The responsibility of taking care of my three younger ones after our mom died was too much for me. Dad did his bit to help but he mostly complained about loneliness so he went and got himself a new wife and together they had four more children.
We were living from hand to mouth and he could barely make ends meet from his carpentry work. The reality that he had ten months to feed drove him to the edge and he was always angry. The stipend he made was used to feed his dark habit. Drinking alcohol was his go to. It was his favorite past time.
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Things were so bad that we had no money to bury him after he was knocked down by a hit and run driver. Thankfully his carpenter friends helped to build a coffin for him, they also assisted with the internment. It was such a shabby funeral service.
Shortly after, I had to get a job since I was through with secondary school. I endured working extra hours at the factory just so I could get paid for working overtime. I also learned how to barb and plait hair, so these were my side hustles.
Life was extremely difficult for us so my step mom decided to start attending a church where the pastor gave out cooked food from time to time. The rest of us didn’t need a lot of convincing to join her…that’s how hunger drove us to Pastor Nedu’s Fire Movement Ministry.
We soon found out that the church workers got more food than others so we joined the church workforce.
Every little time I had outside work was spent in the church.
However, things began to change after the Pastor’s younger brother indicated his interest to marry me.
On that fateful day, it was as if the devil suddenly remembered my family because every prophecy from the altar was against us. Pastor Nedu said things that left me numb. First of all, he said my family was cursed. Then he tried to force me to confess to things that never happened. He told the story of how I got pregnant for my late father and sold off the child after it was born. He also accused me for being responsible for his death. Of course everyone believed him, after all he was the pastor. My stepmom wailed and called me unprintable names. I was confused.
I never saw or heard from Pastor’s brother after that. I was heartbroken and even worse was the fact that my family and fellow church members treated me like an outcast. I became a shadow of myself and opened up to a friend at work and he advised me to leave the church but I was afraid. Pastor Nedu always threatened that anyone who leaves his church will die.
At home, I felt ostracized but on the other hand, I was doing very well at the factory. My hard work was noticed and I was made the supervisor then factory manager within a short time.
One day I was on the phone with a client and he mentioned that I have a distinct voice. He asked if I will like to do voice over for a radio jingle and I said yes. This singular opportunity changed the course of my life forever.
I had a eureka moment and decided never to go back to Fire Movement Ministry ever again. I got a better apartment but my stepmom and my siblings refused to move with me.
While people were waiting for me to die because I left the church, I was busy making steady/back to back progress. This was an eye opener for a lot of people and they started to leave the church in their numbers… including my family. We managed to patch things and mend fences, after all, family is everything.
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These were not good times for the pastor as I later heard that he was duped by his sister. She lived in Abuja but used to visit from time to time. When things became tough for Pastor Nedu, she suggested that he sells off all he has and move to Abuja. He trusted her to handle everything for him but she took the money and disappeared into thin air. It was at this point that the truth surfaced. She was his girlfriend and not his sister.
Last I heard of him is that he had gone mad and was seen roaming the streets of Oshodi.
His brother recently contacted me via my social media handle and told me that Nedu made up those stories about me because he had plans to make me one of his girls. Why wasn’t I surprised?
But the question is, why did he walk away when he knew the truth?
Now he’s saying that he’s still crazy about me and wants to marry me.
I can’t help but agree with him. He’s crazy indeed. That’s a family of crazy people.
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