A FAILED HUSBANDMAN


There lived a man, Ukadike, whose influence and affluence was known far and wide. He was as tall as the iroko, fairy with a perfectly chiselled face like that of a Greek god. A well-built masculine body and a thunderous voice, as though he commands the clouds.

He was a perfect description of a man-god. 


Due to his power and fame, he took a multitude of wives from several tribes, religions and cultural backgrounds, against the norm of his people. 


At the onset, being strong, agile and capable, controlling his large family was no task at all. He had enough cattle, sheep and goats and numerou farmlands for crop production. His thirty-five wives and hundred and seven-nine children were never in lack of anything. 


As time went by, age visited Ukadike with weak knees and ankles and blurred vision that his strength was drained. He wasn't able to carter for his large family anymore. 


Then, he began to lose control of his wives and children. 


His once peaceful and united home became chaotic and unruly. The orderliness and oneness he had established were thrown, trampled on and forgotten. But Ukadike could do nothing other than watch and wail. 


Within a short time, the wealth he accumulated over the years disappeared, as the competition among step-siblings widened and lengthened to the climax. Mothers fought themselves to get a better share for their children, while children rivalled to eliminate any that stood as threat. 


The vie became so fierce that the household of ukadike became  Iraq and Iran. peaceful coexistence was an anomaly. The threat to kill became a daily anthem and the shed of blood, a normality. 


The passers-by who once admired Ukadike's household all spat and shrug their shoulders in abhorration. It was indeed pitiful, how the strong and capable husbandman watched his household crumble before his eyes. 


Who would have believed that the great Ukadike, controller of a battalion, powerful husband to thirty-five woman and capable father to a hundred and seventy-nine, would become so handicapped with just a little touch from age? He lost his voice as a commander and his position as a husband and father. 


Now, let's take it outside Ukadike. 


The moment a man fails in his basic responsible, to provide food, shelter and clothing, he loses his place as the commandant of his household. And it is quite unfortunate that some men, even without the visit of old age, have sold out their position as a commandant of their family.


Every man's influence and affluence is his voice– his ability to control his immediate family irrespective of the number


It is noteworthy that for a peaceful coexistence in the society, it begins in the family unit maka na Igbo turu ilu si, IZU KA MMA NA NNE JI.