There was a man who travelled to the UK to study at the age of twenty-one.
His uncle, who had lived in the UK for over thirty years, took over his training from his father
He was well mentored and trained in a used car dealership in Sheffield
Soon, he made some money and started a branch of the same business in another city in the UK
At the age of thirty, he decided to get married
A friend of his introduced a very beautiful twenty-five-year-old lady to him
The lady was a good Christian, well-mannered, and well-educated
They spent their honeymoon in Dubai and lived in the UK for five years, during which they had a son
This man decided to establish a business in Nigeria.
He spoke with his uncle, and the uncle decided to take over his business in the UK while he would return to Nigeria to establish the business he had in mind
He had gotten some operation licences from the Lagos State government to operate on a PPP arrangement with LAWMA
He bought several waste disposal trucks, rented an office and relocated his family back to Nigeria.
As soon as they returned home, his wife also secured a good job with a bank
They tried having other children, but the wife had serious issues with the Rhesus factor.
Business took off for the husband very well in Nigeria, but things gradually turned ugly towards their fifth year in Nigeria
The waste disposal truck drivers kept sabotaging the trucks by selling off their parts and making him buy back the parts to make quick bucks
The man eventually had to sell off the trucks after spending so much to repair them
His business collapsed eventually, and his wife became the breadwinner for about one year
One day, the family came to church on a Sunday, and the wife was selected as one of the panellists for the Family Weekend.
It was a random pick by the organisers of the event
The previous day was a couple’s dinner, and most of the married couples in the church were present
The pastor noted that the couple were very much in sync, even though they kept their business to themselves and nobody could tell what was going on in their home.
The panellists were to ask couples questions about marriage, the challenges they faced or were facing, how they were surmounting such challenges and so on.
The sister began to talk about how her husband was once rich and gave her a soft life and how the tables had turned in the last year.
She said she had to send the maid away and wake up early for work while returning home late daily.
She said her husband started cooking, doing school runs, going to the market and doing the domestic chores to support her because his business had collapsed and he didn’t have anything to do at that moment.
Nothing she said was wrong.
The church clapped, and the pastor praised the husband for being a responsible man
Several young adults in the church understood the lessons that had been taught
Service was over.
Glory be to God.
Some of the men in the church who had held the man in high regard before that day began to laugh at him.
He became their beer parlour gossip
Some young men in the church who had been seeing the man as a model also lost respect for him
The house fellowship centre at his house suddenly began to lose members
A man who cannot provide for his family is worse than an infidel
People who had envied him from afar lost all regard for him
His business collapsed
His wife was the one feeding him
Shameless man.
The man heard the rumours eventually.
He was there when his wife spoke, and he had no issues with what she said, but he later had issues with it when it seemed to have belittled him in the community from other men’s perspective.
This is a true story, and I was a youth pastor at the church where this happened.
The man called his uncle in the UK and told him the kind of insult he had been subjected to because his wife decided to open his underwear in public.
His uncle told him his business in the UK was still flourishing, and he could return to the UK to take it over at any time.
He dusted off his passport and returned to the UK.
His wife begged and begged, but he didn’t return to Nigeria, and he told her she was not welcome back to the UK with him.
Something that silly, that little, that inconsequential…
The man has ego issues, he has pride issues, and he is full of himself. What crime has the wife committed? He is self-conceited…
We can say anything we like about him or about her.
One thing is sure, the wife regretted saying those things till today
Their son spent holidays with him in the UK, and he spent school terms with her in Nigeria until he graduated from secondary school.
As I write this, he is schooling in the UK.
The wife has resigned from banking; she is 56 years old now, and she is also living in the UK now just to be close to her son
They never formally divorced each other, but they have been apart now for over eight years.
A wife must not talk about her husband in a certain kind of light if she intends to keep that home.
All men are not the same.
What some men can take, others may not be able to stomach it.
Thank you