GOOD PEOPLE DON'T HAVE A RELIGION

Hello, happy new month to you. 

Welcome to the month that precedes my month. Just a month to this day and I will also shout “happy womb escape.” 😆

How hath thou today? I’m doing fine and I know you are surely well too.

I want us to reason something today. Are there people who exist without any bad in them? I mean, they are not God, but you would never see their bad side or countenance no matter what. You know; first impression matters though, but can you still trust the goodness in someone who enters a fault? I should simply ask; do you have a forgiving heart? I say to myself today, I have a forgiving heart because God my father forgave me all my sins without finding faults. 

Perhaps, this isn’t our topic for today. I just want to tell you that there are good people in this world and I am a witness. I didn’t know whether it was because I prayed more or whether it was luck, but I’m sure good people don’t have a religion. At the university, we were taught in philosophy about morals and moralists. These people believe in goodness and badness as the judgment of human beings or the real value of a person. Most of them are mostly atheist, they believe God exists but do not believe in him. 

So, are good morals only meant for moralists? Of course, NO!!! We have been taught morals in our churches and mosques, in fact, we believe that you are not in right standing with God if we default in morals, but does God believes that too? Well, that’s a talk for another day.

Ever since I was a kid, anytime I’m about to settle in a place or go to a place, my parents would only take me there once and for all i.e. school. My siblings also encountered the same thing, so it made us believe right from infantry that we are OUO (on our own). This went on for years and years and year till a particular year. I graduated from secondary school earlier than I should have, I was 14. Clueless, immature, and also logical I was. After school, we all know the rest right? The university. 

But that wasn’t my story; I started working a week after my valedictory service. I didn’t even have time to mingle and jingle with other kids as per say I just graduated and my mom didn’t give a fuck about that. A year went by and I was planning to write jamb, just like everyone who has ambition. Turns out it was the start of CBT in jamb exams and without a smile, it was my second jamb exam. I had earlier written jamb a year before, passed, but massively jammed by the University of Ibadan. 

Well, I can’t afford to fail this year’s own, I was already 16, I no be pikin again. Registration started and I started getting ready. Little did I know that my first and real experience was in front of me. Jamb started throwing people in different centers. GBAM! Na so them throw me for Igboho in Oyo state. If this is the first time you are hearing about that city, that was how I felt then too. Igboho!!! I have hardly left the Ibadan axis before. Abi I should go and change my center ni? Jamb talk say e no possible again.

Omo! E don happen already, wetin we go do? So, I went to check everything I needed to know about the town. The jamb center had just been built that year and it was the hometown of prof. Dibu Ojerinde, the former JAMB registrar. Okay, how will I get there? Then we asked how many hours the journey was, and was told it was 5 hours from Ibadan. Ehn! 5 what! Because of jamb that is still not sure for me, I was almost going to give up. But alhamdulillah, aye ekun o yo (crying space didn’t surface). We go rough am last last. Now, the biggest problem was that my exam was 7 am, how will I make it? Wake up 3 am and summon witchcraft to deliver me in Igboho before 7 am? Leemao. At this point, my mom kept looking for ways to help out even though she still wouldn’t follow me. 

One of my friends was having an exam at the same center 3 to 4 days before. As the lord will have it, he was to write his exam by 7 am too. But guess what? His parents were very much comfortable and all he had to do was book the only close hotel in Igboho. When he came back and told me the price of the hotel, I just gave up. Me that I was still looking for transport fare, I better start praying that they would help my life over there. I was staying with my uncle at that time and a big thanks to him, he gave me money, real money. My mom also gave me real money, but if I join the monies together, they won’t even allow me to sleep in the hotel’s toilet considering the price then.

My God will watch over you, those were the last word my mom said before I headed for the car park. Let the five hours journey begin! I’ve never been on that kind of journey before in my whole life. But thank God I wasn’t the only one, I mean, no be only me go sleep for under-bridge, that’s if they have one. So, let me tell you something about myself that I didn’t quickly figure out. I have a phobia for meeting new people; I don’t know what it is called. I don’t know how to meet people, I am always alone. We landed in Igboho, straight at the center. It was 2 pm and very sunny. 

I checked around the center and around the whole surrounding, I didn’t meet a damn person that I knew. I strapped my bag well with the little change in it because I could afford to start begging, very horrible! I had my Nokia express music and my new earpiece. I plugged it in and put Alubarika by Patoranking on repeat. After some hours, I realized that if I continue like this, I might be robbed in the middle of the night and injured. I started moving around spaces and contributed to conversations, then I heard the people of Igboho weren’t accommodating visitors due to a robbery case that had happened some days before. Mehn! That was it all, I immediately went sour.

