No, I'm not a ghost

Armed with cudgels , they surrounded him while shouts of  " Kill the bastard,hang him, cut his third leg ", rent the air . While on his  knees, he used his left hand  to cover his ''treasure'' and waving his right hand  begging  for mercy as heavy blows  rained on him .His voice cracked. Tears flowed freely down his cheeks .When he   could not bear the pain  any longer he  pleaded to  the angry mob to kill him at once by shooting him.

Fuming with rage , a young man shaved the  suspect's  head with a razor blade. Another man with blood-shot eyes brought out a six- inches nail , fixed it on a long stick, raised it, aimed at his temple and wanted to land it on the clean shaved head of Adio. One man adjusted the rubber tires  they  put on his neck while two men emptied  two gallons of petroleum on his naked body. Adio was shocked when he saw the young woman he used to  give money among the angry mob ready to strike a stick of matches  on him . ''My end has come! My end has come!!'', he muttered. He closed his eyes, clenched his teeth and screamed " No!, no!!''.  He woke up , sweating profusely and shivering .It was a dream.

Thank God it was a dream, he said, still shaking like a weather -beaten chicken. He looked at the lady, Morountola sleeping by his side ,  in a pool of her own blood. "Are you still bleeding ?, does it mean the doctor did not do the D & C very well? I am in trouble " , he shouted . Morountola did not talk or even move at all .He shook her , yet she neither blinked an eyelid nor moved her body.

Adio called his friend on that early Monday morning  , and they drove Morountola  to a nearby hospital  where she struggled to  describe for them.

While on a stretcher she looked at Adio and said ''this is the fifth abortion I am doing for you, and this is four months pregnancy .This is bad yet you said you are still studying me to know my character , it is unfair ".

Adio and Morountola had been dating for the past four years while the two lovebirds agreed to finish their University education before they get married.  Adio studied Sociology while Morountola studied Business Administration and  both finished from two different prestigious Universities in Nigeria. Now they are serving their father's land as Youth Corpers and the duo are the envy of many .

Adio  during his service year in another town met Adunke who was a Banker  who  was desperately looking for husband and she enticed Adio with money and goodies since she was a Banker . She gave Adio money to abort for Morountola in order not to be disturbed. They orchestrated the plan to  dump Morountola for  them to get married.

Adio flashed back to  the dream he had , he became uncomfortable and nervous . He asked the doctor whether Morountola will survive the abortion as the blood was too much for him to bear . But the doctor assured him of her survival and demanded 10,000 Naira to  place her on admission to do a proper evacuation and  cleaning  of  the remnants . Aduke  gave Adio the  money and that was all.

" Did I not tell you that your boyfriend is wicked ? He never had intention to  marry you and you are just fooling yourself ", the doctor told Morountola .

Three days later the doctor phoned  and dropped a bombshell on Adio that Morountola had died and he should come and pick up her corpse .

Adio cut the land phone , packed his things and fled to Kano not minding the  religious riot Maitasine that was going on there.  Adunke later started visiting Adio in Kano ,they wedded , had four beautiful children and were living well.

Adio became a  successful businessman and his wife,a banker assisted him with loan facilities from her bank. Life was good .

It was in the night , during the holiday when a public transport ran into a  truck. A medical doctor who had just completed his National Youth Service with  three other students of same mother died instantly. While other passengers sustained injuries.

Bad news spread like wildfire. These children were from Kano going to Lagos to see their grandmother as their father had lived in Kano for years without bothering to come back home. The  driver of the public transport  slept off  along Abuja / Lokoja road and rammed into a stationary trailer. While some believe it was caused by witches and wizards, some said vampires waited  there for their blood and others traced the history of the driver, medical doctor  and of Adio's families' background.

" Mr. Adio's three  children died  in a ghastly auto crash and his wife is in her late  50s  already in her menopausal stage .There is no hope she would have a child again except miracle ", a sympathizer told  Morountola over the phone.  Morountola who heard the news left Ikoyi with her husband for Oshodi  and  located Adio's family house .

Face- to- face  with Adio who had been forced to come down from Kano for the burial of his children.When Adio sighted Morountola , he screamed ''ghost! ,ghost!!'', believing  he was seeing Morountola's ghost .

However, Mrs. Morountola Ojuri  calmed him down and  made a spirited effort to explain everything .''You see Adio, I am not a ghost", Mrs. Ojuri continued , "I have come to sympathize with you. I don't wish you bad and I am not here to  do you any harm. We were together in June 1982  at the hospital where you abandoned me .I aborted for you four times but  that fifth time I was not pregnant at all. I just  tested your sincerity and to see whether it was true that you loved me. The doctor you took me to was my Cousin who asked me to put you to test .The blood dripping from me  that night was not my blood but pigeon's . I killed three pigeons and put  the blood  in a cellophane rubber and put it in my undies then punctured it with a needle and blood spilled out .

"When you heard that I was dead you ran away from Lagos and never to be seen again. You lied that you had been transferred to Kano, and didn't come home saying witches and wizards in your family were after your life. If truly I had died then that  is what you would have done. I later got married to my husband Ojuri, but  he  was not the man of my choice. For age was no longer on my side. I had no choice than to develop the love. I had only two  children because of my age. I couldn't have more according to doctor's advise, and the two  are doing very well. The woman you left me for was the devil .You allowed her to brainwash ,control and alter your divine love for me. She cast a spell on you  and you became so weak and  wicked towards me that you forgot how much in love we were and how we started.  Five years later I met my husband and made sure I told him everything. It was he that suggested we should come here to sympathize with  ........." she  did not  finish her statement when Adio's  cell phone rang and was informed that his last child, Ayo who was on life support machine had given up the ghost. Morountola broke down and wept, Adio was surprised  for her sympathy. She consoled him and said God has a reason why they were not married. She left with her husband.

Later, Adio left Adunke for a younger woman to have a child for him, yet no child. Adunke's business crumbled. She was in debt, later  she left Kano and went back to her family house in the village in Ondo State.

Adio called this reporter and said:''Now I am  66 years old,I can not be employed again. I am down with hypertension and diabetes, my world has  crashed. I have erectile dysfunction along with oligospermia ( low sperm count) and I am daily  haunted by my sins ,what do I do?''.

This is a true life story . It was told by a- 66- year old man but names and places have been changed.Please what should Adio do?

Send your comments and advise here.