

Ẹnipe?
You say?

So, Alfa Quadri opened his mouth to say that ‘this peace’ that I want, that happened to be in his hands as the ‘Alfa and Omega’ ‘the beginning and the end’, would only be released to me if he slept with me for seven straight days on his mat, starting immediately.

Ha.
Ha.
Ha.

I began to tremble like the leaf in the eyes of the water, as in ewé ojú omi!
Why would you sleep with me? Why?
🤷🏼‍♀️
He said, the peace would be transferred through intercourse, he also said it was a great sacrifice on his part that could cost him his life, but he was ready because his spirit was drawn to mine.
I knew I had entered it.
I tried to control my shaking, but it wasn’t my body anymore, it was my spirit.

My spirit was angry, my body was bearing the brunt of that anger.
I began to cry to God for mercy in my heart.
I knew leaving would be hard. I knew I needed wisdom. I knew I needed God himself to take me out of that den.

“Abosede, ki lowi?”
He needed my response.
I looked up at him and nodded.
“It’s fine”
“Good”he said.

The first step was to have my bath in that place with a special soap and a native sponge.
He told me to go out of the house, there was a woman at the gate, buy a sponge and bring it back.
With shaky fingers, I opened my bag, took some money and stood up to go buy the sponge.
I stepped out, numb.
I was supposed to flee right?
No, I couldn’t.
I bought the sponge and went back in.

When I got in, there was a huge Calabash in the center of the room.
Alfa had removed his clothes and was wearing something else.
Numb, weak, I stood there and watched him as he told me to kneel.

I did not kneel.
I refused to kneel.

I didn’t.
The trembling had started again but this time, I was awake. I fought the numbness in my spirit and body.
I trembled as I looked at him straight in the eye.
I saw all the emotions that ran past in his eyes, confusion was the last one…

Alfa Quadri said to me.
“Lati oni lọ, o ti di iyawo mi, Khadijat sí ni n o máa pè ọ”
I didn’t argue, everything in my body told me not to argue with him as he spoke.
According to Alfa, the moment I become his wife, “peace has come”

I finally spoke😊

“Can I go and bring my baby?”

He agreed.
He also said I must return by 5:30am the next day. For the ritual of “peace transfer through intercourse” must begin the next day unfailingly.

Fine.

I picked my bag.

As I turned, he called me by my new name.
“KHADIJAT”

I almost said “Kilẹfẹ Olowo ori mi” 🤣

He gave me a bottle of water, soap and sponge, not the one I bought. Told me to bathe at exactly 1am.

I collected them.

And I left.
I stepped out of the house.
Threw the bag in the waste bin I saw just outside the gate…
And wept all the way home calling on the God of Jabez…

I went home, not with the peace he promised me, but with the one I would have lost!

Since then, I avoid Prophets of doom, it doesn’t matter the garment they wear.

The End.🦋

By Bose La’Bos Bamidele

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