But as you know, God kept telling me “my child, I will never leave you.” Those words didn’t occur to me well until I met a guy who we were both on the bus together. He wasn’t even from Ibadan; he was coming from Sango-otta, the worst case I knew. We started talking as per say we no sabi wetin we go do. We met one other guy too who was on the bus with us and then we were 3. 

It was almost getting dark and I kept listening to the same track on my phone. Then immediately, the guy talked. “I have somewhere but I don’t even know the people.” Omo, you sabi person for here and we dey inside cold like this? Abeg make we go, last last, them go send us back, it is better than trying. His phone was dead and glory to God, I gave him mine and he called them at home to help him. After some minutes, the Igboho people called my phone and they sent us the description of their house. Come and see how joyous we were, we just won lotto, perhaps a grace that didn’t happen to anyone here. 

We took a bike and off we went. I must tell you, the whole of Igboho isn’t as big as my school, Obafemi Awolowo University. It was a small and peaceful town close to the border of Benin republic. Then we arrived at the house, it was an old one storey building owned by an Alhaji. You guessed right? His whole families were Muslims and the 3 of us coming were Christians. 

Before I continue, I must tell you, I have never seen a family as generous as good as that before and that was when I fell in love with Muslim people. The Alhaji started asking questions and questions. You know all these students reply “beeni sir, yes sir, okay sir, ehn sir, no sir, kosi sir, emabinu sir, rara sir.” They were accusing us of not calling them earlier. We used style to laugh and waved it off with several apologies. 

They took us to their visitors’ room with a large bed befitting the 3 of us. All through as these were happening, we all kept quiet hoping to ask the guy how he knew these people, like, we didn’t even know the guy. After we had settled down, then we asked him “who are these people to you?” then he laughed because he was confused. After he finished explaining… I don’t even know how I will write this down for you people to read. The Alhaji family was a family to their neighbor’s friend in a house they stayed before. 

The 2 attaches > the guy > his family > their former house > their neighbor > their neighbor’s friend > their neighbor’s friend distant family (Alhaji)

If you get the above illustration, you would know that we didn’t even deserve food, talk less of shelter. On the same night, we were given this bowl of rice with the most delicious crayfish stew I’ve ever eaten. Before we could finish the food, the rain started falling and it was then that I knew that God will use whoever he wants to use regardless of religion. 

We had light to read, a place to cool our head and we also kept on gisting and asking ourselves questions. The rain didn’t stop till midnight and I kept thinking about a large amount of crowd around the jamb center, I was concerned like I wasn’t concerned. Meanwhile, my hotel money was still in my bag, JACKPOT, BABY!!! Turns out I would have enough money to spend while I tell them about the hard experience at home and still, God will look at me and say “this child ehn, leemao.”

We read till midnight, slept, and woke up as early as 5 am when the mosque was calling out their people. We took our bath in turn and read a little. Before we could giddy-up and pack all our bags, they brought in breakfast. They said they wanted us to have strength for our exam. They prepared only our food, it was only for us! Then we all went to Alhaji’s room and started thanking him, I definitely can’t remember his face but I heard him saying “make sure you pass your exams so that your efforts will be rewarded and you can make your parents proud.” Those words alone didn’t need to be said again because I understood the number of people God has used for me. Before we left, he prayed for us and gave us money. That was the last time I saw him, his family, and Igboho. 

The exam result was to be uploaded in a few hours after we took the exam, meaning that we would see it on the bus while going home. The song I left on repeat slapped harder when I saw my result and realized I was only one that passed among the 3 of us. I didn’t gain admission that year but I was sure of one thing, God is always good. It’s been 6 years already and I’m sure Alhaji and his family are surely doing well and more people would have experienced this goodness from them. I’m also sure my two friends are doing well and making sense out of life. 

I posted something on my status a few days ago, I said “Good people always have nothing to lose,” and everyone kept rushing into my DM. I’m sure you will understand better that good people have nothing to lose and good people do not have a religion. Everyone should be good regardless of where they find themselves. Thank you for reading my article, I’m really glad that you took out your time to show me love. 

I remain twitter.com/inioluwafeolami on Twitter, I don’t use WhatsApp business but you can reach me on 08145416104 and remember; I am your number one fan. 😍😊🙌🏽💯

Obakhafre, oya close the curtain, story don end.